As Mike Mussina walked off the mound yesterday he waved to the 53,633 sweaty Yankee Stadium fans serenading him with Mooooooose, paying homage to the latest in a string of solid starts. It’s a shame the Yankees squandered it.
The 39-year-old Mussina gutted out the 94 degree heat for an eight-inning, two-run gem, his longest outing since May 31, 2006. But Mariano Rivera gave up a ninth-inning solo home run in a 3-2 loss to Kansas City.
“It’s nice to know I can still go out and be efficient on a warm day, command my stuff for that long and get people out,” said Mussina. “It was a tight game. I gave myself a chance, gave us a chance; we just didn’t pull it off.”
Mussina – who retired the side in five of his eight frames and threw just 89 pitches – is 8-1 with a 3.11 ERA in his last 10 starts. But he failed in his bid to become the AL’s first 10-game winner, thanks to one hanging curveball that Miguel Olivo hit for a two-run shot.
“(He was) great again,” said manager Joe Girardi. “He threw the ball outstanding. It would’ve been nice to get his 10th win, but it wasn’t meant to be. Moose was so good. He went back out and did a nice job in the eighth. Two runs in eight innings, usually that’s going to win a game. It just didn’t.”
Mussina was tossing a three-hit shutout when Jose Guillen doubled in the seventh. With two out he went to the well one too many times, trying to sneak a first-pitch curve by Olivo – as he had done earlier – and paid for it.
“I did it to him one at-bat before that, so he either went up there thinking about it or looking for it,” Mussina said. “It was my call; I dumped it in there, and he hit it out. It’s usually really not a great idea to do it more than one time.”
Mussina convinced Girardi to give him another inning. Alex Rodriguez tied it with a two-run shot and Mussina pitched a 1-2-3 eighth.
“I said I felt good,” Mussina said. “He said, ‘Let’s see you try and win.’ It was nice to get a shot at it.”