Moose Wins 20; Punches ticket to Cooperstown

Personally, at the end of the 2007, after Mike Mussina went 11-10 in 150+ innings with a 5.15 ERA and a WHIP over 1.4, I had hoped the Yankees would banish him to the bullpen, or better yet the waiver wire.

I’m back, though, at the end of 2008 and I can say that I am thankful that the Moose stayed.  With the misery that was the Yankees 2008, one of the best things to watch was Moose’s quest for 20 wins.  In 17 “full” seasons in the majors, Mussina had won over 18 games five times and 19 games twice. He entered Sunday’s start, his final start of a strong 2008 rebound campaign 19-9 in 194 innings with a 3.47 ERA and 1.2 WHIP.

Last year, Mussina’s gas would be clocked at 87-89 miles an hour and guess what?  Major League hitters abused him.  That’s ok, he still tried to throw it by people.  It didn’t work.  This year, however, Mussina evolved into a Greg-Maddux-type nibbler and he was great.  He honed his control and was able to spot pitches.  He walked fewer runners than any season in his career.  He gave up the fewest earned runs (75) in his career since 1992 (68).  The best part about it, though, is that he still struck people out.  Although he was resigned to spotting his fastball and not trying to throw it by people, I am willing to bet he had more people caught looking than anyone in the American League.

With his win today against the Red Sox, Mike Mussina won his 20th game of the season, becoming the oldest player to get 20 wins for the first time.  In my opinion, this year clinches a spot for Mussina in Cooperstown.  The big knocks against him were that he had never won 20 and had never won the Cy Young (He finished second in 1999).  Now that Mussina has won 20, let’s look at his key numbers:

• 270 career wins with a legitimate shot at 300 if he pitches 2-3 more years (33rd all-time: more than HOFers Jim Palmer, Bob Feller, Juan Marichal, Whitey Ford)
• At least 11 wins for every year in his career (17 times) except 1991 when he only pitched 87 innings and started 12 times
• 270-153 overall (with every pitcher 100 games over .500 in the Hall)
• 8 Cy Young Top 6 finishes (9th should be this year)
• 6 All-Star games
• 3.69 career ERA, 1.192 career WHIP
• 2813 career strikeouts (19th overall: more than HOFers Warren Spahn, Cy Young, Bob Feller, Christy Mathewson, Sandy Koufax, et al)
• Six gold gloves
• 7.11 K/9 innings (77th all-time)
• 3.59 K:BB ratio (13th all-time)

Given these numbers (and who he is ahead of), I think it’s difficult to argue that the Moose isn’t a Hall of Famer.  His only drawbacks are no Cy Young and no World Series titles.  Two big ones, I know, but he was a great pitcher with consistency.  He won a ton of games and was absolutely one of the best of this generation.  Even if he chooses to retire after this season, I think Mike Mussina should start writing his speech for Cooperstown.

Goodbye Yankee Stadium

I never made it to the original Yankee Stadium, it was torn down before I was born.  For as long as I could remember I spent at least one summer afternoon or evening at baseball’s cathedral in the Bronx.  In my lifetime, I think I’ve been to Yankee Stadium somewhere between 60 – 100 times and there’s no way to tell given that I only started collecting my ticket stubs over the past 2-3 years.

This year, while my 5-9 record won’t indicate it, I saw some great games.  A personal high, 14 games seen in person this summer.  Two against Boston, two against the Mets in the final year of Yankee Stadium.

I’ve watched hundreds of games on tv.  I saw all four clinching outs of the 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000 World Series’ and can still hear Joe Buck say “The Yankees are champions of baseball!” when Charlie Hayes caught the last out at Yankee Stadium in 1996.  I can still see Wade Boggs riding the horse and him being given a helmet at the parade down the canyon of heroes.  I saw Jim Abbott’s no-hitter at my cousin’s house on Long Island.  I watched the games after 9/11 and Aaron Boone’s home run against Tim Wakefield in 2003.

