Mussina unsatisfied with Yankees performance

Team Infidel

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http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/15284469.htm


NEW YORK - The Yanks won Tuesday night, so the mood was cheerful throughout the home clubhouse. Except at Mike Mussina's locker.
After pitching well but not victoriously once again, Mussina was surprisingly ornery with reporters following the Yankees' 6-3 win over the Orioles at the Stadium. He hasn't been as dominant as he was at the start of the season, and it's starting to show.
As Mussina waited for the first question from the assembled media, he got impatient. "Somebody go," he said.
When somebody finally did - and asked a lengthy, convoluted question - Mussina paused. For awhile.
"You sure you don't want to ask a question about the game?" he finally said. "That's your question about the game?"
As for the game, Mussina had his best stuff in his past three or four outings, in Joe Torre's opinion, but the Moose wasn't satisfied. He kept the Yankees in the game, holding his longtime team to three runs over six-plus innings, but he left trailing, 3-1, and wasn't the pitcher of record after the Yankees came back. He remains 13-5 (3.54 ERA), winless in three starts this month.
"I'm not pleased with three runs in six innings, no," he said. "I can't do that all year and be happy with it. But that's the way it's been the last couple of starts, pretty consistently. It's pretty much three earned runs in six innings - that's what I've been doing.
"So, I felt better throwing the ball," he said, "but it was the same outcome. Sorry."
What's been the difference now - Mussina has a 4.63 ERA since June 1 - as opposed to the season's first two months, when he had a 2.42 ERA? Don't ask.
"You guys always ask that," the righthander said. "If we knew what the difference was, we wouldn't let it get bad. So, since stuff always gets away from you, it's always a fight to get it back to good, and once it gets good, you fight to keep it there."
 
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