Moooooooooose

There have been a lot of "Moose" calls this year at Yankee Stadium as Mike Mussina must have drank from the fountain of youth. Last night was another great performance as he pitched eight shutout innings, striking out seven, walking none, while spreading out 6 hits over 105 pitches. Mussina's ERA is now 3.26 and he is tied for the league lead with 13 wins.

The other day while doing predictions for the second half, Mike Francesca of "Mike and the Mad Dog" said that anything Mussina gave the Yankees this year from now on is gravy. His point was that Mussina has pitched so beyond anyone's beliefs so far this year that it would be unfair to expect him to continue at a rate near to what he is at now.

I disagree.  With the way Mussina is hitting corners, mixing in and controlling his off-speed pitches, and (over the last few starts) lowered his batting average against, I think it is reasonable to assume he can continue pitching well for the rest of the year. Whether or not you want him to be, Mussina is probably the second best starter on the Yankees behind Joba. He is going to pitch in the playoffs and totally deserves to do so. I will now be looking forward to every fifth day when Moose gets to start.