moose rules everything around me

The pockets of early-arriving fans had greeted Mike Mussina in a most unfamiliar way as he strode past them early yesterday afternoon.

Mussina had made the long, loping walk from his car to the gate wearing his ever-impassive game face, and it stayed that way even as the fans behind the blue police barriers showered him with hope. "You're our guy, Moose!" one screamed; "You're the ace!" yelled another; "Ace! Ace! Ace!" chanted a third.

It's astounding when you consider how good Mussina has been as a Yankee, and how much money he has earned, that he's never truly been considered the stopper of the staff, even when he was the nominal ace. There was always someone else occupying everyone's attention: Roger Clemens or Andy Pettitte, David Wells or Randy Johnson.

...And seven hours after being serenaded with the uncommon chants of "Ace!" Mussina left the mound to the far more familiar chorus of "MOOOOOOOSE!"

"It's always gratifying when you do your job well," Mussina said, "and people appreciate it."

He is 6-1 now, his ERA nudged just a hair north to 2.54, eight quality starts in eight appearances. All of this done in a straight-up showdown with Schilling, the blowhard social critic who occasionally doubles as the Red Sox' ace. Schilling, who had plenty to say about the manners and mannerisms of New York on Tuesday, showed up Wednesday and was nice enough to serve up batting practice for five innings.

Why, oh why, do bad things happen to good people? [mike vaccaro]

Labels: yanquis

8:44 AM :: ::

4 Comments:

• he did look awfully koot when he waved to the crowd before retiring. Maybe that's just the gratitude talking.

  By  June, at 12:02 AM   <$BlogItemControl$>

• Is that a Wu-Tang reference?

  By  Anonymous, at 1:31 PM   <$BlogItemControl$>

• yes

  By  lupe!, at 2:01 PM   <$BlogItemControl$>

• Nice. Billie Holiday and now Wu-Tang.

  By  Anonymous, at 2:36 PM   <$BlogItemControl$>

Post a Comment
<< Home

lupe! :: permalink