The finish line is in sight for Moose

Mike Mussina, who is currently in chase of the elusive 20th victory which has escaped his grasp every single season in his career, is finally close to getting it done. The Yankees veteran, one of the biggest surprises for far this year, won his 17th victory over the young Tampa Bay Rays.

However, it gets trickier and trickier with less orppotunities remaining. Just look at Chien-Ming Wang’s 2007 season, when he had 18 wins and 3 starts remaining. All of us Yankee fans expected him to get to 20 at last, but sadly he lost 2 straight decisions, until he finally won his 19th in his last start of the year. Moose needs to win no matter what. No-decisions and losses are not acceptable at this stage.

Goods news keep coming, and I hope it comes more often. Joba Chamberlain was activated from the Disabled List prior to the victory over the Rays, but he did not return as a starter. Instead, Joba was inserted into the Yankees’ unstable bullpen, where he’ll hopefully return to his old role successfully. Remember last season? Joba, get the bullpen to shine again.

The good news does not stop there. Underperforming Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez tied Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt on the all-time home run list when he belted one deep at Tropicana Field. Rodriguez slammed his 548th home run off Rays righty Jason Hammel, and as you know it, it was a solo blast, as usual. Congrats A-Rod for climbing up the steps in the Home Run List, but learn to hit homers with runners on, okay? We really miss that.

Next up on the home run list for A-Rod is former Yankee great Reggie “Mr. October” Jackson.

One final word: the Yankees need solid starts from Moose, and solid hits from A-Rod from now on. Ponson is totally out of the picture, Pettitte is cooling down rapidly, and who knows what the other pitchers are thinking about. (Yankees are still 7 games back of the BoSox after Boston’s rout of the Orioles)