The Associated Press

BOSTON - Mike Mussina stared at the clubhouse floor, an angry look on his face as he struggled for answers.

It was 45 minutes after the game and he was still wearing his uniform pants. He just couldn't shake off the latest frustrating outing of his shaky postseason career.

The New York Yankees' pitcher extended a streak he'd very much like to end - six straight postseason games without a win.

He dropped to 0-3 in this postseason as the Boston Red Sox beat the Yankees 3-2 Monday night to even the best-of-seven AL championship series at two games apiece.

"I was told I pitched a good game," he said, but the compliment from Yankees pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre did little to cheer him up.

He struck out 10 and allowed three runs, six hits and two walks in 6 2-3 innings. He left with the Yankees trailing 2-1 on homers he allowed to Todd Walker in the fourth and Trot Nixon in the fifth.

While Mussina was in the game, the Yankees had just five hits, four of them singles. In Boston's 5-2 win in the series opener, the Yankees managed just two singles during his 5 2-3 innings.

How frustrated was he by the lack of support for the second straight game in which he was outpitched by Tim Wakefield?

"Completely," he said

He paused for a few seconds, then added: "I can only control 60 feet, 6 inches. That's it. I'm doing my job the best I can. Other stuff has to be attended to by other people, not me.

"Let's hope the other guys can win their games."

His teammates acknowledged they've played a major role in Mussina's postseason slump.

"Mussina was very good," Bernie Williams said. "It was unfortunate we couldn't score more runs for him."

Mussina also was the losing pitcher in Minnesota's only win in the division series in Game 1. He allowed seven hits and three runs in seven innings of the 3-1 loss.

In the regular season, the star right-hander was 17-8, fourth in the AL with 195 strikeouts and eighth with a 3.40 ERA.

In Wednesday's ALCS opener, he allowed four runs on eight hits, including homers by David Ortiz, Todd Walker and Manny Ramirez, as the Red Sox won 5-2 at Yankee Stadium.

Mussina left Monday night after allowing Boston's third run. He started the seventh inning with his 10th strikeout, against Ortiz. But Kevin Millar walked and went to third on Nixon's double. Bill Mueller was walked intentionally, and Jason Varitek came up as a pinch-hitter with the bases loaded.

Mussina got Varitek to ground to shortstop, but he beat second baseman Alfonso Soriano's throw to avoid the double play and allow Millar to score, making it 3-1.

That raised Mussina's ERA to 4.98 in six playoff appearances since his last victory Oct. 18, 2001, in the ALCS at Seattle. He is 0-4 since in the postseason.

"He threw very well today," Stottlemyre said. "His command was much better. What they got off him they worked real hard for and earned it."

The loss came on the same mound where he pitched the best game of his career, just missing a perfect game by one strike.

On Sept. 2, 2001, the Yankees led the Red Sox 1-0 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Carl Everett came in to pinch-hit and popped a short single to the outfield.