Moose is the man for Yanks
Mike Mussina just makes you stop and marvel. This was about the time last year that the wheels came off for Moose, lost in some version of Yankees no-man land as Joe Torre just didn’t feel confident enough to give Mussina the ball. That made sense, since Mussina didn’t know where it was going anyway.
Guess what? That’s not the case anymore and it hasn’t been for all of 2008. Mussina put up victory No. 15 last night in beating the Rangers, moving the Yankees out of Texas with two wins in the four-game series. There has been some reinventing for Moose, some tweaking from the way he used to pitch, but this isn’t all about change.
It’s about a 39-year-old having the knowledge and ability to get past a big league lineup, and renew debate about whether or not he should come back for another season in pinstripes. It’s an idea that few had coming into this season, but maybe Mussina has earned a roster spot on the ’09 Yankees, finances permitting.
On a timely note, here’s Mussina answering some questions in a Yahoo! Q&A. It seems Moose subscribes to Popular Photography, puts mustard on his hot dogs, drank “a single beer” (or more) in college, and cannot operate a cash register.
Notes and quotes: Phil Hughes threw 68 pitches over 4 2/3 innings for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday. He’ll throw about 85 on Tuesday at Pawtucket. Seems Phil has also scrapped his slider for a cutter. … Carl Pavano threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings for Double-A Trenton. … Hideki Matsui started his running program in Tampa. It still seems like a long shot, but Matsui has nothing to lose. … The Yankees’ first base coach was batting practice pitcher Mitch Seone, wearing Brett Gardner’s No. 11. Bobby Meacham was excused for a wedding. …
Bryan Hoch
Alex Rodriguez, was 0 for 14 in the series and created 18 outs. There’s your hero, there’s your savior, that’s what he’s about. How you can be proud of splitting with Texas is laughable. Sidney Ponson and Richie Sexson that’s what the Yankees have become a team of castoff losers that you spares rally around because they give you a couple of wins.
This franchise is the $225 million embarrassment of baseball.
We should have swept this series and be a little closer to Boston know, I can’t believe Joba is down now. I am a Yankee fan and I agree with jbs_@prodigy.net when he said that this is a 225 million dollar franchise and how badly we are playing. Yankees are more closer to the Blue Jays then they are to the Rays. In the end I think they can win, because when they play the division from August 19-31 they better take two games from eac of those series. I would like a sweep but, let’s just take two out of three.
Moose has been fantastic, but even he cant turn a 4 game split series into a Yankees three game series win
Let’s see if Ian Kennedy has righted the ship, tough welcome back stepping into Anaheim. Go Yanks!
Again, jbs@_prodigy.net, congratulations on stating the obvious, CAPTAIN OBVIOUS. Would you like a brownie point? Does your post make you feel like some kind of baseball genius? I know it’s fun to poor salt in the wound, but if you know anything about baseball, you know that the Yankees are never “embarrassing” for long. We’ll be back to stomping Boston’s *** in NO TIME, bank it, cosider it gospel. Noone that posts on this blog is “proud” of a split series with Texas, Captain Obvious. Noone’s making excuses here, Captain Obvious, or has any delusions about the state of this team right now, Captain Obvious. You are wasting your time, go back to the rock you crawled from under.
http://healthhabits.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/captainobvious.jpg
DDdreamer, If you look at my post, I don’t want Melky out of center field. I was putting Nady in center based on Mike’s post. I’m a huge Melky guy (as you see that I have him as my starter in my ’09 roster).
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Tgooch, no offense, but signing Santana hasn’t done diddly crap to help the Mets. THIS, the AL East, is the toughest division in baseball, and your “Jesus Reborn” Santana has a VEEEEERY average record in this division (13-11 with an ERA around 3.50), he’s 4-4 vs. Boston (with a 1-3 record and a 6.89 ERA at Fenway), he’s 2-4 with an ERA of 4.84 vs Toronto, and your “big game pitcher/staff ace” has a 1-4 playoff record. These are numbers that are worth a 150 million dollar contract, our starting center fielder, and our 2 most promising pitching prospects with their ENTIRE careers in front of them? Meanwhile, Santana’s career is half over?Why, because Hughes and Kennedy have had trouble coming out of the gate? Their both not competing for a Cy Young award at age 21, and 23? Have some damn patience. Your “woulda, coulda, shoulda, forget the future, win NOW” philosophy is why this team is the bad shape it’s in in the first place. IT DOESN’T WORK.
