Mussina Is Ruled Out as Starter for Game 4

Manager Joe Torre said Thursday that Mike Mussina wouldn’t start Game 4 of the New York Yankees’ American League division series against the Minnesota Twins on Saturday because he won’t send Mussina out on three days’ rest.

But Torre didn’t say who will start the game that could send today’s winner to the AL championship series. Torre promised to reveal his choice today; the candidates are Orlando Hernandez and Javier Vazquez. Torre said Mussina will start a fifth game Sunday at Yankee Stadium, if necessary.

Hernandez has complained of fatigue in his pitching shoulder but threw in the bullpen on Wednesday and reported no ill effects Thursday.

“Duque gave me a thumbs-up today, which is a good sign,” Torre said.

Game 1 winner Johan Santana will start Game 4 for Minnesota.

Kevin Brown will start for the Yankees today and Carlos Silva for the Twins. Brown’s season was interrupted by illness and injuries, including the broken left hand he suffered after he punched a wall in the dugout on Sept. 3. A few days later Brown held a clubhouse meeting with teammates, a move Torre praised.

“We knew that had to take place as soon as possible because there were some players that were angry and I was angry and it wasn’t going to do us any good just to stay that way,” Torre said. “We had to live together and work together, so we just felt it was best to air it all out.”

That meeting, shortstop Derek Jeter said, “probably helped out in terms of everyone understanding what happened. He let his emotion get the best of him.... Kevin is pretty hard on himself at all times, and in that particular instance he was a little too hard on himself.”

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Minnesota Manager Ron Gardenhire says he doesn’t regret keeping reliever Joe Nathan in for a third inning on Wednesday in the Twins’ 7-6, 12-inning loss at Yankee Stadium.

Nathan gave up two walks and a run-scoring ground-rule double before Gardenhire replaced him with J.C. Romero, and Gardenhire has been widely second-guessed for staying so long with Nathan.

“If you are going to beat the Yankees, you’ve got to have your best pitchers in the game,” Gardenhire said. “Nathan was the guy to be out there. He was still throwing the ball [well]. You’re just facing a great lineup and we got back to the top of the order and that’s what killed us, with Jeter and [Alex Rodriguez].”

For what it’s worth, Torre said he would have done “exactly the same thing” in Gardenhire’s position.

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The Twins were 49-32 this season at the Metrodome and had a 2-1 record against the Yankees. However, the Yankees were 7-0 at the Metrodome in 2002 and 2003.

A new surface called Field Turf replaced the previous synthetic surface this season. Gardenhire said it’s more like grass and is kinder to players’ legs but is slower than the old surface.

“We can still beat the ball off the ground and run like all get-out, and we like to do those things,” he said. “We are not a station-to-station team. We like to run around pretty good, and we know the ball bangs around in this field.... This field does help us a little bit do some things that we are able to do because we do like to run.”