Can We Get Our Moose Bars Now?

Back in April, the majority of us said that Mike Mussina and Ian Kennedy would do battle for the fifth spot in the Yankees rotation.


Oh, how wrong we were!


In 2008, nothing went according to plan, so, it's perhaps fitting that it's in a year after he pitched himself off of the rotation that Mike Mussina pitches himself to 20 wins and almost certainly Comeback Player of the Year contention.

Like someone who's college application lacks only a decent SAT score, Mike Mussina's Hall of Fame resumè lacked only a season with 20 wins. He'd had 19 and 18 and 17, and it seemed, at this time, with three wins to go and only three starts left, that Mussina would fail short yet again.

Fate, however, while not on the general side of the Yankees this season, was on Mussina's side these past two weeks.

Mussina was great against the White Sox in what might be his last start at Yankee Stadium, and last week in Toronto battled getting hit in the elbow to stay in long enough to qualify for the win.

Today, Mussina's great enemy was not the Red Sox, but instead the weather, which had canceled yesterday's game and threatened to derail today's first. After a rain delay of about an hour, however, the game went forward, and Mussina was stellar, needing just 73 pitches to get through six innings.

Though the Yankees bullpen made it a little hairy, it's important to remember that the Yankees actually have a bullpen, unlike these dudes and they were able to keep the lead intact.

Now, the greatest thing for Moose is that if he decides to retire, he gets to do it, on a personal level, on the heels of one of his best career years, and quite possibly the year that punches his ticket to Cooperstown.

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In other news, congratulations to the following teams on their postseason berths:

Boston Red Sox
LA Angels
Tampa Bay Rays

Philadelphia Phillies
Chicago Cubs
Milwaukee Brewers
Los Angeles Dodgers

And congratulations to one of the Twins/White Sox, who just don't want summer to end.