Mussina is averaging a strikeout an inning this month, and it's not just Mussina's fastball that's grown muscles. He's now featuring a late-breaking, hard-to-detect cutter that's replaced his splitter and has even supplanted his deadly knuckle curve - a weapon so completely reinvented that pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre says, "It's Mike's new pitch."

"I like to kid Mike about it. I ask him, 'How's your new cutter?' That's how much different and better it is now," Stottlemyre said. "The thing is, there isn't one thing that Mike is doing differently now than before."

Better mechanics, maybe. Crisper follow-through. Better attitude, too. Errors and borderline calls that went against him used to drive Mussina even deeper into his normal black mood. But lately, Stottlemyre says, "Mike is learning to live and let live."

Of course, no one will ever confuse Mussina with the flamboyant El Duque. And if you were waiting for Mussina to declare war on the Red Sox this weekend, vowing to crush Pedro in front of his hometown fans, that's a fantasy, too. [bergen record]

and the star ledger made a funny: "The Devil Rays dispensed with in short order, the Yankees hopped a plane last night to Boston. You know, for the real games."

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