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I was at work this morning, sifting through the comments on Jason's (from Heartland Pinstripes) guest blog at Pete Abraham's blog and a particular comment caught my eye. It mentioned Mike Mussina and it referenced comments he made about Mariano Rivera. It basically said that Moose said Mo isn't as good as he used to be. Unfortunately, some work came up so I didn't get to scour the net or the rest of the comments to find where that came from.
It was posted in an article at the NY Daily News. The article had to do with what else, Joe Torre and his book. Surprise surprise. The article was written by Mike Lupica, who I've never really liked. Moose comes into the story on page 2 of the article. I'm guessing the book talks about the collapse to the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS and it quotes Mussina:
"We were up 3-0 and Mo (Rivera) came in again with the lead and lost it. He lost it again. As great as he is, and it's amazing what he does, if you start the evaluation again since I got here, he has accomplished nothing in comparison to what he accomplished in the four years before. He blew the World Series in '01. He lost the Boston series. He didn't lose it himself but we had a chance to win in the ninth and sweep them, and he doesn't do it there. I know you look at everything (Rivera's) done and it's been awesome. I'll admit that. But it hadn't been the same in those couple of years. That's what I remember about the '04 series."
Let's break that quote down, my comments are bolded.
- We were up 3-0 and Mo (Rivera) came in again with the lead and lost it. He lost it again. True.
- As great as he is, and it's amazing what he does, if you start the evaluation again since I got here, he has accomplished nothing in comparison to what he accomplished in the four years before. Hard to argue with that considering the Yankees haven't won the World Series since 2000. Mo was invincible in that run and as Moose points out in the next part of the quote, Mo wasn't as invincible since Moose joined the team.
- He blew the World Series in '01. He lost the Boston series. He didn't lose it himself but we had a chance to win in the ninth and sweep them, and he doesn't do it there. It's hard to argue with that. I know it's a team game but when Mo came in during the World Series run, the game was over. Mo did blow the lead in 2001, something he had never done. Mo also blew it in 2004.
- I know you look at everything (Rivera's) done and it's been awesome. I'll admit that. But it hadn't been the same in those couple of years. That's what I remember about the '04 series. Again, it's hard to find fault with that statement. Mo was and still is awesome. But in 2001 and again in 2004, he wasn't the Mo from before Moose made it to NYC.
So, Moose bashes Mo? It ain't so.
Peace, love and Pinstripes,
J-Boogie
5 comments:
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I just went back to see your "Glavine vs Mussina" post, and I do remember it. Even commented on it. It must have "seeped into my subconscious" as I said over on my blog, I promise that I was not ripping anyone off intentionally.
http://statisticianmagician.mlblogs.com/
Even if every word Mussina said is true, why did he have to talk about it in the book? What possible good could come of saying your (former) teammate isn't as good as he used to be? I've lost a lot of respect for Moose because of this. Honesty is fine when you're assessing your own strengths and weaknesses, but why Mo's?
The one thing I always love about Moose is he's much, much more honest than politically correct.
Just as Mike Lupica wrote, "The tone here isn't angry, the way the tone of this book isn't angry, despite the coverage it has gotten. These are tough opinions, but honest ones."
The truth is out there, even if no one wants to read it.
"Even if every word Mussina said is true, why did he have to talk about it in the book?"
Why? Probably because he was answering a question. Since (a) Mussina's quote was taken out of context, and (b) I haven't read the book, I obviously don't know what preceded those remarks. But I'm quite sure that Mussina did not call Verducci and say, "Hey Tom, let's talk about how lousy Mariano Rivera has been since 2001."
Jay, I completely agree with your interpretation of Mike's comments. In no way, shape or form was Mike bashing Rivera. It's quite obvious that he was merely responding to a question. I look forward to reading the book so I can see this quote, and many others, in their proper context.
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