wtf!

The low rumbling coming out of the stands yesterday had nothing to do with boos, a familiar sound at the Stadium this season because of the Yankees' bungling start. Yankee fans, eager for something to cling to, were imploring Mike Mussina to finish a shutout.

Fans were yelling, "Mooooose," encouraging the pitcher and begging Joe Torre to leave him in, though his pitch count was soaring. Torre asked Mussina how he was feeling and the pitcher said, "Go on back (to the dugout)."

On his 131st pitch, Mussina retired Bobby Kielty on a fly ball, securing a four-hitter and the Yankees' 5-0 victory in front of 52,776. The Yankees finally had something to feel good about as they moved ahead of the Devil Rays and out of last place in the AL East.

...The performance was vintage Mussina. He started 26 of 32 hitters with strikes and breezed through most innings. He was also fiery and irascible on the mound - he was grousing about balls-and-strikes calls by plate umpire Wally Bell even as he was trying to close out the ninth. "C'mon, Wally, that was a strike," he complained during Eric Chavez's at-bat in the ninth. Later, Mussina said, "The strike zone got slender or short. I don't know where it went."

Still, Mussina persevered. He finished the eighth having thrown 109 pitches and told Torre that he felt strong enough for the ninth. He got two quick outs but walked Chavez after getting ahead 1-2. Scott Hatteberg followed with a single, but Mussina was not in danger of coming out when Torre jogged to the mound to check on him.

When Torre walks to the mound, it generally means the pitcher is coming out, but when he trots, the pitcher has a shot to stay in.

"I left it up to him," Torre said. "It was his (decision). He certainly had the right to the ball. He had that look in his eye that you weren't going to get him off the mound."

Mussina got Kielty and the Yankees got what they hope will be a tonic. It was for the fans.

"I think the crowd's been looking for something to grab onto," Mussina said. "For one day, it was something to grab onto." [daily news]

i wanted to post this early in the AM before anything else could cloud my joy; as moose said, it was something to grab on to, which you might've noticed has been a few and far between thang (as one BTF game chatterer put it: "The end of the Roman Empire was a gradual process. This is more like the Soviets coming back at the Germans at Stalingrad. One day everything is good, and suddenly the next, wham! you’re getting slaughtered."). 'course, the "anything else" i was alluding to was the wretched kevin brown, but what do i come home to from a long day with my crazy old folks? a kevin brown shutout. i know the a's are abysmal right now, but gosh. i'm just happy they sent the a's packing before eric chavez woke up.

Labels: yanquis