Game 32: Age, youth square off
ByMike Mussina made his Major League debut on August 4, 1991, losing 1-0 to 43-year-old Charlie Hough. Felix Hernandez, the Mariners’ young stud, was all of five years old at the time.
Today, Mussina and the 253 games he has won since that debut loss will face off against Felix Hernandez, 22, and his 32 career wins. This could be quite the match-up. On one side, we’ve got Hernandez — anointed the King — a power pitcher with 41 strike outs in 44.1 innings this year. His ERA is a measly 2.22. On the other side is Mike Mussina who no longer generates too many swing-and-misses. His 12 strike outs has Moose sitting pretty at 3.34 K/9 IP, a career low. Mussina today relies on guile as he attempts to get hitters to swing weakly at breaking pitches and slow change ups.
For Mussina, this style of pitching has worked lately. Remove the Red Sox from his 2008 equation, and Moose has given up 8 earned runs in 23.2 innings, good for a 3.04 ERA. That’s downright great for a Yankee rotation struggling to prevent runs. Mussina won’t give the Yanks much in the way of distance; he tires around the five-inning mark. But he sure can hold his own against Hernandez.
Meanwhile, the struggling Yankee offense continues to run into brick walls. After facing Eric Bedard, they draw another Seattle ace in King Felix. Opponents are hitting .238/.306/.335, and the Yankees will go with their typical lineup these days.
Johnny Damon LF
Derek Jeter SS
Bob Abreu RF
Hideki Matsui DH
Jason Giambi 1B
Melky Cabrera CF
Robinson Cano 2B
Morgan Ensberg 3B
Jose Molina C
Mike Mussina P
Moose is taking that slow and slower approach pretty litterally so far….
is Nomaas down?
He did throw fastballs to our old buddy Miguel Cairo. That’s the 13th strike out victim of the year for Moose.
Looks like the NoMaas guys forgot to pay the bills.
Jason Giambi’s socks are not going to lift him out of his slump.
a slump to the tune of 98 OPS+ isn’t exactly that horrible.
he’s having some really shitty luck. but he’s not actually struggling as badly as people seem to assume (Cano on the other hand… should start worshiping Jobu)
Dude’s 1 for his last 15. That’s a slump.
Giambi going with the high socks. That’s not what Girardi meant when he told him he needed to change his approach.
Hey, it won’t make him jack 54 homers and knock in 156 runs but people are very superstitious.
And NoMass isn’t down, everything is running fine.
Ichiro is a ridiculous hitter. With Miguel Cairo up behind him, I’m not quite sure I agree with throwing anything close to a strike there.
Felix Hernadez is evolving into a very different kind of pitcher. He’s now sitting closer to 92-94 and throwing a lot more two seam fastballs. That’s been his pattern all year. Not throwing nearly as many 95+ fastballs.
Interesting to see how a supremely talented young pitcher is changing his game, trading velocity for movement and quicker at bats.
Historically, it seems that it starts to click with young pitchers in their third year. That’s why the struggles of Hughes & IPK are not the end of the world.
what? logic? reasoning? nooooo!!! PANIC BUTTONS ALL THE WAY!!! TRADE THEM FOR JEFF SUPPAN!!!!
Fatso on M&MD is advocating a deal for Bronson Arroyo, saying “”whatever it costs, the Yankees have to make a deal for a veteran starter”.
What an asshole.
I admire your persistency, Jamal, but why on Earth do you keep listening to those fools?
1. I find the ignorance entertaining.
2. To be honest, I’m an idiot.
3. They have Cashman and Girardi on regularly so I try to keep up so I can catch a listen.
I googled “bronson arroyo baseball reference” and in 0.29 seconds I found out that Arroyo has allowed 43 hits and 24 ER in 31 IP this year, good for a 62 ERA+. In the National League. Central.
Those idiots are … fucking idiots. How can they be allowed to speak this crap freely on the airwaves where young and innocent children might here them? Think of the children!
And I quote, “He has the guts to pitch in the AL East, I know he had a bad year last year but he has the guts to pitch in the AL East. I like that he’s a different guy, the musician and all, but he has the guts to pitch in the AL East”.
Ah, well being a musician makes all the difference in the world. It doesn’t matter if he’s throwing 88 with a flat slider as long as he can sit down for the occasional jam session.
That’s exactly why I brought up Hernandez. He was as talented as any young pitcher to enter the game over the past several years. All the tools you’d want. Even with that enormous talent it’s a learning process that takes time.
who are these guys hitting in RISP and what have they done with the 08 Yankees?
Lmao at Joe Girardi fooling Johnny Damon. Girardi has the real ball in his pocket and he just called for some random ball that was in the dirt making Damon think that ball was the real one.
Ibanez would fit right in with our team concept no?
Baserunning prowess, FTW!