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We already have an “ace” who can beat Beckett, and who has already proven it. His name is Joba Chamberlain. Furthermore, we can get CC Sabathia next year without losing ANY prospects, and HE has a STELLAR record in the AL East. Santana’s numbers have been inflated his entire career by playing in a notoriously WEAK division, and he’s managed to have only marginal success in a NL division that is just slightly better. Don’t spend time looking in the rearview mirror, Gooch.
Johan Santana will NOT even win 15 games this year. Yep, staff ace alright. We should have traded them our entire AAA roster to get him.
I’m going to get so much satisfaction out of watching all these Goobers writhe with malcontent when we spend every nickel of that 80 million dollars this off-season, and field a team that looks like is was built in a video game next year. That way we can “buy” another championshhip and shove number 27 right up their A-S-S! LOL, of course, we’ll have to find a way to keep them all off the disabled list, but that’s another story for another post.
Thanks for the link Bryan on Phil Hughes…so he added a cutter to the arsenal…nice. So he has a 94-95 mph fastball, a SAVAGE curveball and a cutter…awe yeah, love that dude, I miss him. The curveball is my fave pitch that he has, it just buckles hitters’ knees…uh it’s a thing of beauty. Sweet bomb by Jeet last night, I feel bad for rippin’ him earlier in the week, I never usually bash Jeet cuz sooner or later he always comes through. A-Rod on the other hand…eh I don’t feel like talking or thinking about A-Rod right now. Good luck to Ian tonight, I hate West Coast games.
Um, last time I checked we were 3 games out of the wild card and we just won two straight with a decimated team…You wanna rip on alex? FINE…he had a bad series. And ya know something, you are too stupid for me to argue with.
This guy was leading the AL in hitting!!! He had a bad series-you never saw a player have a bad series? Freaking vernon wells is never healthy and he has a HUGE contract! What about Vlad “the impaler”? He leads the league in GIDPs!!! LOOK AT HIS CONTRACT!
Test tube baby….stop posting here because you make about as much sense as peeing into a 140mph wind.
Chaz question: Would you have taken Santana for Jeff Karstens and Jorge Tabata?
Alex is a head case. He is so worried about how people view him that he puts extra pressure on himself to perform in clutch situations . Unfortunately, the harder he tries the more he fails. At this point in his slump he is chasing at outside curveballs in the dirt. All the scouts know it and therefore, all the pitchers he sees will keep throwing that pitch. Until Alex stops trying so hard and stops swinging, and yes, takes a walk or two the pitchers will not give him anything to hit. He has to lay off and relax. But, alas that’s why he has the problem. He can’t relax. He is too worried about his image. That’s what being a head case is.
Mike, in a New York minute.
Don’t mistake my bashing Santana for hating him. He’s still a great pitcher. Just not worth what the asking price was.
If A-Rod is our “hero” or our “saviour” then why do we make fun of him, and expect exactly 0 production from him unless we’re up by 6 runs? I’d like to know when he replaced Jeter or Moose as our “hero”.
Good points on Tex vs Jacobs Matt, would you say Tex’s numbers with the Rangers are a product of the ballpark in Arlington being a hitters’ ballpark? He didn’t hit that great with the Braves, he’s a good player, but I hear he’s gonna want a ten yr contract. On the Santana front to be fair there has been plenty of games where he could have gotten the win, the Mutts can’t hold his leads or give him run support, he has a above average ERA, I never put that much stock in win/loss records anyway. I’m still glad the Yanks are going with youth though.
Well I really like Salty, he’s unhappy or ‘salty’ about not being the full time catcher, I think Liard stays. Jarrod is still learning how to catch, he just turned 23 so he has a lot of upside. And when he’s ‘on’ at the plate he hits the sweetest line drives I have ever seen. I like Salty for the Yanks too.
It’s easier to give a guy 10 years when he’s still really young, Tex is like what, 27? If he want a decade long contract, give him a 7 year deal with options for the next 3. Stack it with a big signing bonus, some incentives for performance, and make the total figure more than anyone else, and he’s in pinstripes.
I actually have Saltalamacchia as my backup catcher on my baseball video game. I like his batting stance.
How about a 1 year deal with a club option on year 2, then at year 3 and option for the next 5? Then options on the final 2 years? 10 years with 5 as options.
Having said that. The Yankees should always put a club option on the first 2 years of every deal. That way, if the guy can’t handle the pressure of playing in New York, we’re not stuck with him (Pavano).
Jacobs would an upgrade because giambi will be 38 and jacobs will be 28. Giambi has a huge contract, jacobs will come cheap. Texeira wants 10 yrs. TEN. Teixera is a good player but he’s not worth 10 yrs $180 million. C’mon! Adam Dunn has way more power then him and HE isn’t even worth that kind of contract.
