Now that's more like it!

"If you're gonna give him all the shit, you gotta give him all the credit."

That's the infamous Michael Irvin, live-on-television quote about Barry Switzer after the Dallas Cowboys won the NFC title game in 1996 and advanced to the Super Bowl, where they would defeat Pittsburgh. Switzer had been much-maligned during his first two seasons in Dallas, and Irvin was going to bat for his beleaguered head coach.

Fast forward to April 23, 2008, and the same comments could apply to a gem of a game pitched by beleaguered Yankee starter Mike Mussina, although I'm not sure Derek Jeter or Jorge Posada would be quoting Irvin.

Mussina's seven-inning, four-hitter was sparkling to watch. The two home runs he gave up were solo shots, which is all you can ask of a pitcher who has no real swing-and-miss potential anymore: Just don't fall to pieces with guys on base. Mussina didn't really have that problem last night, as he only had three other runners on base (minus the homer bashers) all evening.

Was it Hank Steinbrenner's calling out of Mussina in public? Was it the embarrassment of getting torched by Manny Ramirez in two straight appearances? Was it the steadying presence of Jorge Posada (who, ironically, has never been Mussina's favorite battery mate)?

Who knows? It may have been a little of all three, or maybe Moose just got tired of looking like he should have retired three years ago. Whatever the reason, Yankee fans had to be pleased to plop down in front of the TV for this one.

Hip, Hip.... you know the deal....

Welcome back, Jorge Posada. Not the Posada who came back behind the plate Tuesday night, but the Jorge Posada who was a legitimate challenger to A-Rod for the 2007 AL MVP award, and who was Wednesday's unquestioned star of another solid Yankee win on Chicago's south side.

Four-for-five at the plate? Doubles in three straight trips? A pair of RBI to break open a tight 3-1 game and give Mussina a 5-1 lead? Wow! Who needs A-Rod when Posada has the wood working like he did last night? (Just kidding about A-Rod...)

And Posada's influence in handling Mussina was just as important as were his at-bats. And it won't be forgotten that it was Posada who gave manager Joe Girardi a second thought when Girardi was signaling for LaTroy Hawkins in the seventh inning (Girardi should have a third thought, then a fourth, then a.... you know where I'm going with this...). Leaving Mussina in allowed Moose to get the final out of the inning, and a huge confidence boost for his next outing.

There has been some discussion around Yankee blog sites as to whether or not Posada is an all-time Yankee great and whether or not his number deserves retirement consideration someday. I've always been a huge Posada believer, and while one game isn't really a microcosm of an entire career, just ask Yankee fans how much better they feel about things when Posada is on the field.

Of all the great Yankees of the Joe Torre era, Posada is easily the most underappreciated. He may not have been the starting catcher for all those World Series-winning teams, but he's been as solid as anyone over the last nine seasons.

Wednesday night was fun to watch for all Jorge fans.

And then, there's this....

Into every life, a little rain must fall. And so it goes with the Yankees whenever the bullpen is given charge of a game.

LaTroy Hawkins just can't put a week of good relief work together. In a third of an inning Wednesday night, he put two more runners on base, and was followed by the totally ineffective (lately) Billy Traber, who surrendered a single to Jim Thome. On came Mariano Rivera, who got the final five outs to preserve the well-deserved win for Mussina (and Mo's sixth save in six tries).

I'm not a boo-bird (I have a personal policy against booing whenever I attend games), but Hawkins is getting close to forcing me to violate my own ethics. And he's way past the point of adding more white hairs to my beard.

How many more solid efforts from starters is Hawkins going to put in jeopardy before he becomes the garbage-garbage reliever, only coming in when the Yankees lead or trail by double-digit runs?

Or, more probably, how long before Hawkins is an ex-Yankee?