NEW YORK — Mike Mussina was standing in front of his locker, talking about how little he speaks to Jose Molina, when the catcher walked by, shouted an exaggerated "Hi," and kept going.

These two are so in sync that Molina didn't stop to see Mussina's grin — he just knew the right-hander was smiling.

Mussina retired the final 17 batters he faced in seven solid innings, Molina hit one of New York's four home runs and the Yankees snapped Los Angeles' five-game winning streak with an 8-2 victory yesterday.

"It's almost like we've been buddies for 15 years," Mussina said. "We don't need to sit down. ... We make up a game plan after we've started."

Molina has been behind the plate for 21 of Mussina's 23 starts, and manager Joe Girardi decided to stay with the combination after the Yankees acquired future Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez on Wednesday.

Yesterday, Molina guided Moose to his 264th career win by using what the catcher called "feelings."

"You realize very quickly he has a good idea what he's doing. His feel for it is impressive," said Mussina (14-7), who gave up just two runs and two hits. "He understands what's going on. ... He knows how to catch."

Molina also provided some offense, scoring three times and going 3 for 3, including his first home run since Sept. 5 — a span of 221 at-bats.

"He's a big part of our team," Girardi said. "Just had an outstanding day."

After two nights of being outclassed by the Angels in every aspect of the game, the Yankees rebounded with a complete win of their own despite missing Robinson Cano from the starting lineup.

Alex Rodriguez, Wilson Betemit and Bobby Abreu all homered and Mussina, a six-time Gold Glove winner, made several stellar plays on the mound in front of 54,170 fans on Old-Timers' Day, helping the Yankees to their second victory in seven games.

"He was just hitting the corners," said Mark Teixeira, who went 0 for 3 for the Angels. "That's the way he is. He's going to live on the corners. This guy's one of the great pitchers of our era."

The Yankees looked as if they were headed for another woeful outing against the team with the best record in baseball. They fell behind 2-0 in the second inning thanks to fill-in second baseman Betemit's throwing error. And the first four New York batters struck out against Jered Weaver, three looking.

But Jason Giambi popped out to break the strikeout spell and Xavier Nady followed with a two-out single to right. Betemit then made up for his error with a tying two-run shot.

Playing without center fielder Torii Hunter, who traveled home to Pine Bluff, Ark., yesterday morning to attend the funeral of his grandmother, Edna Cobbs, the Angels dropped to 12-3 after the All-Star break. Los Angeles also was without shortstop Maicer Izturis, who jammed his thumb making a spectacular play in Friday's 1-0 win. X-rays of the hand showed a sprain, and manager Mike Scioscia said "sprains can take some time (to heal)."

Weaver (9-9) gave up six runs in five innings.

"A couple of them were good pitches they put good swings on — Abreu and the one to A-Rod," Weaver said. "You just tip your cap to them."

Red Sox 12, Athletics 2: Jason Bay hit his first home run with Boston, Kevin Youkilis added a pair of two-run homers and Jon Lester (10-3) pitched at least seven innings for the fifth consecutive start as the host Red Sox cruised past Oakland.

After a shaky first in which he gave up four hits and a two-run homer to Emil Brown, Lester settled down and only allowed three more hits while striking out five over seven innings.

Rays 9, Tigers 3: Rookie Evan Longoria homered and drove in three runs and right-hander Andy Sonnanstine (11-6) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings to end his three-game losing streak as host Tampa Bay beat Detroit.

Carl Crawford contributed a two-run single for the Rays, who have won four straight and set a franchise record for home wins in a season (42) at Tropicana Field.

ROYALS 9, WHITE SOX 7: Jose Guillen and Billy Butler both homered off an ineffective Mark Buehrle (8-10), and Esteban German had a two-run triple to lead host Kansas City past Chicago.

Kyle Davies (5-2) gave up three runs and five hits over 5 1/3 innings for the Royals. Joakim Soria worked the ninth for his 31st save in 33 opportunities.

Indians 5, Twins 1: Paul Byrd (6-10) allowed one run and six hits over seven innings to win his third straight start and Kelly Shoppach hit a two-run homer to lead visiting Cleveland over Minnesota.

Kevin Slowey (7-8) struggled for Minnesota, giving up five runs and six hits in six innings. The Indians hit two homers off the right-hander, who has surrendered 28 homers in 28 career starts.

Blue Jays 6, Rangers 4: Rod Barajas and Scott Rolen each had two-run doubles in the sixth inning, and A.J. Burnett (13-9) allowed four runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings to win his third consecutive start, helping visiting Toronto rally past Texas.

Andy Hawkins debuted as the Rangers new pitching coach, and Jim Colborn as the new bullpen coach. Former pitching coach Mark Connor and bullpen coach Dom Chiti were fired after Friday night's game.

Orioles 3, Mariners 1: Jeremy Guthrie (8-8) overcame a rocky start to retire 26 of the final 28 batters he faced in his first career complete game, allowing just four hits, and Aubrey Huff, Melvin Mora and Ramon Hernandez drove in runs to lead visiting Baltimore over Seattle.

Guthrie allowed one-out doubles to Jeremy Reed and Raul Ibanez in the first and walked Adrian Beltre before setting down 22 of the next 23 batters. His only hiccup during the impressive stretch was an infield single by Jose Vidro in the fourth that easily could have been ruled an error on second baseman Brian Roberts.