I say if anything go after Dunn (instead of Ichiro) and get Jacobs for first with the big pitcher being CC. Those three guys would make this a sick team…sign fuentes!
Matt, in that case, we can go after Ichiro and Sign Tex IF he’ll take less then 10 yrs.
But I TOTALLY disagree with you that Kennedy will win anywhere close to 250 games. David Cone only won like 180 and Kennedy will never in a million years have the kind of stuff that Cone had-ever.
A-Rod is definitely a stat guy. He would peak at the scoreboard after his ABs. What a nut, it’s common sense your average is going to drop if you don’t get hits.
jbs… half our roster is on the dl, you might want to process that fact before yu bash us, a-hole. Ponson, Geise, Rasner, and Sexson wouldn’t be part of this roster if it weren’t for injuries. Logical. Funny how you didn’t mention how we got Damaso Marte, Xavier Nady and Ivan Rodriguez without giving up our farm.
We’ll see how you feel next year, when we have CC at the top of the rotation ( and Wang after that ), K-Rod setting Mo up while filling in when Mo gets tired, and Teixeira fielding grounders from A-Rod, Jeter and Cano. Did you forget Posada and Giambi? Oh yeah, Ivan too.
You just wait until we’re healthy punk. No team wil stand a chance. Then yu’ll really feel those 225 million dollars rolling down your spine.
Oh, and don’t look now, but we shutout the best offense in he league last night. We would’ve swept if it werent for this horrible fill-in pitching.
I will not make any excuses for the yankees this year. It has been a tough year for them so far. If you look at the standings this season is not over yet. There are plenty of games against Boston and Tampa bay.
I see Kennedy as Mike Mussina minus the Ivy League Education; Similar stuff and similar delivery (IPK even bends completely over and stands back up like Moose from the stretch). Also minus the poise that Moose carries himself with. As soon as Kennedy learns how to treat the game the right way, and say the right things, I think it will help his performance on the field.
I see Hughes as another David Cone type pitcher. I don’t have a crystal ball either, but I expect Hughes to notch a few wins in 2008, and come strong in 2009. If we can have him solid for next season, look the hell out. Someone will have to pull us off the AL, because we are going to own them ALL.
I hope he’s not going to push himself and wind up under the knife. If it’s not 100%, just call it a season. We don’t want to ruin him forever just so he can pitch September 2008.
Oh, and don’t look now, but we shutout the best offense in he league last night. We would’ve swept if it werent for this horrible fill-in pitching.
By bronxkidd@hotmail.com on August 8, 2008 4:46 PM **** **********************
BK, I didn’t realize Joba and Andy were fill ins!! They were the starters in the 2 losing games. We will be using fill ins against the alleged “best team in Baseball”, Ian & Guise, except for Moose going on Sunday… We do need to be playing better than .500 ball during this road trip to stay afloat. And we’ll be on the road for much of the remaining games … We need to get out s*** together…. For Tex maybe a 5 year deal w/options… The long term contracts are killing us… Regardless of what you being said, Ponson has been a good pickup for us and at a very reasonable cost… I only hope we can get healthy soon.
“GO YANKEES!”
fjr is right, Ponson has been a pleasant surprise. I just don’t know if he was a good “pick up”. NOTHING can pick Ponson up.
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Sorry, I just can’t help myself now. I’ve completely warmed up to Sidney, but I can’t stop it with the fat jokes. With as good as he’s throwing, do you think that Molina and Pudge are waving a bucket of chicken in his face before each start? “Look, Sid, original recipe! Pitch good……..get chicken.”
If I was the GM Yankees would spent big money on pitching and maybe a big bat. Baseball is about Pitching and defense. There are alot good gloves and good arms the field. I think that you need players with alot of fire like that Thurman Munson Paul O’Neil. I was a Big Fan of Billy Martin even though he would over pitch alot of pitchers. Pitchers used to take pride in pitching 9 innings.
Gooch, that’s true. Complete games will soon become a thing of the past.
Ponson has definitely earned his respect as a ball player. No trouble out of him so far and he’s done decently for us. fjr, it’s true what you say about Pettitte, but you can’t really pin that other loss on Chamb! The fact that he got injured and didn’t pitch five innings gets him the benefit of the doubt, in my opinion. Ponson and Mussina came hrough for us. We’ve got to play even better baseball now that we’re up against the big dogs of he league ( I remeber when we had that fear factor ). Let’s see how we do against the Halos tonight.