The latest word on Mike Mussina, brought to us by Bob Klapisch, is not encouraging for the Yankees:
Asked if he was feeling better, Mussina shook his head and said, “Actually, it’s feeling worse. At least when I was pitching, it would loosen up after a while. Now, I’m just sitting around and I can feel it tightening up.”
…There’s no medical procedure to cure it. No little white pill, including an anti-inflammatory, diminishes it. No massage or acupuncture treatment can mask it. The only antidote is rest, and Mussina never considered that option.
“It was killing me three months ago, but I didn’t tell anyone. I made up my mind to keep throwing,” he said. “I pitched until I couldn’t take it any more. I had to. Everything [everyone] else was falling apart around me.”
Oy.
1. Crud . . . in someways its hard to fault Moose for gutting it out - everyone else was falling apart around him 3 months ago. I admire his guts.
That said, you'd think someone as smart as he is would know better. If only he had said something a month ago . . .
Sigh. I'm not angry anymore, but I'm sad again. Hopeful, but sad.
2. i can't fault the guy. if he was a rookie with a whole career in front of him...i'd think it was stupid. But he's in the twilight of his career probably, he took one for the team. Sad indeed.
3. Moose never gets enough credit for being tough because he doesn't show emotion on or off the field and he may be the worst interview in baseball, but he has been part of the glue holding this team together for the past few years. From his 1-0 shutout against the A's a few years back to his 3 innings of relief against the Sox in the ALCS, he always shows up in the big spot. I respect him for trying to gut out the season even if he didn't make it the whole way and I hope the boys can get him a ring this season.
4. So that's why Moose hasn't been as good as in the past. The rotation did need him, good of him to stand up like that.
So, Unit, Chacon, Small, Wang, and, um, Leiter's back in?
Offense really needed to step up last night. Grrr.
Anybody got Miracle Max's number?
5. D'oh. Wright, not Leiter.
6. Turn out the lights the party's over.
7. Before the Yanks signed Mussina, and was very eager to see him become a Yankee. I've loved watching him, but I got to say that I think he's a Yankee jinx. I usually don't go in for that kind of thing, but I remember watching his near no-hit bid against the Red Sox a few years back, and as the game got late, you could see the awareness and pressure building in him. It was in stark contrast to the disposition of Wells and Cone who had thrown Perfect games in the years prior. Whereas those guys seemed to lighten with a holy-shit-can-you believe-this-shit, kind fo attitude, the success seemed to tighten Mussina. And watching that I thought, there's no way this guy is given a no-hitter byt he baseball higher powers because it has so much to do with chance and "letting it happen".
Well the Yanks ain't won since they signed him and as much as I love watching him pitch, that knuckled-curve is a thing of beauty, I said a few years back that they won't win as long as he's pitching for them. Maybe this is the break the Yanks need.
Now how's that for screwy, star-crossed illogical optimism...
8. Didn't last year prove there is no such thing as a jinx. Moose has been the Yanks best (and most consistent) starter over the past 4 years and I am sick of him continually getting blamed for the team losing.
9. I agree that Moose isn't a jinx.
Now if they go back to playing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame", the curse will be lifted.
Or even "Give Peace a Chance"
10. Anything as long as its not Cotton Eye Joe and GBA...
The thing I don't get about Moose is, he can be so inconsistant. I remember in the 2001 playoffs, he was pitching lights out, so he starts game 1 of the series, and gets slaughtered. It's not that he hasn't come up big, he has, a lot actually, but he has also just totally collapsed in other times, I don't get it...
I would say that the Yankee Jinx is the front office if anything...
And at the time, the Moose signing was a great one, still is. His other choice was the Sox, who had they signed him, would have made far more sense then the Manny signing
11. Moose did get to within a strike of the perfect game. And Knobhead should've dived for that ball. That still annoys me.
Moose's big fault, to me, is that he tries to be too perfect on each pitch. Of course, he can't overpower the hitters like Rocket can, but then very few pitchers can. Still, sometime you just have to throw the damn ball and rely on your defense.
12. I suppose this is old news by now, but you've got to love Moose:
http://community.webshots.com/album/440788068wMpNBf
And a jinx? Please.
13. Just a comment.
He's been solid for us for years, sort of on the down low, with Clemens and Pettitte overshadowing. No matter what happens. If what Moose said is in fact true:
I tip my hat and thank him with all my heart for pitching with the pain, knowing without him, we may not be in the position we're in. I hope you come back, but if not, you did your part Mike, thank you.
14. rbj.
I hate Carl Everett more! One out, one strike to go.....grrrrrrr.
Either way, this is not the time to assault Mike. He carried us most of the season. Treat him that way!
15. Maybe they can start playing something nativce to New Orleans as a spirit lifter or well, just to let them know we are thinking of them. I hate to agree but there might be something to that God Awful God Bless America curse. For crying out loud George, could you at least find a performance by an artist that doesn't bust my eardrums and make my stomach hurt?
16. Looks like I raised some ire by saying I thought Moose was a jinx. I didn't mean it as a blame for the Yanks losing, just a gut feeling about the way he plays. That is, he's gutty and talented, but in his pursuit for perfection and control there's a quality of letting go that I don't see in his performance. My feeling of jinx is that he's destined to be a great player that never gets that 20th win, never gets that perfect game and never gets all the way to that championship ring. I know it doesn't make any sense, it was just an illogical lament.
Anyway, glad to see he has so many supporters.