What Mike Mussina meant to the New York Yankees

Mike Mussina, New York Yankees

Mussina’s First Relief Appearance

In the mid-2000s, there wasn’t a better sports rivalry than the Yankees/Boston Red Sox feud. The hatred went from the owner’s box all the way down to the clubhouse attendants. Each series had the buildup of an epic boxing match as the games took forever to finish. It seemed momentum shifts took place with each half-inning played. For Yankees fans, the outcome of the 2003 ALCS was bittersweet.

Heading into Game 7, it was all hands on deck for New York Yankees manager Joe Torre’s pitching staff as he expected them to take the ball when their name was called. Torre chose Roger Clemens to be the starter and everyone else was in the bullpen except Game 6 starter Andy Pettitte. One problem with this strategy, Mussina never made a relief appearance in his major league career.

Prior to the game, Torre promised Mussina that he wouldn’t bring him into the game in the middle of an inning. But that soon became a lie as Clemens didn’t have it on this night. He had already given up four runs in the contest and left runners at the corners when Mussina was summoned from the bullpen.

The Red Sox were one hit away from putting their arch-rival on ice for the season and they had one of their most productive hitters (Jason Varitek) stepping into the batter’s box. It was time for Moose to come in and salvage his subpar (two losses against Red Sox in Game 1 and 4) ALCS performance. Once again, Mussina became the Yankee savior by stopping the bleeding and pitching three scoreless innings in relief.

His final pitching line: 3 innings, two hits, zero runs, and 3 strikeouts. He battled a tough Red Sox lineup by shutting them out until the Bronx Bombers bats awoken in that memorable eighth-inning rally to tie the game. And the rest they say is history.