Hey, it would have been nice to, in the end, win 90 games this season – all things considered. But, in reality, there’s really no difference between winning 89 or 90…when you’re still outside the dance, looking in, when the music starts.

Yet, I give the Yankees some credit. They came out of the All-Star in a rush…winning 11 of 16 games. And, then, on August 4th, Joba Chamberlain got hurt in a game that the Yankees lost. And, that was iceberg that sank the ship. After that game, the Yankees went 15-17 in their next 32 games…and, in the process, they took themselves out of the Wildcard case.

Need evidence? On August 4th, the Yankees were 2 games back, in the loss column, behind the Red Sox in the ‘card standings. And, 32 games later, after going that aforementioned 15-17, the Yankees were 10 games back, in the loss column, behind the Red Sox in the chase for the ‘card. That’s ten games back with 18 games left to play. It hit rock bottom on September 8th when the Yankees mailed in a game against the Angels.

Yet, the Yankees didn’t tuck tail at that point. In those 18 games left to play, the Yankees, including this loss, went 13-5. That’s pretty impressive. It shows some pride. And, it shows that the team didn’t totally quit on Joe Girardi when they truly had a chance to check out.

Yesterday, Ed Price, on Girardi, wrote:

(The following analysis is based on conversations with people inside the Yankees clubhouse, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they didn’t want to criticize the manager publicly.)

Girardi’s shortcomings this season have been a lack of communication with players and some of his coaches, an inability, at times, to create a productive atmosphere, a lack of a deft touch with the media (no small issue in New York) and an occasional disregard for players’ egos.

Now, maybe it’s true that General Joe has some warts…at least this season. But, again, when your team is dead in the water and then goes out and wins 13 of their last 18, it says something…and part of that is that Girardi didn’t let this team limp across the finish line. That’s a positive…and more important than winning 90 instead of winning 89 games.

Mike Mussina finally gets that “20 Win” season.

Way back when, I was a big Mike Mussina fan. I had him on my rotisserie teams in the 1990′s when he was with the Orioles. And, as such, I was pumped when the Yankees picked him up in 2001. And, I remained a fan of his…during his first three seasons in New York.

But, then in 2004, I began to sour on Moose. In my mind, I saw him as a priss, a carpetbagger, and, worse, someone who was coasting until his free agent walk season in 2006. And, at the end of 2007, I thought that he was toast – and that the Yankees shouldn’t expect much from him this season.

However, Mussina proved me wrong this year – in terms of his ability to still pitch. And, in reading “Living on the Black,” I gained some further insight towards Mike as a player. And, through all this, he won me over – back to where I was when he first joined the Yankees – and I was back in his corner. So, I’m thrilled that Moose was able to get this win today.

Man, it looked close for a while – and kudos to Girardi for lifting Joba and then later bringing in Mo, early, to lock it down. And, of course, thanks to Jonathan Papelbon for taking all those tension out of this one with his performance as well.

And, if this does turn out to be Mike Mussina’s final game, hey, there’s no better high-note to go out on. Attaboy Moose. Great job this season.

But, this was a garbage time game. Therefore, take the stats from this one with a grain of salt. The biggest news out of this one is that Derek Jeter is probably done for the season.

Neither team really had an interest in this game – just check the players used and rested on both sides. If not for the fact that it officially had some impact on the A.L. standings, and that the weather forecast for the rest of the weekend doesn’t look great, I doubt that it would have been played.

But, Boston really doesn’t care if they’re the wildcard winner or the champs of the A.L. East – at least going into this one they didn’t care…their focus is on getting ready for the post-season, period.

Basically, the Sox provided the Yankees with batting practice in this game – albeit a wet one. That’s all this game was about…outside of Jeter establishing that his injury will not allow him to play again soon.

The problem with this game was that Carl Pavano was pitching. And, I have many issues with Carl – like him being able to audition now on the Yankees dime, etc. So, as much as I wanted/needed to watch this game, there was a side of me that didn’t want to watch this game.

Here’s where more bad news, good news comes into play. Right now, I have a killer cold. It started to set in the day after the last game at Yankee Stadium. And, it’s snowballing. Last night (as I am now) I was really hurting. So, I doped myself up on cold medicine. And, that actually helped me get through watching the Pavano part of the game last night.

Did anyone really expect the Yankees to win this game with that line-up facing Doc Halladay? Really…

That said, I enjoyed watching Francisco Cervelli work behind the plate. He seems fundamentally sound. And, Brett Garnder had a fun night at the park. How about Humberto Sanchez? He was really gassing it up there…at 88 MPH. That Sheffield trade really looks good now.

How about A-Rod? I understand why Jeter missed these games. For all we know, his hand is broken. But, did Alex beg out of these last two games because Burnett and Halladay were pitching? Protect those stats baby, protect those stats….

Lastly, unrelated to this game, why was Ryan Church not called out for going out of the baseline in the Mets game last night? If you cannot touch the base/plate in your approach – and he could not because he had to leap back to touch it – is he not too far out of the baseline and should be called out? Then again, the Cubs didn’t whine about it…so I probably shouldn’t either…

In the spirit of full disclosure, in terms of access to this game, this is all I had this evening:

1. I heard the bottom of the 2nd inning on the radio (via WCBS 880 AM).
2. Via the coverage on YES, I picked up the action in the top of the 3rd inning when Abreu struck out (and then Nady singled to center, etc.) and watched it through the completion of the bottom of the 3rd inning.
3. I tuned back into the game, on YES, just as Abreu hit the grand slam in the top of the 10th inning – and then watched the YES coverage through the end of the game (including the post-game coverage).

Now, back to Hughes…you could make a strong case that this was the best game that Phil Hughes has ever thrown in the major leagues. At the least, it was the first time that Hughes has ever gone 8 innings in a big league game…and that’s a fact.