I don’t remember exactly, but I think my first game was against Texas sometime in the very late 1980s or the early 1990s.  I’ve been to games in rain, snow, and sun.  I’ve been there for bat day, days celebrating the lives of Phil Rizzuto and Joe DiMaggio, and for Old Timers’ Day.  I’ve been to monument park at least a dozen times.  I’ve taken my friends on tours of the park, pointing out all the retired numbers and where I sat for some of my most memorable games.  I’ve sat in every section you could possible sit in: field level, main box, loge, both upper deck sections, and the bleachers.  I’ve chanted “Boston Sucks,” worn the shirt and been told to cover it up.  I’ve been to opening days, the last game of the regular season, and a ton of games in between.  I almost caught a foul ball last year, but I misplayed it and the ball hit me in the arm and bounced back a row. I’ve taken the Stadium tour, sat on the the dugout bench, and been in the clubhouse.  I saw the black square hanging from one locker with the white “15″ on it, and i hit the sign from the clubhouse to the dugout with the immortal words of Joe DiMaggio: “I want to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee.”

While I don’t remember the first time I was at the Stadium, I will remember the last, Thursday night, a win over the Chicago White Sox.  Since I got back home after that game, I have compiled a list of the top ten games I have been to in my life at Yankee Stadium, evoking my favorite memories of baseball, Yankee Stadium, and the summer.  If you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have said I haven’t really been to many special occasions at Yankee Stadium in my life, missing some milestones by one day (A-Rod’s 500th home run, Derek Jeter passing Lou Gehrig for the all-time hits record at Yankee Stadium). When I made this list, though, I realized that I have been to a lot of special occasions at the Stadium.  I had a terrible time ranking these, because they are each special memories to me, so let me share them with you:

10.  Yankees vs. Mets [June 27, 2008] – This was the last Subway Series game to ever be played at Yankee Stadium and it was also part one of a subway doubleheader, where the Yankees hosted game one and the Mets hosted game two.  The Yanks got clobbered behind Carlos Delgado’s nine RBIs, but it was cool to be there for that.  Box Score.

9. Yankees vs. Twins [July 2, 2007] – In this game, on his third or fourth attempt, Roger Clemens secured career win number 350, a number I thought would never be reached ever again (Greg Maddux did it this year). Box Score.

8. Yankees vs. Blue Jays [June 3, 2008] – Joba Chamberlain’s first start.  I’ve never seen so much excitement leading up to a game than Joba’s first start.  The Yanks lost and Chamberlain left in the third inning, but this was a dawning of a new era to many Yankee fans and people were screaming and taking pictures the whole pre-game.  Box Score.

7. Yankees vs. Cubs [June 18, 2005] – Not only was this the first regular season series between two of baseball’s most historic teams, but after a little over nine years in the big leagues, Derek Jeter hit his first career grand slam.  Box Score.

6. Yankees vs. Red Sox [May 7, 1994] - I think this was my first Yankee-Red Sox game and it featured Clemens and Melido Perez.  Somehow the Bronx Bombers won this one, but what I remember the most about this game was that it is my earliest memory of monument park.  I remember being in monument park and we walked right next to the visitor’s bullpen where Clemens was preparing for the start.  I could barely see over the wall there, but my Dad lifted me up and showed me Clemens throwing, not five feet from me.  Box Score.

5. Yankees vs. Devil Rays [September 27, 1998] - Last day of the regular season.  We sat on the main level of the left field outfield.  Shane Spencer, the September hero of 1998, hit a grand slam and Bernie Williams won the batting title that day.  Williams had gone back into the locker room and when people were standing, screaming for him, someone had to go get him and Bernie came out with his pants on, a t-shirt, sandals and his glasses for the curtain call.  Box Score.

Andy Pettitte started for the Yankees on Opening Day 1996

4. Yankees vs. Royals [April 9, 1996] - Opening Day, 1996, in the snow.  Fresh off their first postseason appearance since the 1980s, Don Mattingly and Buck Showalter were gone and this was the beginning of the Joe Torre/Derek Jeter era.  We were sitting in right field in the last occupied section of the loge (amazing how the place wasn’t always sold out until they started winning championships again).  I was at the end and I kept complaining to my Dad about how cold I was.  He was about ready to smack me when he got up and noticed that my whole right side was covered in snow.  I think we lasted four to five innings of the Yankee win.  Box Score.

Paul Simon on Joe DiMaggio Day

3. Yankees vs. Blue Jays [April 25, 1999] – Joe DiMaggio Day.  The Yankee Clipper had passed away a few months earlier and this was George Steinbrenner’s tribute to him.  Paul Simon came out and sang Mrs. Robinson in centerfield.  Although I never saw DiMaggio play, I was smart enough to realize that he was one of the best and most revered Yankees of all-time and it was an emotional day.  Box Score.  Video.

