ItsTheBlog™

Many things have been going right for the Yankees in the past month. After an abysmal start in which many questioned whether the Yankees would finish over .500 or whether they'd even have a shot at the wild card, the Bronx Bombers have pretty much turned it around. While they still trail the AL East leading Red Sox by 7 games, they find themselves just 1 back of the Mariners in the Wild Card race and in position to make a final-month push. Alex Rodriguez keeps on swinging with his major league leading 43 home runs and 123 RBIs. But, there's still one veteran Yankee who isn't pulling his weight.


Mike Mussina appears to have lost his starting job after his third awful outing in a row Monday night. The righty gave up 9 hits and 6 runs, all earned, in just 3 innings pitched against the Tigers. The Yankees lost the game 16-0. This comes on the heels of a worse performance against the Angels last week, in which Mussina suffered through just an inning and two-thirds before exiting with 7 earned runs under his belt. I watched as the Yankees lost that game 18-9. Mussina moved to 8-10 on the year with a 5.53 ERA.

In his last 3 starts alone, he's given up 19 earned runs in 9.2 innings pitched. Pretty awful for a guy who has won 247 career games and appeared in nearly 500. Manager Joe Torre says that Mussina is being replaced by prospect Ian Kennedy in his next start. How permanent the move will be is unknown. I get the feeling that the veteran Yankee won't be gone too long, as Torre and the Yankee organization tend to prefer the Mussina types over the Kennedy types. I can tell you one thing, though. I'm dropping him from my fantasy team.

Labels: A-Rod, Baseball, Kevdog, Mussina, Yankees