Moose Pitches Yanks To 3rd Straight Win

Moooooooooose! Chalk up another victory for Mike Mussina. That's # 10 on the year and career win #260. He's now won 10 or more games in 17 straight seasons, extending the American League record which he already owns. Talk about consistency. Only 3 guys in the history of baseball have had longer streaks. Cy Young, Greg Maddux and Steve Carlton. Just one of the many reasons why Moose should make a serious run at enshrinement in Cooperstown. He's also one of 8 pitchers in the history of the game that have won at least 260 games with a winning percentage of at least .630. For my money, he gets in. Definitely one of the best of our generation, if not all time.

Moose has been on a tear this year. 9-1 in his last 10 decisions. Throw out the 2 games against Boston and he's posting an ERA of 3.22 over 72.2 innings. I never would have expected this considering how Moose pitched last year. As a card carrying member of the Mike Mussina fan club, I'm super psyched he's doing so well. His success this year has been quite the surprise. I think Yankees fans everywhere should be more than pleased. I really think the Yanks should consider keeping Moose around for another year or two. The staff is going to be really young and in need of some veteran leadership. Who better than Moose to provide that? I really hope Hughes and Kennedy are taking notes. Moose is showing everyone how it's done. Moose threw first pitch strikes to 21 of the 23 hitters he faced. That's huge. Throwing strikes and pitching ahead in the counts always favors the pitcher. The result tonight was another Yankee victory. 3 in a row. 3 games above 500. Things are looking up.

Johnny Damon better get some serious consideration for an All-Star nod. He's playing on a whole other level right now. Johnny has been locked in, hitting .439 in June (25-57). When he does well, the team does well. A-Rod has been swinging a nice bat also. Alex is hitting .417 (20-48) in June. Tack on 10 walks and you've got a pretty good on base percentage. The biggest surprise tonight thought was Melky Cabrera having a perfect night at the dish, going 2 for 2 with a career high 3 walks. Considering Melky's recent offensive struggles, it's a pretty good sign. If Bobby and Derek can just get things going.....oooh weee.....watch out.

So we're off to a good start on this interleague stretch of the schedule. It's a pretty important 15 games and winning the 1st 2 is a huge step in the right direction. For the 1st time all season the Yankees are 3 games above 500. The pendulum is definitely swinging in a different direction. Chien-Ming Wang gets the start tomorrow and we need him to keep things moving in the right direction. Wang rebounded in his last start and his mechanical issues seem to be corrected. He's the ace. He's the #1. A 4 game winning streak? Me thinks so.

Peace, love and Pinstripes,

J-Boogie