C’mon MJ, Mussina has pitched one very good game and one very bad game coming back from injury. He’s been far from consistent this season but overall he’s been good for the Yanks since he was signed. You would rather be without his contributions in all of these games?

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B09020BOS2001.htm

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B10130OAK2001.htm

http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/B10160NYA2003.htm

I’d love it if we made it to the 12th inning and Stanton was the guy on the mound against Womack. That would mean that Mussina didn’t shit a brick like he always does.

//So what are the odds that this thing comes down to a Stanton-Womack showdown, top of the 12th? //

ROTFLMAO

I’d rather be the Yankees all the time. At least the players and their fans shower once a day.

Let’s review:

1) The Sox had to beg and steal for a split with the Blue Jays.

2) The Sox had to claw and scratch the for last 14 days to stay within range of the Yankees.

3) The Yankees always have the edge in pitching with MR.

Of course this guarantees nothing for this weekend, but I’d rather be the Yankees right now.

Doesn’t Wells have an injured knee that’s still bothering him? I thought he got shelled his last time out…or was that the time before?

In his only start against Boston this year, way back in May, he went 4 2/3, gave up 6 hits and a walk but only 2 earned runs. Not stellar but not horrendous either. I’ll chalk it up to him being relatively new (it was his 3rd or 4th start) and hope that his last couple of starts are more indicative of what he brings to the table.

It’s Boomer I’m worried about. He’s pitched pretty well of late and had at least one start against us where he just shut us down in innings 3-7. Moreover, 2003 Game 5 notwithstanding, the guy does pitch pretty darn well in big games.

Wang has been superb for us this year and I love the guy but….I just don’t like him matched up against the Sox. I’m just hoping he can repeat his Baltimore performance and have them hitting little dinkers back to the mound all night.

Too bad about Toronto’s shortstop screwing up in the 7th, blowing a chance to get Papi’s weak grounder by blocking the 2nd baseman who had the play. If that doesn’t happen, Manny doesn’t get up and hit his 2 run shot to bring it to 4-3. It would’ve been unrealistic to expect Toronto to win 3 out of 4.

Now we go to Boston needing to win 2 out of 3. I hope Joe manages this game like he would manage a Game 3 in the World Series. Go for the win, kill them early and finish the game. If we can win tonight, then having Randy go on Saturday will really be big for us. Hopefully Wang and Unit bring their games to Boston. As long as we win tonight and tomorrow, I am in favor of putting Mussina out there to get bombed. Keep him in for the complete game 29-0 destruction. I don’t care. I just don’t want anything coming down to Mussina. I hate that guy.

To overstate the obvious, better to go into Fenway 1 up than tied or behind. And to moblize the next cliche, momentum in baseball vanishes with the next day’s starting pitchers. I am going to the game tonight, and the only safe prediction I can make is that the atmosphere will be electric.