I was right, who knew?

Mussina got rocked (on his slow fastball) and even Tavarez wasn't bad enough to discount another poor Moose start. The Yanks had the bases full twice and only scored one run each time. An extra-base hit on one of those occasions and the ballgame could have had a very different result.

Moose's era is now an ugly 6.52. His fastball (as the Boston commentators kept saying) barely touched 87 mph all night. It even got as low as 82! The big blow was a Manny Ramirez 3-run shot in the first inning - he teed off on a poorly located 84 mph fastball. At what point does Mussina's year (and stuff) become so bad that the Yanks would rather go with a youngster, e.g. Clippard, DeSalvo, Rasner, Karstens (when they recover), assuming Hughes already has a spot in the rotation? Maybe soon. Outside of Igawa and Pavano, Moose has been the Yanks worst starter. You could group the starters two ways: the good and the bad. The good would include Pettitte and Wang, the bad Igawa, Pavano and Mussina. Very fortunately, a 7-time Cy Young winner will be joining the rotation within a few weeks, followed thereafter by the best pitching prospect in baseball. If the team can just play .500 or better until Hughes returns, I'll feel good about the rest of the season.