NEW YORK -- Mussina walked off the Yankee Stadium mound Wednesday to rousing "Mooose!" calls from the sold-out crowd, having thrown eight economical innings in New York's 5-1 win over the Minnesota Twins for their 10th straight home victory.

Last year "I physically couldn't do what I wanted to do. The whole year was miserable," Mussina said after giving up six hits without allowing a run.

"Today was probably a good day," he said with a smirk.

Alex Rodriguez and Justin Christian each had two-run doubles and Richie Sexson had a sacrifice fly and 11 putouts and three assists at first base as the Yankees completed a 6-0, post-break homestand with sweeps of Oakland and the Twins.

"It starts with starting pitching, defense and timely hitting, and we're getting all those now," Rodriguez said.

The Yankees will try to continue the stellar play on the road, taking their mediocre 23-23 road record into Fenway Park in Boston for three games starting Friday.

The Twins did not get a runner past second base against Mussina (13-6) in losing their fourth straight game and dropping 2½ games back of the White Sox in the AL Central.

"It was a disappointing ballgame. I don't know how to describe it," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Our trip here was not very good. We played terrible baseball pretty much all the way through it."

The 39-year-old Mussina retired 14 of the first 17 batters and, for the third straight start, didn't walk a batter. He has given up just five runs in his past five starts and now has 263 career wins.

It's quite a turnaround from last season, when he was 11-10 with a career-high 5.15 ERA. He was overshadowed by the young prospects, Phil Hughes and Ian Kennedy during spring training.

But while they went a combined 0-7 for the Yankees before going down with injuries, Mussina has emerged as the team's most consistent pitcher.

"You could really make a good case, without Moose I don't know where we would be," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

LaTroy Hawkins gave up three hits, including Mike Lamb's RBI single in the ninth, before giving way to Mariano Rivera. The closer struck out pinch-hitter Jason Kubel with runners on second and third for his 25th save.

The 10-game winning streak at home is the Yankees' longest since Sept. 9, 1998, to April 14, 1999. The last time New York won 10 in a row at Yankee Stadium in a single season was July 26-Aug. 14, 1998.

"We did a real nice job during this homestand," Girardi said. "It's been a real nice stretch for us."