Saturday, May 3, 2008

Damonized. Or, Mussic to Your Ears (Postgame Notes 3 May 2008)

Today was the type of game one hopes the Yankees play more and more often as the year goes forward--excellent starting pitching, good hitting (even with RISP!) and a solid bullpen effort.

Mike Mussina, believe it or not, got his third win in a row, an certainly pitched like he wanted it. Seattle had eight hits (not all off of Mussina), but they only managed one run--which means that when Mussina need to make the big pitches, he was able to.

The crowning moment in his start came when he struck out the side in the sixth; he finished the day at less than 90 pitches so there is a little mystery as to why he did not come out to pitch the seventh.

As for the Yankee offense, the saying "As [Johnny] Damon goes, so goes the Yankees" could not have been more true today. Damon went 3-5, with two doubles and a home run (and he scored each time he reached base). Derek Jeter also had a great game, while Melky Cabrera and Bobby Abreu also had RBI.

As for the bullpen, LaTroy Hawkins and Jose Veras had great outings; Edwar Ramirez struggled with his control, but ultimately got the job done.

OPTIMIST TAKE: Damon, Jeter, Abreu and Cabrera are all at .290 or over on the year; Matsui is the only Yankee currently batting over .300. Mussina now has 254 wins for his career and has won three straight games--pitching, believe it or not, as if he is a number two starter.

3 comments:

  1. Big win over King Felix and Ichiro. Hope this continues to carry momentum into upcoming games. I also hope that Rasner pitches like he was pitching down in AAA.

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  2. I would love if Rasner can perform tomorrow!

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  3. Baseball is a funny game. I thought that the Yanks would beat up on Rogers and Bonderman and they loose to them. Then looking at the records and success of the Yanks vs. Bedard and King Felix I thought the Yanks would be hard pressed to score runs and yet they hit well against both of those pitchers and defeated them.

    Rebecca - Agree with you and hope that the Yanks can stay on this roll.

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