Mussina

Even if it lacked playoff bite, last night's game against the Texas Rangers was supposed to carry playoff implications for the Orioles. Win and the possibility of a two-month wild-card run grows. Lose and the reality created by a disastrous April becomes harder to escape.The Orioles sent their Mr. October, Mike Mussina, to the mound. They scored first when Albert Belle crushed his fourth home run in five at-bats and seventh in 10 games to provide an early lead. But the Rangers, the only major-league team hotter than the Orioles, are a playoff lock.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The March 28 exhibition between the Orioles and the Cuban national team has suffered its first defection. Juan Guzman, initially projected as the Orioles' starter for the game, will not accompany the team to Havana.Coupling concerns for Guzman's well-being with a desire to alter his starting rotation, manager Ray Miller named Scott Erickson to start the historic game, which marks the first competition between American professionals and Cuban athletes since 1959.Guzman voiced his concern during Saturday's players association clubhouse meeting and was told by union head Don Fehr that any player could opt out of the trip.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Having struggled with the unknown for almost two weeks, the Orioles have learned what they consider good news regarding second baseman Delino DeShields.While nothing can be done about the condition before season's end, DeShields is suffering from an entrapment of a nerve in his right quadriceps that causes numbness. The Orioles concede the condition is limiting but only temporary. Manager Ray Miller, assistant general manager Bruce Manno and head trainer Richie Bancells met yesterday before explaining the injury to reporters.

The Call came for Orioles left fielder B. J. Surhoff and pitcher Mike Mussina yesterday afternoon. Named by New York Yankees manager Joe Torre to Tuesday's All-Star Game in Boston, the two join third baseman Cal Ripken at Fenway Park. It is unlikely any organization will send players more appreciative of the moment.Selection isn't without financial reward, but to three players making a combined $16 million this season, satisfaction rests in the acknowledgment by fans and peers. Ripken will make a record 17th appearance, Surhoff a celebrated first and Mussina his fifth.

PHILADELPHIA -- For once it was a beautiful night in Ray Miller's neighborhood, even if the setting was inside humid, smelly Veterans Stadium.When Miller pencils Mike Mussina as his starting pitcher, Arthur Rhodes and Mike Timlin providing him two innings of perfect relief and Will Clark backing up his insistence for playing time with an angry bat, the self-destructive Philadelphia Phillies have little chance. At least that's how it looked during the Orioles' 8-4 win before 32,300.Mussina (11-4)

Once in a while, if you look hard enough, you can see why the Orioles were considered a legitimate playoff contender at the start of this disappointing season.Take, for instance, last night's 8-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins, which featured every aspect of championship-caliber baseball, including Mike Mussina's 15th victory and a historic two-pitch appearance by venerable reliever Jesse Orosco -- who became the major leagues' all-time leader in pitching appearances in the seventh inning.

DETROIT -- As Detroit manager Larry Parrish filled out his lineup card yesterday, he scribbled Gregg Jefferies' name as the designated hitter. Upon further review, however, he decided to use Bill Haselman because of his career numbers against Orioles starter Mike Mussina.Granted, Haselman's .308 average was built in only 13 at-bats, but Parrish was desperate for an edge, something the Tigers never seem to have when facing Mussina.Especially not here. And not even when Mussina is slightly off his game.

BOWIE -- Someone asked Matt Riley when he expected a promotion to the Orioles. He responded with a high, hard fastball."I'd like to be up in the next couple of months," he said, "if things keep going well. If not, September."It's a temptation, for sure. The Orioles are desperate for a left-handed starter, and Riley is their best pitching prospect since Mike Mussina.But it's a temptation the Orioles should resist -- if they want another Mussina, that is, instead of another Rocky Coppinger.

SEATTLE -- Ray Miller saw it as giving his best pitcher a chance to determine his own fate. Mike Mussina interpreted it as something less noble.Either way, the no-luck Orioles lost another winnable game, 4-2, to the Seattle Mariners on Wednesday night with Mussina pitching on fumes to American League home run leader Ken Griffey in the eighth inning.Griffey's response was a two-out, two-strike, two-run double that turned a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead and an agitated Mussina from a winning into a losing pitcher.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The Orioles finally caught a break last night. The weatherman got one right.Faced with the likelihood of bumping scheduled starting pitcher Mike Mussina due to a dicey forecast, manager Ray Miller learned shortly after 7 p.m. that the game would be postponed and rescheduled as part of today's twinight doubleheader, beginning at 4: 05 p.m.The rainout was the Orioles' first since June 2, 1997, vs. the Cleveland Indians -- a span of...