BTW, did anyone check that Atlanta Hawks win over the Boston Celtics last night?
Another Boston playoff choke, FTW! Come on Hawks, one more victory.
hey at least Cano won’t make an out every time he’s up this game…
seriously though, wow the M’s are horrific with the gloves. i mean it’s one thing to have bad range and /or wall phobia. but it’s another to throw the ball in the the ground.
Yankees are catching some breaks.
I do believe that the answer to the trivia question is “Alex Rodriguez and Tino Martinez.” They both played 200 games in the Kingdom and Yankee Stadium.
My dark horse was Jeff Nelson.
ohlerud(sp?)?
Olerud was on the Yankees for 49 games. My answer will be the right one.
that was my third answer, your two came to mind first that was just a back up answer.
I was also thinking Jeff Nelson but I don’t think he would have made that many home appearances for either team.
forgot about him, turns out it was arod and tino.
under 50 pitches into the 4th…can moose make it into the 6th??
Might even make it to the 7th, if we’re lucky.
was getting worried there…dp right after the “mussina is really starting to slow down between pitches…not looking as comfortable out there.” Hopefully he can handle the bottom half of the order. Maybe we can avoid Farnsworth.
Was Michael Kay an abandoned child? He is so God Damn cynical about everything.
“Big Sexy” fails yet again.
Kay + O’Neil is probably the worest combination YES has to offer. Paulie is babbing like a cranky old man there.. and Kay’s simply nuts
Nice to see the battle of the two most overpaid, unproductive first basemen in the AL
whats the word on veras? was pretty useless in the bigs last year but has some pretty shiny stats from AAA this year. Could Veras/Albadejo be here to stay for a bit? Wasnt too impressed with Edwar the other night at the stadium…change didnt look to have quite the same bite and his fastball gets hit if he cant set it up.
pretty inconsistent control and breaking ball. he throws hard and setup a little like Mo though.
Felix Hernandez might be my second or third favorite player behind Hanley Ramirez (fave) and Ken Griffey Jr., but damn I do love seeing him struggle. You would think that’s normal when those guys face the Yankees but I always rooted for Griffey Jr. when he was in Seattle playing us. If Hanley ever does get the chance to play us before he’s inevitably dealt, I will be rooting just as hard. For some reason though I’m actually not rooting at all for King Felix today.
How the hell can you root for a player playing against us to do well? What kind of a fan are you?
I’m willing to be Jamal wants the player to well, but for the Yankees to win. I do that all the time. It’s okay to like players not on the Yankees.
Correct, probably should have detailed that.
“I’m willing to be Jamal wants the player to well, but for the Yankees to win.”
Did you type that with your face?
4/9 with risp. thats a sight for sore eyes…
5/10
Bobby Abreu has been unbelievable this (his contract) year. Team MVP on the hitting side.
I agree, Matsui a smidge under him.
For the season so far Abreu only has a .789 OPS (career .906 OPS). Matsui has a .887 OPS (career .857).
Abreu’s OBP this season is uncharacteristically low so far – only .336 OBP. Given that Abreu’s average is .280-290 this season a .336 OBP is very surprising for him. He’s hitting for decent power (.440 slugging) but isn’t getting on base that much.
Thanks Juicebino
damn shift
Yankees need to take a look at David Ortiz and see how he beats the shift.
Are we talking about the David Ortiz hitting .198/.305/.351? That’s the guy who hits into the shift every time at bat. Bad example.
BTW, who are your Top 5 favorite players overall in the game of baseball? Doesn’t even have to be a Major Leaguer (has to be an active player), just simply the game of baseball, who are your Top 5 favorites. Also who are your Top 5 Yankees favorites (again, active and doesn’t have to be in the Bronx)?
Top 5 Baseball Players
1. Hanley Ramirez
2. Ken Griffey Jr.
3. Felix Hernandez
4. Tim Lincecum
5. Alfonso Soriano
*Mark Prior
Top 5 Yankees Players
1. Robinson Cano
2. Jose Tabata
3. Alex Rodriguez
4. Dellin Betances
5. Jesus Montero
*-You can barely consider the guy active, but if he were he would probably be #3 on the list.
Cain, Lincecum, BJ Upton, Josh Hamilton (loved him way before his career turned into a movie script), David Wright (how can you not like him?)
Top 5 Baseball Players
1. Jose Reyes
2. Alfonso Soriano
3. Derek Lee
4. Ryan Braun
5. Ichiro
Top 5 Yankees Players
1. Jeter
2. Arod
3. Melky
4. Wang
5. Cano
This is the most useful Cairo’s been to this team in awhile..
top 5 Yankee
Cano
Wang
Cabrera
A-rod
Posada
top 5 non-Yankee
Griffey
Ichiro
Jose Reyes
Smoltz
Maddux
It’s about damn time:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3379864
LoL, for some I reason I was expecting an article detailing how Jose Tabata went 4-for-4 with 2 HRs and Dellin Betances walked zero batters in an outing.
