Mussina Wins No.20

He'll Make The HOF Now

Moose won no.20. It makes me very happy.

In a season with little to celebrate, his teammates gave him a rousing welcome—one he had waited his entire 18-year career to receive. Mussina had just become the oldest pitcher to win 20 games in a season for the first time as the Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox 6-2 Sunday in the opener of a rain-delayed day-night doubleheader.

“This is one of those things that I think will take a while to sink in,” said Mussina, who has won at least 18 games five other times.

The playoff-bound Red Sox won the second game 4-3 on Jonathan Van Every’s bases-loaded single with two outs in the 10th.

Less than three months before his 40th birthday, Mussina (20-9) gave up three hits in six shutout innings in his final start of the season. He returned to the field to bring out the lineup card for the second game.

Last year he had the highest ERA of his career (5.15). This season, it was 3.37 after he allowed one earned run in 16 innings over his last three starts.

“I’m proud of myself to be able to do this after last year,” he said.

Previously, the oldest first-time 20-game winner was Jamie Moyer, who was 38 when he went 20-6 for Seattle in 2001. Mussina, who hasn’t committed to playing next season, could be the first pitcher to retire following a 20-win season since Sandy Koufax.

“I just had a lot of fun playing this year,” Mussina said. “I don’t know what the future holds. When you’ve got 18 seasons in, it could always be your last year.”

Mussina is 269-153 with a 3.69 ERA in his career. and his previous high for wins came in 1995 and 1996, when he won 19 games each year for Baltimore. Mussina went 0-2 in his last four starts in 1996, leaving his final one with a 2-1 lead after eight innings only to watch Armando Benitez allow a tying homer to Toronto’s Ed Sprague in the ninth.

I know, the highlights for the end of season coming to this is a bit sad, but you have to be happy for a guy who has won 18games in a season 5 times and yet has never won 20 until now. Why 20? I dunno - because we are into the decimal system I guess. 270 wins is a lot of games to win in this day and age of setup-men and closers taking the ball out of the starting pitchers' hands sooner. Not only did he have to pitch well, he had to pitch for a lot of good teams. When he came into this season, even No. 251 looked dicey given how poorly he pitched last year. More significantly, he finished with an ERA of 3.37, with a 5:1 K:BB ratio. More amazingly, he did it in front of an unforgiving defense:

Check out the poor BABIP numbers last year and this year. It's almost unfair. So it's no fluke of the bounce of the ball that netted him his scintillating 3.37 ERA. Looking at those numbers, there's an argument to be made that he pitched astoundingly well this year and more than deserved his 20 wins.

Anyway, it's all on his resume now. Those pesky writers won't be able to deny him the Hall of Fame on account of never having been a 20-game winner now. Best of all, he did it against Boston.