Yankees Clinch AL East Title

Mike Mussina tried to ignore that the New York Yankees needed a victory to clinch the AL East title.

Roger Clemens, on the other hand, couldn't get the idea out of his head. Perhaps that's why the Yankees had to keep the champagne on ice for at least another six hours.

Mussina pitched seven innings of five-hit ball as the Orioles stalled the Yankees' drive for their second straight division title with a 5-0 victory Thursday in the opener of a day-night doubleheader.

"We can't be playing scoreboard. We have to go out there and play a lot better than we did today," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "We'd better play better before we get to the postseason."

New York still had hope of holding a postgame celebration Thursday night, but Mussina made sure the Yankees wouldn't pop any corks at his expense.

"They're going to clinch eventually," Mussina said. "I really wasn't thinking much about that. I was just trying to pitch the best game I could and give us a chance to win."

Mussina (18-7) struck out 10 nine looking and walked one. The right-hander, who retired 13 straight at one point, is 5-0 in seven starts since Aug. 6.

"I had pretty good stuff. I thought they really didn't get great swings at me until the sixth or seventh inning," he said.

The Orioles took advantage Clemens' control problems to build a 4-0 lead after three innings. That was more than enough offense for Mussina, whose 18 wins is tid for second in the AL behind Boston's Pedro Martinez (23).

Clemens (14-10) hit three batters and four of his five walks turned into runs. He struck out nine and allowed only four hits in six innings.

"It got frustrating. He was fighting himself," Yankees catcher Joe Girardi said. "He really wanted to win this game to clinch our division. Put those three things together and you get some wildness."

Clemens, who missed the strike zone with 48 of his 110 pitches, declined to talk to reporters before the Yankees closed the clubhouse an hour after the game.

"Obviously, we can't do anything to fix it at this point in time," Torre said. "His next start's going to be in the playoffs. His stuff is good. You look up there and his numbers are fine. But he's got to have better command."

Scott Kamieniecki pitched the final two innings to complete Baltimore's AL-best 11th shutout. Mussina, in his fourth start since returning from a bruised shoulder, didn't feel cheated by being removed after 98 pitches.

"This is the first time I've been in the seventh inning in well over a month, so I thought it was the right time," he said. "I have no problem with it."

Mussina struck out six in the first three innings, all of them on called third strikes by plate umpire Durwood Merrill.

Baltimore, meanwhile, got the first two runners on in each of the first three innings. In the first, Clemens struck out B.J. Surhoff and Albert Belle to get out of trouble. In the second, after Ryan Minor hit a one-out RBI double, Clemens struck out Eugene Kingsale and Mike Bordick with runners on second and third.

Clemens walked the first three batters in the third, then gave up a one-out bloop single to Charles Johnson before hitting Jerry Hairston Jr. with a pitch, forcing in a run. Minor then hit a sacrifice fly for a 4-0 lead.

Joe Girardi led off the New York sixth with a double, the Yankees' first runner since Bernie Williams walked in the first. Girardi took third on a one-out single by Derek Jeter before Paul O'Neill hit into a 4-6-3 double play.

Clemens hit Kingsale with a pitch in the bottom hlf and Bordick followed with an RBI double.

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