On December 15, 2008, ANNA WEIGOLD MUSSINA; beloved wife of the late George A. Mussina; devoted mother of John R. Mussina; also survived by many nieces and nephews. Friends may call at the family owned Duda-Ruck Funeral Home of Dundalk Inc., 7922 Wise Avenue on Wednesday from 7 to 9 P.M. A funeral service will be held at 8:30 P.M. Further visitation at Dale Ranck Funeral Service, 125 N. Front Street, Milton, PA, on Thursday from 1 to 2 P.M. Graveside services will be held at Harmony Cemetery on Thursday at 2:30 P.M. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be directed to The Friends of the Wanamaker Wurlitzer Organ Restoration, 105 Charles Drive, Suite G3, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010.

Wearing an Orioles uniform, Mike Mussina wrote the rough draft of a Hall of Fame resume. But when he became a Yankee, he spent the next eight seasons polishing that resume, building - and even improving - on what he had done early in his career. The fact of the matter is, Mussina bolted on Baltimore and found himself pitching in the postseason for seven of the next eight seasons. Playing on the giant New York stage and pitching in October provided him much-needed exposure. (I'll concede his best postseason performance was actually in 1997.

New York Yankees right-hander Mike Mussina is retiring, multiple media outlets reported yesterday. Mussina will make his decision official later this week, according to FoxSports.com, which cited unidentified major league baseball sources and was the first to report the retirement. ESPN.com, citing an unidentified baseball source, also reported that Mussina has decided to retire. Mussina, a former Orioles star who turns 40 on Dec. 8, is coming off the first 20-win season of his 18-year career.

Mike Mussina became the oldest pitcher to win 20 games in a season for the first time, reaching the milestone on the final day of the season yesterday as the visiting New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 6-2, in a day-night doubleheader opener. The 39-year-old Mussina (20-9), finishing his 18th major league season, allowed three hits in six shutout innings. "It's been a long time," he said. "I've been close." Previously, the oldest first-time 20-game winner was Jamie Moyer, who was 38 when he went 20-6 for the Mariners in 2001.

Mike Mussina's pursuit of a 20-win season remained alive Thursday when he picked up his 18th victory of 2008 - his most in six years. He is scheduled to pitch twice more - Tuesday at Toronto and next Sunday at Boston - meaning he could capture his first 20-win season in his illustrious 17-year career. "Yeah, but I've got to win 19 [first]," he said. "The first one is on Tuesday. I'll worry about that first and see what happens." Thursday's win was monumental, too. It was his 268th career victory - tying him with Hall of Famer Jim Palmer for 34th on the all-time wins list.

Observations, opinions and musings from the week in Major League Baseball. There have been many good stories in baseball through the first six weeks this season, but can any top Severna Park's Gavin Floyd? Heading into 2008, the Mount St. Joseph graduate had become the poster boy for not rushing kids to the big leagues. After being selected No. 4 overall in the 2001 draft by the Philadelphia Phillies, Floyd made his debut at age 21. He had trouble dealing with the expectations dumped on him at such a young age in such a high-pressure environment, and he finally was dealt to the Chicago White Sox in late 2006 in the Freddy Garcia trade.

It's difficult to decide which is the more improbable aspect of Carlos Pena's storybook season. Is it that he went from being a spring training invitee to a sluggers in six months? Or is it that he is genuinely thrilled to be a player with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the majors' perennial cellar dwellers? "I am extremely grateful that the Rays have given me an opportunity to play," said Pena, whose 33 homers are second in the American League. "I say with all the confidence in the world, even though our team isn't doing as well as we wanted, I know that in the future great things lie ahead."

Mussina payback Orioles fans are still bitter over the team's last established ace, Mike Mussina, leaving Baltimore to sign with the hated New York Yankees. Apparently, the Orioles' hitters are still bitter, too. They touched Mussina for six earned runs on eight hits and three walks over four innings in the Orioles' 6-4 victory last night. In his past four starts against the Orioles, Mussina has given up 17 earned runs and 27 hits in 17 2/3 innings. Bullpen bends but doesn't break The Orioles spent $42 million this offseason on four relievers with the hope that once they got leads, they'd be able to hold them.

Mike Mussina graduated from Stanford and is supposed to be an intelligent guy, but every once in a while he doesn't act that way. A few years ago, when the New York Yankees were opening the season in Japan, Mussina resented that the team had to make that trip and let everyone know it. He didn't stop complaining, and he proceeded to have a mediocre season, probably his worst, and there was a feeling he got himself into a mental rut over the trip and...

The "Free the Birds" rally was a hoot. The organizers and participants should be proud of the commotion they stirred up. They made national news and goaded Orioles owner Peter G. Angelos into a name-calling fit. But as they chanted "sell the team" from the upper deck Thursday, hopefully they realized they were only making their fantasy less likely to occur. Take it from someone who has spent years condemning various decisions Angelos has made, often inciting his ire: In this odd calculus, criticisms and suggestions tend to produce the opposite of their intended effect.