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August 31, 2005
Mussina to Miss Start
I don't know if this is good news or bad news. Let me clarify what I mean by that. I would never hope for an injury to a player and that's always a bad thing. However, Mussina hasn't always seemed like his normally stellar self on the mound this season and I was starting to fear that was due to the natural decline in abilities that all players undergo as they age. So in some regards that Mussina has a minor injury is good news because it means that it's possible that after the inflammation and pain goes away that he will be able to pitch better than he has over the past few starts.
What concerns me is what happens if the inflammation doesn't clear up after ten days? Or what happens if it goes away and then returns when Mussina starts pitching again? Mussina has said that it's been bothering him for several months now so it's apparently an ongoing issue. My hope is that the ten days of rest will be exactly what does the trick and that Mussina will be back stronger than ever after that. With all the pitching problems the Yankees have had this season they dearly need him. As well as Aaron Small has pitched for the Yankees this season he's not Mike Mussina and I doubt he would be as good in the post-season as Mussina can be.
Mussina made an interesting comment which is in the print article in Newsday but not the online version, while talking to reporters about his elbow. He said,
"After a while, even annoying things eat at you more, keep bothering you, and they sometimes mess with your mind and with your mechanics. So before I mess everything up..."
As much as I love Mussina (he's one of my favorite Yankees) I think he has a problem in which he sometimes lets the things that annoy him get to him. Whether that's going to Japan to start the season in 2004 or when he thinks that the umpires aren't calling strikes and balls in the way that they should, Mussina sometimes seems to have a hard time adjusting when things don't go his way. So I feel like he's talking about more than just the elbow injury there, though he's being rested soley for the injury. However, Mussina isn't going to change now. He is the way he is. I just think that he might have an easier time of it on the mound and otherwise if he was able to adjust to things not going his way better.
Posted by silverdsl at August 31, 2005 01:58 PM