Thursday, September 13, 2007
I Know that Dude…
I didn’t expect to see Mike Mussina pitch well last night. The Moose we’ve seen this year has been hit and miss, and lately it’s been just lots of miss. Mussina gave the Yankees 5.2 scoreless innings in their 4-1 win over Toronto. I’ve seen some sentiment that Mussina pitching well last night just means that it gives him a chance to sabotage the season later, but the Yankees need wins right now, and that type of thinking just doesn’t make sense to me. Is it that difficult to believe that someone with Mussina’s track record can pitch decently over the rest of the year?
If Mussina brought the same stuff he’d been bringing to the mound the last few times out then I could understand that thinking more, but take a look at these numbers from MLB’s enhanced Gameday.
87 pitches
49 fastballs
Average fastball, 90.3 mph, high fastball 92.4 mph.
If Mussina has recovered his velocity, there’s no reason to think he can’t be okay going forward.
Joba Chamberlain gave up his first run, although it wasn’t his fault. Booo A-Rod. Boo.
Baseball Prospectus’s playoff odds for the Yankees are now ranging from 90% to 96%.
It was the Yankees’ seventh win in a row, and they needed it with Detroit winning. The division’s all but gone, apparently Al Reyes took the Red Sox at 3-1 and is doing everything in his power to collect.
Update: I just saw this article about next season and thought it was interesting.
NY Times: Kepner - As Yankees Look to Cash in Now, Stars Await in 2008
No matter how their season ends, the Yankees will have little time to savor victory or dwell on defeat. They have major personnel decisions to make in the immediate aftermath of the season.
The Yankees would like to re-sign Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera, who have had strong seasons and are potential free agents.
Actually, they have already decided on the basics: They would like to re-sign the potential free agents Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Alex Rodriguez, and they almost certainly will pick up their $16 million option on right fielder Bobby Abreu.
Page 1 of 1 pages: