Hand placed squarely upon his heart, Mike Mussina insists he's ready to accept whatever vision Joe Torre has of the Yankees' rotation this summer.
This, Mussina said, is a wall-to-wall promise -- from being named as the
Bombers' ace and taking the ball on Opening Day, all the way to the No. 4
spot.
Is this just opening-of-camp, feel-rhetoric? Well, sure it is, but it
underscores just how deeply committed Mussina is to succeeding in the Yankee
universe.
|  | | Mike Mussina has a 147-81 career record with a 3.53 ERA in 10 seasons in the majors. |
"Just knowing what a great chance we have to win the other three days,
when I'm not pitching, I'll do whatever it takes. They can even skip me on
rainouts," Mussina said on Wednesday, his first day at camp, and the
beginning of his new life in Pinstripes.
Of course, no one really considers Mussina only the fourth-best starter,
behind Roger Clemens, Orlando Hernandez and Andy Pettitte, but he does have
a valid point about the re-structuring of the Yankees' 2000 rotation.
It's David Cone who's missing, and all Mussina has to do is equal Cone's four-win total. At least that's what Mussina is telling himself, a smart way
to avoid first-year anxiety in the Bronx. Instead of being another Clemens,
why not simply be Cone?
This much is now true, too: assuming Mussina pitches anywhere close to
his norm, the rest of the Yankee starters can all breathe easier. As the
right-hander put it, "if we all win just 16 games, we have a chance to have a
great year."
That, in one sentence, is where the Yankees' hopes for 2001 rest. Their
offense is aging -- which explains why they signed Henry Rodriguez and Andy Morales in the last week -- and the bullpen is looking for replacements for
Jeff Nelson and Jason Grimsley.
In the meantime, the Yankees' rivals all seem bigger, badder, bolder.
Look at the Red Sox, ready to overwhelm the American League with their
offense. The A's, the defending champs in the West, lost Kevin Appier but they gained Johnny Damon, and who knows how dangerous the Mariners can be, especially if Ichiro Suzuki can really hit?
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Top of the class
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Mike Mussina's ERAs over the last four years and his league rank in each of those seasons:
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Year
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ERA
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AL rank
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2000
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3.79
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3rd
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1999
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3.50
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3rd
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1998
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3.49
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5th
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1997
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3.20
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6th
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The Yankees aren't pretending to ignore these challenges, yet Clemens
says Mussina's signing "made me more excited than I've ever been coming into
a (new) season." That's how deeply the Rocket respects Mussina, who, after
Pedro Martinez, allowed the fewest baserunners per nine innings in the AL last year.
There are plenty of statistics to support Mussina's elite-status. If
he's not Pedro, he's close, thanks to a 90-plus fastball and a devastating
knuckle-curveball that Joe Torre calls, "dominant."
"Mike's got a chance to throw a no-hitter every time he goes out there,"
the manager said. "That's how good his stuff is. That's because he has two
pitches, not just one."
It helps Mussina that so few pitchers feature the knuckle-curve -- a
hybrid of the knuckleball and curveball. It's thrown with spin, but gripped with one knuckle on the ball giving the pitch an unusual "bow."
In effect, it wiggles like a knuckleball while moving and spinning like a curveball. No
wonder Mussina flourished last year, finishing third in the AL with a 3.79
ERA, despite pitching for such an anemic Orioles team.
No wonder Mussina decided to split, when free agency beckoned. As rapidly
as the O's had shed players during a rebuilding drive, the Yankees were
adding veterans like David Justice and Glenallen Hill -- changes which told
Mussina, "the Yankees obviously know how to do things right. They know what
moves to make. They've been doing it for five years now."
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Mike's got a chance to throw a no-hitter
every time he goes out there. That's how good his stuff is. ” |
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— Joe Torre, Yankees manager |
That professionalism was obvious in the way the Yankees pursued Mussina this
winter -- quietly, and in understated manner. Torre called to assure Mussina
there was more to the Yankee universe than Manhattan's noise, that
Westchester County's suburbs offered a perfect refuge for a small-town native
like Mussina.
Torre loved the idea of adding Mussina, but he didn't sell New York too
hard. And the Yankees sure didn't beg. They didn't have to. Three straight
world championships create their own sales pitch.
That's just fine with Mussina, who said, "it's more fun to pitch on a
team that has a chance to win it all, than to win 25 games for a team that's
not going anywhere. I've been in the league for 10 years now. I'm not on the
upside part of my career anymore. I'm in the middle of my downside. At this
point, it's all about winning."
Mussina will learn in a hurry winning isn't just a goal to the Yankee
family -- it's an obsession. In fact, there are two types of fuel that sustain
George Steinbrenner: perpetuating the Bronx dynasty, and in the process,
keeping the Mets as New York's second team.
As an AL veteran, Mussina doesn't need any lessons on co-existing with
Steinbrenner. He's smart enough to fly low on the Boss' radar screen -- which
is to say, just pitch, just win. It should be easy enough, especially if
Mussina is no longer being asked to act as the rotation's savior.
"If we all do our jobs," he said, "we have a chance to accomplish
something very special this year."
Bob Klapisch of the Bergen (N.J.) Record covers baseball for ESPN.com.
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