2. Yankees vs. Rangers [April 26, 1995] - Opening Day after the strike.  My father pulled me out of school for this and that alone is worth being in the top five memories.  Fathers and sons at baseball game, passing the love of the game on, is really what baseball is all about.  One of my favorites of this era, Jimmy Key, made the start for the Yanks.  I remember that my father and I went down early to see the players and Reggie Jackson was there, signing autographs and some of the other players signed too.  My other favorite, Paul O’Neill, walked into the ballpark and didn’t wave or anything. I love the guy for the way he played the game, but when baseball was trying to earn fans’ respect back, that wasn’t the way to do it.

1. Yankees vs. Red Sox [July 1, 2004] – Derek Jeter diving into the stands.  Yankee-Boston games are always special, but this game had the feel of a World Series game.  In the top of the 12th, Trot Nixon popped a ball up near the stands on the third base side of the field, a ball that, from our seats in the first row of the upper deck on the foul side of the right field foul pole, was clearly going into the stands was snagged by Jeter as he dove into the stands.  Wow.  That’s what everyone in the place said.  He was banged up and needed help being brought back to the dugout, but that was a baseball player.  This also marked the only time that A-Rod played shortstop with the Yankees, replacing Jeter in the field in the top of the 13th with Gary Sheffield moving to third base.  The Yanks won in the bottom of the 13th when John Flaherty pinch hit for Tanyon Sturtze (with all the defensive changes, the Yanks needed starting DH Bernie Williams in the field, so they sacrificed the DH) and hit a double down the left field line, scoring Miguel Cairo. I’ve seen two Stanley Cup final games in my life and they don’t come close to the energy in Yankee Stadium after the win that night.  There was constant screaming and excitement on the way down the ramps and you couldn’t hear anything.  That memory represents how special the Yankees and Yankee Stadium are.

Honorable Mentions: Derk Jeter going for Gehrig’s record against he White Sox on September 15, 2008 with a ton of camera flashes; seeing Joba Chamberlain’s father Harlan on April 3, 2008 and everyone stopping and chanting Joba’s name; the day the Yankees were given their 1996 World Series rings in 1997 (don’t remember the date and would appreciate help!).

We all have our special memories of Yankee Stadium.  I don’t agree with them tearing it down and I will miss it.  The Stadium was like my second home in the summer, especially since I’ve gotten older and bought my own ticket packs.  I will cherish the memories of the games I have been to, many I can’t remember right now, and allow the Stadium to live on through those memories.

As we approach 8:00 and the first pitch of the last game of the Stadium, I warn that next year will not be the same and the new Yankee Stadium won’t replace the old, but I guess that’s what my father would say about this stadium.  I have taken a ton of pictures and will always remember Yankee Stadium as an important part of my summers.  The players changed, the teams changed, but Yankee Stadium was always a constant.

For now though, the only thing left to say is Goodbye.

Cinderella Lives in Saint Pete

So, let me get this straight.  The Yankees aren’t in the playoffs, but the Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays are?

As of yesterday, the Tampa Bay Rays, yes, those Tampa Bay Rays, have clinched the first playoff berth in franchise history.  No longer the Devil Rays or the Devil Dogs, Tampa Bay is a good baseball team and I extend my sincere congratulations to them.

Since their inception in 1998, the Devils Rays were the biggest joke in Major League Baseball, losing year after year, with no end in sight.  The team had terrible ownership and management that had no clue about building an MLB team.

Then the team was sold, it was rebranded as the “Rays.”  All of a sudden, the team’s draft picks were paying off.  They pulled off a heist when they acquired Scott Kazmir from the Mets for Victor Zambrano.  In the beginning of 2008, the Rays started strong with good, young talented players.  Ok, I thought, but they’re a fluke, they’ll start to lose.

But they never did start to lose.  They’ll fade, I said around the all-star break.  But they never did.  They’re not experienced enough, but it doesn’t matter.  The Tampa Bay Rays are headed to their first playoffs, somehow.  That’s the magic of the baseball season.  There are 162 games and only the best survive and this year, the Rays have been great.  I’m excited for them.  They struggled in the beginning of their existence, but righted the ship when they discovered the value of draft picks and young talent.

Congratulations Rays, good luck in October and I hope you beat the Red Sox for the AL East title.