35=20!!!!!

Ladies and gentleman, I am pleased to announce that Michael Cole Mussina is a 20-game winner. Moooooooooooooooooooose!!!! Hell yeah! I am super pumped right now. Honestly, I can't believe that he pulled it off. He needed 3 wins in his last 3 starts to hit the 20-win plateau. And what's my man do? Pitches his ass off. Over the last 3 starts, Moose went 17 innings, giving up only 12 hits, 4 walks, 13 Ks, and 1, yes 1, earned run. Over those 3 starts, he lowered the ERA from 3.63 and finishes the season with a 3.37 ERA.

Moose's final line: 34 starts, 20-9, 200.1 IPs, 214 hits, 85 runs, 75 earned runs, 17 HR, 31 BB, 150 K, 1.22 WHIP and an ERA of 3.37. He was far and away the most valuable player on the Yankees this season. At the beginning of the year, who would have thought we'd be saying that? I would love to see Moose win the Cy Young Award but there's no chance of that happening considering the seasons that Cliff Lee, Roy Halladay, and Fransisco Rodriguez had. I'd have to think the AL Comeback Player Of The Year Award is in the bag.

I'm glad Girardi and the fellas gave Moose their all today considering the game didn't really mean anything in the grand scheme of things. And how about Mariano Rivera coming back from NYC to pitch for Moose if needed? If that's not a sign of respect I don't know what is. I'm not going to lie, I was a little worried there in the 8th when the Sox pulled within 1 run. OK, I was more than a little worried. But Mo being Mo, shut it down. It would have been terrible had Mo blown the save. That would have meant that both of Mo's blown saves this year would have been in potential Moose victories. Mo's only blown save of the season came when the Yanks had a 6-3 lead and he gave up a 3-run game tying HR to Delmon Young. It would have been crazy had Mo's only BS been the game that could have cost Moose #20.

Hopefully, this isn't the last we've seen of Moose in Pinstripes. I'll start the chant now: "One more year! One more year!" Or two more. That works too! He's definitely earned the contract and having become the oldest pitcher to ever win 20 games for the 1st time in his career, he's shown he can still hang at this level. Congratulations Moose! It's well-deserved. I'm looking forward to January when the MMFC gets together and celebrates this great accomplishment.

Peace, love and Mike Mussina,

J-Boogie