Why I love Mike Mussina

There are a lot of Yankee fans who strongly dislike Mike Mussina. They see him as distant, meticulous about his routine to a fault, unable to pitch with a lead, and easily thrown off his game when something goes wrong. While there may be something to these beliefs, Mussina is one of the best pitchers of this generation, and he's been solid with the Yankees, even if he hasn't quite lived up to expectations.

These days, Moose has become a mentor to the Yankees young pitchers, particularly Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes:

Mike Mussina requested that Ian Kennedy be given a locker next to his this spring training. A couple of days into camp, Mussina asked for Phil Hughes to be moved to a locker on his other side, figuring he might as well give out advice on a two-for-one basis.

Mussina, 39, has earned the role of elder statesman on the Yankees. Entering his 18th major-league season, he ranks fifth on the active wins list with 250 (fourth if Roger Clemens stays retired). But Mussina is taking to the role more than anyone could have asked.

This is fantastic news for the Yankees, and I hope the young players absorb as much as possible from Mike. If one of them has a career like his, the Yankees will be extremely lucky.

Moose has also been showing his sense of humor this spring, which I love to see. An example from an excellent cnnsi.com article from today:

To make his young Paduan learners feel more at home, Mussina decorated the spare, gray cinderblock wall with a picture of a window looking out on a beach, and added curtains, a wall clock and a calendar. "We're going to have a sign that says Mussina, Hughes and Kennedy, Attorneys at Law," says Moose.

I particularly like the picture of a window overlooking the beach.

In other news from Yankee-land this morning...

Today is the first intra-squad game. It's about damn time...I'm getting sick of the NBA, and the Rangers don't play often enough.

I've always liked Joe Girardi, but his use of one of my favorite Seinfeld quotes of all time during the dinner with the writers has made me an even bigger fan:

Our reservation got a little messed up and we had to wait a bit to get seated. I checked it out with the manager and reported back to the group.

“Anybody can take a reservation,” Girardi said, quoting from an episode when Jerry rented a car. “They key is holding the reservation.”

Jonathan Papelbon is apparently a 19-year-old frat boy:

A less filtered sentiment came from closer Jonathan Papelbon, who, when asked to assess the Yankees' chances, said, "Dude, I don't even know who's on their roster this year."

From the same article, it was confirmed that Manny Ramirez is a baseball-hitting savant:

There's a reason for that, said hitting instructor Dave Magadan. To his disbelief, Magadan noticed that Ramirez was separating his hands on the bat – by a full inch, a habit that started on its own and was hard to break.

"Manny didn't know why he was doing it, but it really messed up his swing for most of spring training," Magadan said. "The thing about him is that he's a very smart hitter – believe me, he's not stupid -- and a hard worker. I've never seen a guy spend so much time in the cage. But this one really stumped us."

How do you not know your hands are separated on the bat? And Dave, no one is believing you when you say Manny isn't stupid.

Jason Giambi is hoping to bounce back by hitting the ball the other way:

On Tuesday, Giambi focused on hitting to the opposite field during batting practice, lining balls to left and left-center with ease. With fresh legs for the first time since last April, Giambi is hoping to recapture some of the magic that prompted the Yankees to sign him after the '01 season.

It's easy to go the other way in BP, so let's hope he carries it over into the season and stays healthy.

Brian Bruney is in better shape and not scared to fail:

Bruney credits his offseason conditioning program - daily workouts, no alcohol, a strict diet and plenty of sleep - with improving his outlook, but he also believes the changes on the Yankees' coaching staff - particularly Dave Eiland taking over as pitching coach for Ron Guidry - have helped him focus on the task at hand rather than worrying constantly about the consequences of a bad outing.

"I formed a relationship with Dave where he's easy to talk to," Bruney said. "In the past, I might not have had that relationship; I didn't talk to Gator."

He can be in shape all he wants, I hope he's not scared to throw strikes, because he's got a fantastic arm. He could be a huge part of the pen.