Marlins 9 Yankees 3
MIAMI – He pitched away and the Marlins spanked him. Then he tried to come inside and they punished him. He missed high and low and paid the price.
Welcome to Mike Mussina’s nightmare.
“I could have gone out there left-handed and the same thing would have happened,” the veteran righty said after the Marlins pounded him for eight runs in a 9-3 victory over the Yankees last night in front of 32,629 at Pro Player Stadium. “I will just forget and go from there.”
Chances are very good that Mussina will be able to turn the page. However, last night it was raw. In two-plus innings, Mussina allowed eight earned runs and 10 hits and had his ERA spike from 3.31 to 3.87.
“There are some days no matter what you do or try you just aren’t going to trick anybody or get away with anything,” said Mussina, who gave up three runs in the first when Kevin Millar hit a two-run homer and surrendered hits to the first five batters in the third before Randy Choate replaced him.
“I threw everything I had and they still hit it. They hit balls that were off the plate away and down and in and up. It was just the wrong day for me to pitch. It was one of those games you want to forget about so I will forget about it.”
Mussina’s 48-pitch effort was by far the worst of his 19 starts as a Yankee. The two-inning stint was his shortest since Sept. 19, 1996 when he went two frames against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.
George Steinbrenner is slated to be in town tomorrow to watch one of his horses run at nearby Calder. Here’s hoping the horse runs better than The Boss’ $88.5 million investment pitched.
In addition to losing for the second time in three games, the Yankees may be without leadoff hitter Chuck Knoblauch for a spell. Knoblauch suffered a bruised left elbow when he was drilled by a 93 mph fastball from A.J. Burnett in the third inning. X-rays were negative, but Knoblauch isn’t likely to play tonight when Joe Torre will elevate Derek Jeter to the leadoff spot.
“He said he had trouble feeling his [last] two fingers, but that’s normal when it involves a nerve,” Torre said. “My guess is [that he would play tomorrow] at the earliest.”
While the focus was on the beating Mussina (9-8) absorbed, the Yankees didn’t do much with Burnett’s live arm and failed to inflict more damage than the three runs (two earned) that the 24-year old gave up in six innings.
“We scored a run without a hit,” Torre said of the first when Burnett (6-5) walked Knoblauch and Jeter to start the game. “But we didn’t take advantage of his wildness. You have to give him credit instead of blaming somebody else. The kid has a got a big arm.”
Until two-out singles by Alfonso Soriano and Gerald Williams in the ninth, the Yankees had just two singles. Meanwhile, Luis Castillo, ex-Yankee Mike Lowell and Millar each drove in two runs for the Marlins.
Fortunately for the Yankees, the Mets defeated the Red Sox 4-2 and kept the Bombers’ 11/2-game lead in the AL East intact.
If there was any doubt in Mel Stottlemyre’s mind that Mussina will bounce back Tuesday against the Phillies, it was impossible to detect.
“He will work very hard in between starts,” the pitching coach predicted. “The next game he pitches will be a very strong game.”