Are the Yankees Better off Without Mussina?

When the Sabathia sweepstakes began late last season, and it appeared that the 2009 Yankees could conceivably have a starting rotation so awesome that the 5^th starter would be either Mike Mussina or Andy Pettitte, but that there wouldn’t be room for both, a deep spiritual conflict ensued. As every Yankee fan is ultimately left to worship as he or she sees fit, I needed to figure out which pitcher I preferred and why. Mussina, at age 39, had just polished off a 20-9 season with a 3.37 ERA, was a contender for the Cy Young Award, and had kept the Yankees competitive down the stretch when they were without a sorely-missed Chien-Ming Wang; whereas Pettitte, at age 36, had served up a 14-14 record with a 4.54 ERA and was otherwise inconsistent at best. Yet despite these performances, I knew that my preference was – and would always be – for Andy. I knew that I preferred Pettitte for sentimental reasons: namely, he had been part of the nucleus of 1996 and participated in each of the Glory Years of 1996-2001; while Moose didn’t arrive until 2001, right as the wave was about to break, and the Yanks have not won a championship since. But I wasn’t sure it was all sentimentality. No, my gut – my internal baseball survival mechanism, which every baseball fan has … even the misguided ones (read: Boston fans) – sensed that there was something more.

Let’s begin by noting that Mussina’s status and acceptance as a bona fide Yankee – and as an excellent pitcher, if not a great (or near-great) one – is not in question. As we all know, Moose earned his stripes back in Game 3 of the ALDS against Oakland in 2001. Down two games to none in a short series, having been soundly defeated twice at Yankee Stadium by a young and extremely impressive Oakland team, facing elimination with two games on the road and otherwise in retreat on all fronts, THERE STOOD MUSSINA LIKE A STONEWALL on the Oakland mound, outdueling Barry Zito in a 1-0 nail-biter that was capped off by that still-unbelievable Jeter play at the plate. The tide was stemmed, the Yankees rallied to win the series, and Mike Mussina was officially a Yankee.

Mussina’s performance over the subsequent 8 seasons was admirable. While he no doubt pitched his best years in Baltimore, Mussina rarely won less than 15 games for the Yanks, and there wasn’t much to complain about.

But then a few years back I heard a comment on ESPN made by a former teammate of Mussina’s (whose name escapes me) about him: that Moose was the king of “almosts.” The comment came the day after Mussina took a no-hitter into the 9^th inning against Boston only to lose it – which was the second or third time this had happened to him in his career. The former teammate said Mussina “almost pitched no hitters,” “almost won 20 games,” and “almost won a World Series,” but never quite made it – that this was part of Mussina’s fate. While this may have been a joke between the ex-teammate and Moose, I wasn’t laughing. As the Yanks have fallen short each year since 2001, I couldn’t help but wonder: is there a bad luck guy on the team?

This brings up a painful comparison that I nonetheless feel compelled to make so as to purge these unholy thoughts from my soul. But Mussina, in the abovementioned respect, reminds me of … Don Mattingly. Sadly, I’m not alone in this heresy. We all loved Donnie Baseball. He was our leader and our captain from 1983-1995. When the Yankees lost to Seattle in 1995, but then won the very next year after Mattingly retired, it seemed like bad luck for Donnie. I thought this until a few years ago when another Yankee fan confessed to me that he thought Mattingly was the bad luck. And the worst part of his confession was that I found myself instinctively nodding in agreement.

It couldn’t be ignored that Mattingly’s career spanned the great Yankee drought between 1978 and 1996. And Mattingly’s reemergence on the Yankee scene as a coach in 2004, on the eve of the Apocalypse, and all the decadence that has followed, made me breathe a sigh of relief when the Yankees chose not to hire Mattingly as the replacement for Joe Torre. Could this curious contradiction of fate – great service to the Yankees, combined with really bad luck for the Yankees – have been the case with Mussina, the “king of almosts”?

It seems like an incredibly ungrateful thing to say. And after all, Mussina did finally win 20 games last season. But if I had to point to any other reason as to why I would always prefer Pettitte over Mussina, then that would be it.

Fortunately for all involved, the Yankee front office didn’t have to make any choices, as Moose opted to retire on top. My above confession notwithstanding, I just wanted to say that, Moose, wherever you are, we are forever grateful for your service as a Yankee, and that you will always have a seat at my dinner table should you ever be in the neighborhood. Until then, God bless you.

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