A sign affixed to a post outside Mike Mussina's locker reads "If This is Spring, Bring Back Winter." The message is written with a blue sharpie on a small white grease board.
Despite the veteran pitcher's apparent distaste for the bone-chilling cold at Yankee Stadium on this early May Day, he's thoroughly enjoying fielding questions from reporters about his recent success.
Mussina's locker is right next to the hallway that leads to Joe Girardi's office. When you open the door to the "Pete Sheehy Clubhouse," you enter a large rectangular room. Mussina's locker is at exactly 3 o'clock. To his right as he faces his locker is an unclaimed locker, filled with cleats, sneakers and boxes of baseballs. The next locker is Brian Bruney's, also empty as he recovers from his injury. In the next locker, LaTroy Hawkins quietly dresses while Mussina commands an audience.
Mussina is the ultimate thinking man's pitcher, and he has a humble mannerism of looking downward when discussing his successes, but looking you straight in the eye when he's talking about his limitations.
When asked about his last inning, the 6th, when he struck out Richie Sexson for his last out, Moose chuckled "Ya, I cut it lose. 89. I guess I don't do that often.
Whatever it is, 87 or 89, that's what I have. My 88 may look a lot harder if they are thinking about a breaking ball or change up."
Moose also remarked a few times that he's simply "lucky." "There is so much luck that people don't see. What is it, 254 wins? Well I've been on good teams with good closers." Then he shrugged his shoulders and cast a downward glance again. When the reporters were done with their questions and the TV crew pulled away, Mussina lingered by his locker and continued to talk about pitching philosophy with the folks remaining. It was an honor listening to this master-craftsman, who is reinventing himself at age 39 and staying a step ahead of the hitters.
While listening to Mussina chatting away, I couldn't help but notice Mariano Rivera walk toward his locker. It struck me as odd that the best reliever in the history of baseball is so slight. So much domination comes out of that little right arm. His slenderness is further accentuated because he hangs his hat near the two biggest bellies on the team, Chris Britton and Jonathon Albaledejo.
Reporters had to wait a bit before being able to talk to Mussina. He took awhile before emerging from the players' lounge to start his interview. While folks were waiting on Moose, Johnny Damon was more than happy to entertain the scribes, and all passersby for that matter. Damon's locker is almost directly across the room from Mussina's …at 9 o'clock if you will. In a scene that I found comical, about 30 assorted people left Damon in mid-sentence when Moose walked to his locker. Cameras, pens, notebooks, recorders and people all scooted over to descend upon the winning pitcher.
Damon laughed, and then appeared to shoot a rubber band at Morgan Ensberg.
During this happy post-game recap, I noticed (noticed? this thing was huge) a stuffed turkey in Kyle Farnsworth's locker. This same turkey was on display before the game in the press cafeteria. When I was having a delightful breakfast of scrambled eggs, home fries, biscuit and tons of coffee, I heard one of the guys from MLB.COM say that it was a turkey that Farnsworth had shot on one of his numerous hunting forays. Apparently, he had it stuffed and wanted to show it off to his buddies before having it sent back home to his Georgia Compound.
Kyle's neighbors in the clubhouse are Ross Ohlendorf, Jose Molina, Hideki Matsui and Morgan Ensberg, and his locker sits at about 8 o'clock (continuing the same clockwise description.) I asked Ensberg about the turkey and he just shook his head, "Scary dude," the Californian said while casting a smile Kyle's way.
Watching Jose Molina, it's easy to see that he is very well respected by his peers. He has a serene air about him. It was a banner day for Jose because he got his first walk of the year. Coming into the game, his on base percentage was actually lower than his batting average. That's very hard to do and possible only because Sacrifice Flies count against the OBP but not against batting average.
The scurry of little feet rescued me from my study of Farnsworth, who was now rifling through hunting and gun magazines. It was Andy Pettitte's kids and perhaps some of their little cousins or friends. I turned and walked north and settled in on Joba Chamberlain sitting on a stool in front of his locker (11:30). Joba appeared to be having trouble with his I-Pod. "Is it freezing? Mine does that too. Hold the big middle button down simultaneously with the smaller arrow right above it. Hold it for 12 seconds."
I wanted to be sure Joba got his I-Pod working, for all I know it may be the secret of his success.
After all, unlike almost all the non-players in this locker room, I admit that I am a Yankee fan. That doesn't keep me from offering objective analysis. But I want them to win. When I get press credentials from WCBS and have the honor of sitting in the Press Box, of course I do not openly root. You can't do that. But I don't try to hide my allegiance in print.
Speaking of the Press Box, there are two main press boxes and a spare one down in the bowels of the basement somewhere. On the loge level, there is a box for the beat writers, international scribes and the guys working for Stats, Inc. and PA Sportsticker. Before you get into the press area you must pass by very serious men checking and double checking credentials, photo I.D.s and the like. Right before the game started, I passed by the main press box and the enclosed YES T.V. box. Paul O'Neill and Michael Kay were doing their pre-game talk. After that there is another section filled with wires and boxes with flashing lights on them, and then there is the Auxiliary Press Box. This is mostly for radio people, WCBS, WINS, WFUV, the Latino Sports Network, and Tom Verducci. This is where I was sitting.
The food in the press box is available throughout the game. Everything costs just $1. Cokes, pretzels, hotdogs, whatever. As I got a Diet Coke at the end of the 3rd, I ran into Keith Olberman, the famed MSNBC host of Countdown, and consummate Yankee fan. (As you no doubt recall, Chuck Knoblauch once hit Keith's mother on the noggin with an errant throw.) I made some small talk; he stared at me without saying anything and ordered a Coke.
Now back to the locker room. Girardi was running around announcing that he changed tomorrow's reporting time from 10 to 11, so the boys were rewarded with an extra hour of sleep for a job well done. We've all read a lot this past week about how Girardi has been having a tougher than expected time getting along with all the beat writers. Girardi has made it clear that his first responsibility is to his players. But after this victory, he was certainly amiable with everyone and had a little bounce in his step. At one point he motioned to Peter Abraham and the two scurried into his office for a few minutes. Like it or not, Girardi knows he has to get along with the beats because they can sway people's opinion in a most vicious fashion if they choose to.
All the while, before and after the game, Hideki Matsui was surrounded by Japanese media. It's amazing how patient he is, how accommodating. Day after day he is under an intense microscope to his people back home. The post game bandage he wore to ice down his knee is the size of a Chevy Impala. Hideki sat and read Japanese newspapers when not answering questions. He also had tons of letters piled up in his locker, along with what I think was a 10-gallon hat. (I wanted to learn more about the hat but I didn't know how to say: "Did you get that from Kyle?" in Japanese)
Before I left, I was able to garner a memento that many Yankee fans would treasure. I walked up to Shelley Duncan and asked for a forearm hit. His blue eyes lit up and he clobbered me one.
'Wow," I thought to myself as I left the clubhouse, "That guy is STRONG."
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