Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
October 22, 2003
Goat to Hero

Seems people are happy with Mussina now. Here's the NY Post's take from Mark Hale.


His effort was best painted by looking at his at-bats against the pesky Luis Castillo. In the first, Mussina struck him out with pure heat. In the seventh, with a runner on second and two outs, he elected to intentionally walk Juan Pierre to pitch to Castillo with two men on. Then he unfurled a nasty curve to send Castillo to the bench.

Mussina also pitched out of a tough jam in the sixth when the Marlins put runners on first and third with two outs. But he jammed Derrek Lee and got a comebacker, getting the lead out at home. Then he wiped out Mike Lowell with a split-finger.

The Yanks signed Mussina for games just like this one. He couldn't have paid off their investment any better last night.


George Richards of the Miami Herald details Mussina's hard luck all the way back to Baltimore.

In 1997, Mussina stymied Cleveland in the American League championships. Still, the Orioles lost both of his starts despite him giving Baltimore than everything it needed to win.

In that series, the former first-round pick out of Stanford gave up one run in 15 innings and struck out 25. He allowed just four hits, but the Orioles couldn't score against the Indians. Cleveland advanced to the World Series by winning Game 6 in the 11th inning; in that game, Mussina gave up one hit in eight innings.

''He pitched two of the greatest games I've ever seen in my 25 years in the game,'' Orioles first base coach John Stearns said after losing to Cleveland.

``We couldn't get it done.''

The Yankees finally came through for him Tuesday night.


Filip Brody of the NY Daily News finds Mussina's lucky number:
Mussina threw sevens: He scattered seven hits through seven innings, left seven stranded. He also struck out nine with his 111 pitches. "He had an outstanding breaking ball and was putting his fastball exactly where he wanted it," Mel Stottlemyre said.

I think Mussina was very close to be branded someone who couldn't pitch a big game, despite his history of doing very well in his post-season starts. I'm glad he won and put those stories to rest.


Posted by David Pinto at 09:48 AM | World Series | TrackBack (0)