Pavano catches the bug

Carl Pavano stepped up and followed the performances of the rest of the starting rotation late on Tuesday night as he came away with a five-hit complete game shut-out. He struck out seven and only faced 33 batters as the free agent signing from the Marlins demonstrated the quality that caused the Yankees to part with $39.99m over four years to secure his services.

Aided by three RBI's courtesy of the bat of Jason Giambi and a two-run blast from A-Rod, Pavano mowed down the Mariners and never looked in real trouble, only facing two men on base twice throughout the game.

The story away from the pitching gem was without doubt Jason Giambi. Yours truly picked him up off the FA scrapheap in his fantasy league after the other member of the 3,079 miles team dropped him last week and I have been rewarded handsomely for having some faith in the slugger.

His RBI bloop single in the second was nice, his solid RBI single in his second AB was even better but his monster solo shot off left-handed reliever Matt Thornton was most encouraging as the former MVP slowly creeps away from the Mendoza line.

The Yanks now stand 21-19 and still 5 games back of the high-flying Orioles. Mike Mussina takes the mound against Jamie Moyer for the final game of this very successful road trip, before the Yanks head back to the Big Apple to take on Pedro and the Mets on Friday night.