Again, I didn’t see much of his pitching. However, on the radio, when I was listening, Suzyn Waldman talked a lot on how Mike Mussina got on Hughes about the use of his curveball. As she told it, Moose asked Hughes how often he threw the curve in his last game – and Phil told Mike that he thought it was something like seven times. To this, reportedly, Mussina told Hughes that he should try throwing the curve more often – like seven times an inning (rather than seven times a game). As Waldman spun it, Moose told Hughes that using the deuce only when he was ahead 1-2 or 0-2 allowed hitters to sit on it…and get a good whack at it. And, the recommendation was to throw the curve early in the count for a change. And, during the YES coverage that I saw, Al Leiter also talked about Hughes throwing the curve more often – in order to be successful.

Now, does this all mean that Phil Hughes has arrived?

Let me put it this way…besides this evening, Phil Hughes has thrown seven innings in a major league only once…and that was just about one year ago from this time – on September 27, 2007. That game was a lot like this one…in the sense that the Yankees were playing with a “garbage time” line-up.

Today, the Yankees started Brett Gardner in center, Wilson Betemit at third, Cody Ransom at short, Juan Miranda at first and Chad Moeller at catcher. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez did not play.

In that game where Hughes did well last year, the Yankees started Bronson Sardinha in right, Wilson Betemit at third, Alberto Gonzalez at short, Shelley Duncan at first and Jose Molina at catcher. Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez did not play.

Granted, the Yankees faced good pitchers in both these games – A.J. Burnett tonight and Scott Kazmir back on September 27, 2007. However, clearly, both tonight’s game and the one from last year had a “Spring Training” feel to them.

Therefore, just as September 27, 2007 was not a sign that Phil Hughes had arrived and was ready to star in 2008, tonight’s game is not a sign that Phil Hughes had arrived and was ready to star in 2009. Why? It’s just not the same pitching in a game like this, or the one from 2007, as it is during a game that “counts.”

And, anyone who wants to believe that this the launching point for Hughes in terms of being someone who can help the Yankees next season is still dealing more from a position of hope rather than from one of solid evidence.

It’s not great – when you consider the talent on the Yankees roster. But, it’s not terrible either.

Congrats to Mike Mussina for getting his 19th win this evening. When he took that shot off the elblow, I thought he was toast. Nonetheless, Moose gutted it out and Girardi pulled out all of his guns from the pen to lock it down.

Check out this stat: The last time that a 39-year old right-handed pitcher won 19+ games in the American League was Early Wynn in 1959. And, the time before that was Cy Young in 1909. That’s saying something.

On the flip-side of nice things to say…

Did you know that, since August 1st of this year, including this game, A-Rod is batting .251 (44 for 175) and he has whiffed 48 times in 175 At Bats? Yup. It’s true. O.K., I’ll just hang up now and listen to your comments on that…

Ahhh…

The House That Molina Closed.

Nice day at the big ballpark in the Bronx. Left my house at 3:30 PM on Sunday. Arrived in the Bronx at 4:40 PM. After finally finding a parking spot, I was in the Stadium just before 6 PM. Enjoyed the pregame – but enjoyed the game and the post-game even more. Left the Stadium shortly past midnight on Sunday. Got home at 1:50 AM on Monday morning…today. (It’s 2:20 AM on Monday as I type this…)

Lots of comments and photos to come…what is now later today.

In the meantime, while I try and get some sleep now, please share your comments on the game, ceremonies, etc., here – and if you have any specific questions about the experience of being there…leave those too…and I’ll get back to you with my answers.

But, sadly, in the end, the story of this game is whether or not the pitch that hit Derek Jeter, leading off that aformentioned 9th inning, caused enough injury to prevent Jeter playing in the last game, tomorrow, for this Yankee Stadium. It’s beyond sick to think that Derek Jeter would be prevented from playing in that last game tomorrow – it’s just cruel for the potential of that happening to be a matter of reality. If anyone deserves to play in that game, it’s Jeter.

After the game, Jeter said that he was playing, of course, tomorrow. But, you never know what might develop over the evening hours. Cross your fingers, arms, toes, legs, eyes and whatever else that you can manage to cross for Derek…and the hope that he will be able to be a part of that last game tomorrow once he wakes up and looks at how bad his condition is at that point.

By the way, did anyone get the count on how many times Michael Kay used the word “penultimate” today? I lost track after a while…

So, this was the 8th time in 19 days that Phil Coke got into a game. Seems like the Yankees really want to give him a look, huh?

Carl Pavano is now 4-1 on the season. This means, at this moment, Carl Pavano, alone, has won as many games for the 2008 Yankees as Joba Chamberlain, Phil Hughes, and Ian Kennedy…combined. I’m starting to get afraid that Brian Cashman, seeing all this, might try and take Carl to go see Mamma Mia again this off-season…

Don’t do it Brian…do not do it.

Was this the last time that Mike Mussina pitched in Yankee Stadium for the home team? If true, he went out in style!

Moose got his 18th win with this game. So far, this season, he only has 9 losses. There have only been 7 pitchers in baseball history with 18+ wins and 9 losses or less in a season where they were 39-years of age (like Mussina now) or older in that year. The list:

Pitcher		W	L	Year	Age
David Wells	19	7	2002	39
Warren Spahn	23	7	1963	42
Kenny Rogers	18	9	2004	39
Jack Quinn	18	7	1928	44
Gaylord Perry	21	6	1978	39
Jamie Moyer	21	7	2003	40
Roger Clemens	18	4	2004	41

Mussina has an excellent chance to make this into a gang of eight…and be one of the few righties on the list that made it without some sort of help. What an incredible and magical season this has been for him.