Making Sense

Mike Mussina answered every question after last night’s loss, but he still couldn’t make sense of his last three starts.

“I don’t feel I can do much of anything right,” Mussina said. “I want to keep going out there and figure out what’s going on. I can’t believe in three starts that I forgot how to pitch.”

The guys gathered around Raul’s coffee cart tried to help.

“What else did he say?” Jose asked.

Javier snapped open the newspaper, scanned the page for Mussina’s quotes and started to read:

“Two weeks ago, I felt really good about the way I was throwing the ball and I felt good about what was happening with the team. We were playing some of our best baseball. Two weeks later, it’s completely at the other end of the spectrum.”

“That’s how is goes sometimes,” Jose reasoned. “Maybe they can skip his next start to give him break.

“Is there anything else?” Jose asked.

Javier read more from Mussina:

“When I release the ball I don’t feel that anything good is going to happen. It’s tough to pitch like that. You can’t play the game that way, to feel you have no control over anything, and that’s how I feel right now.”

“That’s not good for a ballplayer,” Jose said. “That’s how the rest of us feel. It really sounds like he needs a break. Even if he’s physically fine, a mental break can help a player, too. Maybe he can come back in a week or two and feel better when he goes out there.

“That’s what he needs.”