HOUSTON -- The Yankees spent the first 68 games of their season trying to get to three games over the .500 mark. Having finally accomplished it, they'd like to believe they've left the break-even mark behind for good.

"This feels a whole lot better than two over," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said, moments after his club improved to 36-33 and secured a series victory over the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

The Yankees will go for the sweep on Sunday staring down a tough customer in right-hander Roy Oswalt, who struck out a season-high 10 in his last start on Tuesday against the Brewers. New York counters with right-hander Chien-Ming Wang, who looked revitalized in snapping a career-high stretch of six starts without a victory by beating the A's in Oakland that same night.

"I think you always look forward to a good pitching matchup," said Saturday's winner, Mike Mussina. "When you send guys out there of that caliber, there's always a chance that something really great can happen that day. Who knows? It could be a low-scoring game, and it could be 10-9. You never know. It's baseball."

Johnny Damon said that the atmosphere surrounding the Yankees has improved while they have made their push, running right into this stretch that sees them play their next 14 games all against National League competition -- all teams that are currently at or below .500.

"We're seeing smiles on people's faces, even if they have a bad game," Damon said. "They're kind of like, 'Big deal, as long as we won.' There's no selfishness in here, and that's always great for a baseball team."

The Yankees have been at .500 a remarkable 23 times this season, and if they truly have bid farewell to mediocrity for the remainder of the season, Alex Rodriguez will know why. The lineup suffered without him and Jorge Posada, but to the defending American League MVP, it's never more important than the guy on the bump each day.

"Pitching and defense, that's it," Rodriguez said. "People can talk about offense all they want, but we were able to score almost 1,000 runs last year. The recipe is pitching and defense and that will never change."

Pitching matchup
NYY: RHP Chien-Ming Wang (7-2, 4.30 ERA)
Wang rediscovered his bread-and-butter sinker to throw 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball, defeating the A's on Tuesday at McAfee Coliseum and snapping a career-long six-start winless streak. Wang had reviewed videotape and found he was lifting his left leg too slowly, which was causing drag on his arm speed. He will be making his first career start against the Astros.

HOU: RHP Roy Oswalt (5-6, 5.06 ERA)
Oswalt turned in his best outing of the season during his last start against the Brewers, allowing Milwaukee's only run on a homer to right field by Ryan Braun in the third inning. Over 99 pitches, Oswalt gave up just five hits while striking out a season-high 10 batters in seven strong innings. Oswalt has pitched only one inning against the Yankees in his career. He started the game what eventually became a six-pitcher no-hitter, but threw only one inning before leaving with a groin strain.

Tidbits
Robinson Cano snapped an 0-for-17 skid with a pinch-hit RBI single on Saturday. He said he spent the entire evening watching left-handed hitters and trying to pick up what they did right. "0-for-17? Wake up, Robbie," he said. ... Rodriguez's home run Saturday was his 184th as a Yankee, surpassing Tommy Henrich and tying Charlie Keller for 17th place on the club's all-time list. Next up -- Paul O'Neill at 185. ... Rodriguez is also one RBI shy of tying Joe DiMaggio (1,537) for 42nd on MLB's all-time list. ... Johnny Damon is hitting a Major League-best .443 over 23 games since May 20.

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Up next
• Monday: Off-day
• Tuesday: Yankees (Darrell Rasner, 3-4, 3.64) vs. Padres (Randy Wolf, 5-4, 3.83), 7:05 p.m. ET
• Wednesday: Yankees (Andy Pettitte, 6-5, 4.64) vs. Padres (Jake Peavy, 5-3, 2.64), 7:05 p.m. ET