As for Julio Franco, is he a HOFer? Would be pretty sad that he played for 23 seasons and can’t make the HOF.
He’s not a Hall of Famer. He doesn’t have the career totals or the individual accomplishments to warrant Hall inclusion. He just had good genes and played for a long time.
love how nothing can drop in for a hit for Cano these days…
But, hey, according to certain Yankee bloggers, a low BABIP is a low BABIP, and it has nothing to do for luck. Riight.
I’m really enjoying watching Mussina pitch today. I think he needs a knuckle ball though. How great would that be?
wow, it’s sad when you get blown away on 2 strait mid 80s FB like Sexson there
I know he is only at 84 pitches and is looking good but lets get him out of there and let him have confidence going into his next start.
Moose does not have confidence issues. I do not want to see Hawkins blow the lead.
Forget that, the Seatlle 7-8-9 hitters are due up in the 7th. Let him get those three outs.
Johnny Damon is making me eat my words on his inevitable downfall. He’s been hot for two weeks now.
Age is winning.
Wow, so Mike Mussina in one more inning thus far has less hits, walks, runs allowed and MORE STRIKEOUTS than Felix Hernandez. Whadafuxup?
It’s called pitching.
So Carlos Silva tomorrow and an off-day Monday, should be a couple fun days in Yankeeland.
junk throwing righty RP in again Giambi, I call a HR here.
If Hawkins blows this lead, I am going to kick my television.
Or Jason Giambi. I think Giambi f’d it up.
Jeter’s glare to Giambi says it all…
Yea but the terrible throw by jeter is nothing. please. Yea Giambi is not a great 1B but Jeter made a awful throw.
Giambi should hae had it
It was a low throw, but not a terrible throw. It was catchable, error should be on giambi.
most first baseman woulda had that, & Giambi isn’t hitting so right now he is a waste of space- that’s the point ivan… please, actually think before you write
I’m all set for the Yanks to “Frank Thomas” Giambi. He’s not bringing much to the team right now.
It took him until June in 2005 for him to break out, give him some extra time. If by the third week of May he hasn’t show a bit of improvement I probably will begin to step down from my soapbox and stop preaching patience for the Big G.
I’m mostly concerned about his lack of offense and terrible defense. It’s not a very good combination.
and those intangibles aren’t working either
Hawkins for a second inning and hopefully we get to see Mr. Bugs Bunny Changeup.
Joe’s going to to with the garbage time relievers. Edwar in the 8th, Veras in the 9th.
Edwar is getting some damn good break on that two-seamer.
Has anyone else soured on Paul O’Neill since that whole #21 fiasco? I used to enjoy listening to him announce games, now I have such a short fuse with him.
He really pissed me of with his comments and reaction but I find him funny and I think he and Kay have a much better chemistry this year.
almost too good they sometimes are yakking away and not calling plays
He wasn’t going to piss off the NY fans for Hawkins. I don’t blame him.
Edwar better throw strikes or he’s going to be enjoying the Scranton nite life very soon
He can go out with Dwight. Or have a night at the beet farm.
I don’t think MLB gameday has any clue what edwar is throwing, according to them he has only thrown one change up all day.
that’s not right.
Gameday classifies a pitch based on its speed and break, and for the most part they do it very accurately. However when presented with just nasty stuff, Edwar’s Changeup for example, the readings tell you a different story. Changeups are not supposed to break as much as Edwar’s done, they just don’t break that much. So therefore Gameday characterizes it as a Splitter because that’s the only pitch they can garner has that much break at that velocity.
They also classified his Slider as a Changeup because his Slider has little break and at that velocity it resembles a Changeup more than it does a Slider.
atta boy
does he only have 2 pitches?
He throws a Two-Seam Fastball, Changeup and Slider. The Slider is just a show-me pitch and obviously he contains that plus-plus Changeup. With better Fastball command he can really become a big part of this bullpen.
That freaking cowbell is back.
Hearing Michael Kay say “Clubbing” gives me a headache.
Marquez getting hammered again— shouldn’t McCutcheon be in AAA by now
You forget Chriss Britton Mr. Kay. Ross Ohlendorf, Chris Britton and Jonathan Albaladejo have not pitched these last two days.
Britton hasn’t pitched? Can’t believe it.
Well, he did throw 40+ pitches in the Tigers finale so it’s understandable…this time.
Veras…nice.
How is that for toast? 6 innings of one run ball!
You can have your “great mental make-up and stuff”. I will take the old man who thinks he has something to prove.
4 down 4 more to go to “eek out” 8 wins.
Nice ” back of the rotations” starter. Don’t you think?
MOOOOOOSE !!!!!!!!!!