MIAMI (AP) – Mike Mussina now knows this: He likes starting a game much more than coming out of the bullpen.

The last time Mussina was on the mound, he was making the first relief appearance of his 13-year career.

There were runners at the corners with nobody out in the fourth inning, and the New York Yankees were already trailing Pedro Martinez and the Boston Red Sox 4-0 in Game 7 of the AL championship series.

Tight spot, huh?

“Well, the experience itself was unique and a little scary and probably a few other things,” Mussina said Monday, the day before he was start Game 3 of the World Series against Florida. “I was a little cranky for a day or so afterwards.”

To make matters worse, manager Joe Torre had promised he wouldn’t bring Mussina in with runners on base.

“He reminded us of that afterwards,” Torre said. “I said, “What do you want? We lied to you. What can I tell you?”‘

Mussina made it worthwhile, getting out of the jam without allowing a run and throwing three scoreless innings to keep the Yankees close. They eventually rallied for a 6-5 victory in 11 innings.

Now the right-hander can go back to what he does best. With the World Series even, he’ll get the ball Tuesday night against young ace Josh Beckett and the Marlins.

For Mussina, the starting assignment is surely sweet relief.

“I asked (Torre) to make sure to remind me next year that I can be in the rotation again because that’s what I like to do, and not come out of the ‘pen, first and third, nobody out,” he said.

“They told me it wasn’t going to be that way. So now I kind of make sure I check them out.”

It’s a big outing for Mussina, the only member of New York’s vaunted rotation without a World Series ring – and the only one without a win this postseason. In fact, he’s been tagged with three of the Yankees’ five losses.

In fairness, however, he really hasn’t pitched that poorly. Mussina has a 4.03 ERA in 22 1-3 innings, but the Yankees didn’t support him much on offense or defense during his three playoff starts.

“You’d like to maybe one time go out there and give him at least a run or two,” captain Derek Jeter said.

“As far as he’s concerned, he shouldn’t change a thing because he’s been pitching pretty well. It’s not his fault. He went out and did exactly what we wanted from him, we just didn’t score.”

Mussina was pretty upset after losing Game 4 of the AL championship series 3-2 in Boston, but he’s not dwelling on his previous fate this postseason.

“I think it just happens to be a factor of I was in the games that we didn’t play that well,” Mussina said. “I was in two out of three Game 1s of the series and we haven’t played well in a Game 1 in three series now. So it just so happens that that’s the day I was pitching.”

He was hurt by the long ball in the AL playoffs, allowing a total of five home runs to Minnesota and Boston. But Ivan Rodriguez and the Marlins don’t have an extra-base hit yet in the World Series, and Pro Player Stadium is pretty spacious.

A bigger concern is Florida’s ability to play small ball. Speedy Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo love to bunt at the top of the lineup, and Jason Giambi will be back at first base for the Yankees despite a sore knee because there’s no designated hitter in the National League park.

That doesn’t worry Mussina, a five-time Gold Glove winner.

“I don’t know if it’s going to change what they’re trying to do, if they’ll really try to do it more than they already do,” Mussina said.

“I think for them, bunt base hits are a big part of their offense. Are they going to try to put some down? I’d guarantee they will. That’s going to be part of the way they attack. So is it going to change the way I try to field my position? No. I try to get to everything I can get to anyway. If I can get to it, and make the throw, it keeps the guys in position where they’re supposed to be.”

Mussina signed an $88.5 million, six-year contract with New York as a free agent before the 2001 season. Torre even called the soft-spoken pitcher to help lure him to the Big Apple.

The 34-year-old right-hander has been solid for the Yankees, just as he had been with Baltimore, winning 52 games the past three seasons.

Yet he hasn’t always been able to match that success when it really counts – he’s 2-4 in eight postseason starts with the Yankees, and he went 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA in two starts against Arizona during the 2001 World Series.

“I think at this point now, I think being in my third year and at my age, I do appreciate the fact that even though I play for the Yankees, we’re not going to be in the World Series every year; that it takes a lot more than just having certain personnel to put yourself in the World Series,” Mussina said. “There’s going to be some turnover on this club. There’s going to be some guys that won’t be back next year. … We’re hoping that we can make this group a winner again.”

AP-ES-10-20-03 2023EDT