he starting pitcher was not pounded, Mariano Rivera did his job, the Yankees' offense was adequate and the idle Boston Red Sox did not gain any ground. Hysteria need not reign as the Yankees head to Boston for a three-game series that begins tonight. The Yankees shook off two straight dismal efforts and slowed down the Chicago White Sox with a 7-5 victory yesterday, averting a three-game sweep.

There have been greater artistic successes at Yankee Stadium. Mike Mussina gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings and reliever Jeff Nelson had a poor outing, but that seemed beside the point.

"It's nice that we won after what happened the previous two nights," Mussina said. "It was a big deal for us to win this game with a big series at Fenway coming up. It helps to go up there on a positive note."

The Yankees will go into Fenway Park with a four-and-a-half-game lead on the Red Sox, even though first Roger Clemens and then David Wells were pounded by the White Sox, who won the first two games of the series by a combined score of 24-4.

"There's no question, no matter how good you are, you sometimes need a win to regain your confidence," Manager Joe Torre said. "That's especially true after the way we played the last two days."

Restoring the Yankees' swagger had to wait until after the top of the first inning. Mussina gave up runs on singles by Carl Everett and Paul Konerko and got out of the inning only because of a base-running error by Everett. Everett wandered well off second base and was easily thrown out at third on what went down as a botched steal attempt.

But Chicago's lead was short-lived. With the luxury of an off day this week, White Sox Manager Jerry Manuel considered using Mark Buehrle as his starter yesterday, skipping over the rookie Neal Cotts. Manuel made up his mind after the White Sox won Wednesday, and he went with Cotts, who was making only his fourth start in the major leagues. But Manuel guessed wrong.

Cotts was wild and ineffective, retiring only one batter before leaving with his team behind, 4-2. Reliever Dan Wright gave up a sacrifice fly to John Flaherty to make the score 5-2. Cotts wound up being charged with five runs while giving up three hits and four walks. He has walked 17 batters in his 13 1/3 innings with the White Sox.

"That guy was obviously struggling with his control," Flaherty said of Cotts. "I was just happy we got back into the ballgame so quickly. After the last two games, when they jumped out, 2-0, it was, like, 'Here we go again.' "

Wright held the Yankees to one more run until departing in the sixth, but with Mussina (15-7) having settled down, the lead looked safe. Mussina did give up a home run to Everett in the fourth, but the White Sox could not inflict any further damage against him.

"We got some timely hits and made them go to the bullpen before the first was over," Mussina said. "That in and of itself was a positive. After that first inning, we played a good, solid game."

It took a good performance from Rivera to complete the victory. Torre took out Mussina after the sixth because Mussina had been hit on the knee by a ground ball by Everett, and brought on Nelson. After a perfect seventh inning, Nelson was touched for two runs in the eighth, which cut the Yankees' lead to 6-5. Gabe White came on to retire pinch-hitter Tony Graffanino, and Rivera then came in to get the final out of the inning.

The Yankees picked up an insurance run in the eighth on a single by Alfonso Soriano before Rivera pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 29th save. "Our confidence remains good," Rivera said. "We won today and we battled. We're going to Boston, where it's different. It's always energized there. That's good."

The games with the Red Sox remain important, but yesterday the Yankees gave themselves some breathing room and some renewed confidence. Right now, everything helps.

INSIDE PITCH

JEFF WEAVER's stay in the minor leagues was a brief one. After sending him to Class A Tampa on Tuesday, the Yankees recalled Weaver yesterday and placed outfielder DAVID DELLUCCI on the 15-day disabled list. Dellucci sprained his left ankle Wednesday. With DAVID WELLS's next start in doubt after he pitched poorly Wednesday, Weaver could pitch Monday, when Wells's turn is scheduled. JASON GIAMBI was given the day off yesterday after going hitless in his previous nine at-bats.