I turned on the broadcast of the Yankees and Indians game to see that Mike Mussina was pitching out of trouble in the bottom of the fifth inning. Mussina was already over 80 pitches but did manage to escape the inning allowing just two runs despite having the bases loaded with no outs at one point.

It made me wonder about a few things.

When Mike Mussina does well you can expect to hear about it. The grumblings from New York are showcased on national tv and even make their way to local news on the West Coast.

I’ve wondered of late if I’ve perhaps tried to believe that Mussina was still a quality pitcher ignoring what others are saying. I’ve reasoned that Mussina had to still be of some quality if he topped 250 wins. Besides that I haven’t really had much of an argument besides ERA’s that ranked just around the league average.

What I’ve also failed to acknowledge is that Mussina has topped 180 innings just one time since 2003 or the fact that his ERA has been in the mid-4’s in each of those seasons with the exception of 2006.

Truth: The Mike Mussina who pitched with the New York Yankees since 2001 is not the same Mussina who spent ten seasons with the Baltimore Orioles. With the Orioles Mussina was a threat to win 20 games each season, topped 200 innings, was a constant threat to win the Cy Young and was not only the go to guy in the rotation but the kind of guy who started All-Star games, who pitched in pivotal games and the kind of guy kids wanted to pitch like.

False: Mike Mussina can no longer play big league ball. As stated earlier when Mussina has a bad start with the Yankees you are bound to hear about it. It’s just like when Alex Rodriguez has a bad post season or makes an error, the New York fans let him have it. They are impatient like much of society.

Mussina even with his struggles isn’t the worst thing you could have heading out to the mound for your team. Even advancing into his later 30’s Mussina has managed to still be a capable pitcher. Sure his 11-10 record and his ERA of 5.15 last season left things to be desired.

Prior to tonights game Mussina was 2-3 with a 4.94 ERA but his WHIP was down to 1.20, a number that suggests that with a few breaks his way he is still on his game. We can’t put too much into five games worth of numbers and as Mussina exits tonights game against the Indians with a 4-2 lead his final line of 5 innings, 7 hits and two earned runs, a walk and two strike outs will do little to silence his critics. His ERA drops to 4.73 and if the Yankees manage to hold on to this game run his record back to .500.

Mussina may have loosened the knot around his neck for the time being but in five days time we likely will be asking this question all over again.