I don’t think Gordon would’ve pitched that game 4 or at least game 5 in the 2004 ALCS if Zimmer was still there.
===============

Given that was the “formula,” yes he would have.

Maybe Torre doesn’t go with Gordon as long in game 5 (Gordon got a DP in the 7th, got torched in the 8th). Gordon pitched 2 scoreless innings in game 4.

He was scared of throwing the ball away rather than making the big play.
==========================

Always get the sure out.

All their ERAs are pretty good, only Andy is above 4, odd considering he trails only Smoltz in wins. Of course, in the post season the other team’s starters are going to be good too.

Just to compare Moose to some of his contemporaries. Again, I don’t know what to expect from this guy in a hopeful game 5–remember the perfect game he was working on in game 1 of the ALCS last season, and next thing you know he gave up 4 or 5 runs? Anyway, and these stats do not include 2005:

Mussina: 6-6 ERA 3.16 in 119.2 innings
Pettitte: 13-8 ERA 4.05 in 186.2 innings
Clemens: 10-7 ERA 3.49 in 180.2 innings
Pedro Martinez: 6-2 3.40 ERA in 79.1 innings
Schilling: 8-2 ERA 2.06 in 109.1 innings (very impressive)
Randy Johnson: 7-8 3.08 ERA in 108 innings
Smoltz: 14-4 2.70 ERA in 199.2 innings
Glavine: 12-15 ERA 3.57 in 194 innings
Maddux: 11-14 ERA 3.22 in 190 innings
Cone: 8-3 3.80 ERA in 111.1 innings
El Duque: 9-3 2.65 ERA in 102 innings.

Mussina is in the middle, but he has pitched primarily against AL teams while some of the others have varied. Schilling has a case for the best big-game pitcher of his generation, by far, which makes me wonder why he sat for game 3? And don’t give me that they needed to win game 3 to play game 4 garbage or whatever it was they were spinning. El Duque has the biggest jump from regular season to playoffs and is one of the best, but towards the end of his Yankees run he was only good for 5-6 innings. Boy could the Yanks use him in middle relief right now.

Jen, you were listening to the wrong weather reports then because Saturday was a virtual guaranteed rainout as I said above. In fact the weather ‘expert’ that Mike and the angry puppy had on their show indicated Friday’s game would more then likely be played and Saturday was Noah’s Ark time. He said this on Thursday and Friday afternoons.

Mussina’s ERA in the playoffs is 3.16 in 19 appearances, which includes a bad 1996 with the Orioles and an unbelievable 1997 with the Orioles. That doesn’t include his start from this season in which he didn’t allow any runs but only went 5.2 innings. Has he laid some stinkers? Hell yes. But Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, and David Cone have as well. Do I have a lot of faith him in game 5? I’ll be pretty damn nervous truth be told, but I would be nervous with Cy Young pitching as well.

It’s not like Moose is the most reliable guy ever. If we beat the Angels today with Chacon (BIG BIG BIG IF), I don’t feel any better about having Mike Mussina on the mound for our playoff lives in Game 5. Does everyone forget that Moose was in this same situation last Sunday when it might’ve come to him to pitch us into October? Does no one remember how nervous that made us? Moose is better off as far away from this team as possible. He’s a damn bum.

>but wasn’t it Moose that has claimed to be bothered by jet lag in the past?

Moose complains about anything he can think of. If he loses game 5, it’ll be because he was lonely, or he had a hangnail, or the sheets in his hotel didn’t have a high enough thread count and it threw off his pitching arm. They need to stop pacifying him and start telling him to shut up and pitch. Lou?

Who starts game 5? Where’s the Angels’ game 5 starter?

Don, everyone was calling for Friday’s game to be the washout, not Saturday. Even when I was driving to the Stadium at 5:30 there were still doubts that they would get Friday’s game in.