August 02, 2008
Two for One
Mike Mussina allowed two hits over seven innings to help the Yankees to an 8-2 win over the Angels, ending LAnaheim's winning streak of five games. Mussina could have allowed no runs except for a poor attempt at turning a double play. He retired the last seventeen batters he faced.
The win takes Mike's record to 14-7. If he maintain two wins for one loss the rest of the way, it will be his 8th season with a winning percentage of .667 or better. He's now 264-151 for his career, a .636 winning percentage.
Posted by David Pinto at
06:56 PM
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Hall of Famer? Figure he has another couple seasons left with another 20 wins or so. Seems he might come just shy of 300. Hall of Famer? I think so.
I think he ought to be a first ballot hall-of-famer. He won't be, but he should. It'd be an absolute joke if he wasn't elected at all.
Compare him to his fellow Oriole Jim Palmer:
Palmer was 268-152 in 19 seasons, 2.86 era, 7.63 h/9, .69 hr/9, 2.99 bb/9, 5.04 k/p, 1.18 whip. Era + 126
Moose -- 263-151 in nearly 18 seasons, 3.70 era, 8.73 h/9, .96 hr/9, 1.99 bb/9, 7.09 k/9, 1.19 whip. Era+ 122
Fairly evenly matched no? Very close in wins/losses, era+, whip etc. Palmer gave up fewer hits and homers, but walked way more, and struck out far fewer. Moose has a much higher era too, but he's pitched straight through the steroid era, while Palmer pitched in an era when a 30 homer season was outstanding.
He never won anything, so he's really a Don Sutton type who is going to have win 300 to get in. We'll see if Moose can get his Sutton on in his 40's and get the wins he need. I think he's made the necessary adjustments this year and will continue to be effective in the future.
Personally, I hope Moose gets in, but what I would stress is how he has revived his career this year after a horrendous 2007 (and clearly, this year has greatly improved his HoF chances).
Personally, I hope Moose gets in, but what I would stress is how he has revived his career this year after a horrendous 2007 (and clearly, this year has greatly improved his HoF chances).
"he didn't win anything" is the silliest argument. I mean really, c'mon.
Moose has been a flatout great pitcher for nearly 2 decades.
His era+ is 122
Sutton's was 108.
So yeah, Sutton had to get an eyepopping number of wins so the press could vote him in.
Moose doesn't need that. He's Jim Palmer, and like Palmer should get in first ballot.
YF
JP won 3 CY's and pitched on 2 WS winners (actually 3, but he didn't pitch much in'83). He also won 20 games 8 out of 9 straight years. That's why he was elected into the HoF. High impact big years make an impression., and Mussina hasn't had any years like JP's peak years.
Compare Mussina to a contemporary like P Martinez. Moose has won 50 more games than PM. It doesn't matter because Martinez has the big years. PM could have dropped dead 3 years ago and he would still get elected.
Since Moose hasn't had any big years, he needs to have a very long career and get the 300 wins to force his election.
The HoF voters use that "if you don't have any big years and didn't play for a winner, you better hit some important milestones" standards. It has its flaws, but it's not a bad standard.
If Palmer and Moose were in the same rotation Moose'd know Palmers pitch chart like the back of his hand. No knock on Mussina but Palmer was the best AL pitcher of his era - Moose is a very good pitcher but is the next notch down.