‘Vintage’ Mussina Answers the Doubts

Jorge Posada could have alleviated a lot of anxiety in the New York Yankee dugout before Game 1 of the American League division series had he picked up the phone in the bullpen and delivered the good news: Mike Mussina was on.

There had been questions aplenty about Mussina’s worrisome pitching elbow after the right-hander had returned from a nearly monthlong absence late last month. Five days after dominating the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 22, Mussina was shelled for five runs in 1 2/3 innings against the Orioles in his regular-season finale.

When Yankee Manager Joe Torre picked the veteran to start the series opener against the Angels on Tuesday night at Angel Stadium, several teammates wondered whether Mussina’s elbow would hold up.

“You didn’t know. He was a wild card,” Yankee third baseman Alex Rodriguez said.

But Posada could tell from his bullpen session with Mussina beforehand that the pitcher possessed excellent command of his curveball and appeared capable of reverting to his usual dominating form.

The Angels quickly discovered just how sharp Mussina was during a masterful performance in which he pitched 5 2/3 shutout innings during the Yankees’ 4-2 victory. Mussina gave up five hits and no walks and struck out four.

“Looking at the goose eggs that went up there, it looked like vintage Mussina,” Yankee General Manager Brian Cashman said. “When he’s healthy and right, you’re surprised when he doesn’t pitch well.”

Mussina acknowledged harboring doubts about his elbow, which he said “feels about the same as it has the last couple of times I’ve been out there. It’s not bad enough where I can’t do what I want to do.”

Mussina retired five of six leadoff batters and benefited from a four-run cushion after two innings. He faced only one jam, when Juan Rivera stroked a two-out single in the second and Steve Finley followed with a ground-rule double that bounced into the right-field seats.

“The key event was the ball bouncing into the seats, because Rivera was going to score if the ball stays in play, and Finley might have ended up on third,” Mussina said.

But Finley wound up on second and was stranded there when Adam Kennedy flied to left for the final out of the inning.

Torre debated removing Mussina after Vladimir Guerrero singled with two out in the sixth. Mussina had thrown 98 pitches.

“When I left the dugout, I wasn’t for sure if I was taking him out,” Torre said. “When I said, ‘Let me get you a little help,’ he certainly didn’t give me the ball, but he just sort of looked down. So I just decided to do it at that point.”

Torre went with left-hander Al Leiter, who escaped when Guerrero was caught stealing to end the inning.

It had been a while since Mussina won a game in a division series. He was the losing pitcher in the opener of the Yankees’ division series against the Minnesota Twins in 2003 and 2004, and he did not receive a decision in Game 3 of the 2002 division series against the Angels.

One must go back to Oct. 13, 2001, a night remembered mostly for shortstop Derek Jeter’s flip to nail Oakland’s Jeremy Giambi at the plate, to track down Mussina’s last division series victory.

Tuesday’s victory, which gave the Yankees an early lead in the best-of-five series, was almost as memorable.

“He was outstanding tonight,” New York first baseman Jason Giambi said. “I think that was the biggest question everyone had, ‘How was Moose going to do tonight?’ He didn’t disappoint.”