Closer Look

Mussina provides tourniquet for Yankees in first career relief appearance

By John Donovan, SI.com

Moose eggs: Mike Mussina worked three scoreless inning after Roger Clemens was pulled in the fourth inning. Al Bello

NEW YORK -- After exactly 400 career starts, including 14 in the postseason, Mike Mussina heard something Thursday that he'd never heard before.

The bullpen phone. Ringing.

It was for him.

The New York Yankees' ace answered the call to arms in Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, shutting down the Boston Red Sox in three key innings of work in what turned out to be a game only the Yankees and Red Sox could pull off. In the end, the Yankees won 6-5 in 11 thrilling inings to advance to their 38th World Series.

There was a roster full of heroes for the Yankees, from catcher Jorge Posada (an eighth-inning bloop double off Red Sox starter Pedro Martinez) to designated hitter Jason Giambi (two home runs) to closer Mariano Rivera (three scoreless innings to get the win) to third baseman Aaron Boone (the walkoff homer off knuckleballer Tim Wakefield in the bottom of the 11th).

Include Mussina in that list, too. He came in for starter Roger Clemens in the fourth inning with the Yankees in a world of hurt, and instantly healed them. And then he hung around for a couple more innings as his team started its incredible, memorable comeback.

"Moose came in and ... that was the turning point of the game right there," said Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, one of the few pitchers who didn't chip in Saturday (he had just pitched in Game 6). "If those two runs score ... "

Mussina came in with men on first and third with nobody out, facing the most potent lineup in baseball. And what he did will live long in Yankees lore.

"I was just trying to get some guys out in that situation," Mussina said in the Yankees' champagne-addled clubhouse. "Then I got the first guy on strikes, and I thought, 'Hey, just make some good pitches and see what happens.'"

Mussina's first victim was Jason Varitek, the stocky and dangerous Red Sox catcher. Varitek, a switch-hitter turned to the left side against the righty Mussina, fouled off the first two pitches he saw, then whiffed on a knuckle-curve for the inning's first out.

That brought up the top of the Boston order, with speedy center fielder Johnny Damon. Mussina threw him two quick strikes. Damon then smacked a grounder to shortstop Derek Jeter, who stepped on second, and threw to first to complete the inning-ending double play.

It was hard to think of it then, but it was the start of something magical -- again -- at Yankee Stadium.

"The guy who put a tourniquet on the whole thing was Mike Mussina," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "That was the turning point for me. You felt like you were getting your brains beat out, and you look up, it's 4-1, you say 'OK. Now we're at arm's length here.'"

Before he sent Mussina out to the bullpen, Yankees pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre told him that he wouldn't be used with men on base. But when Red Sox third baseman Bill Mueller singled off Clemens through the hole at shortstop on a perfect hit-and-run, putting those runners at first and third, Torre had no choice but to go with Mussina. He was the only pitcher warmed up enough at the time.

"I had thrown maybe 20, 25 pitches," Mussina said. "When I start, I probably throw twice that many."

Still, Mussina responded. He gave up a couple harmless singles in the fifth inning but got David Ortiz to strike out and Kevin Millar to ground out to short to end that threat.

And in the sixth, after Giambi had brought the Yankees within 4-1 with his first homer of the night, Mussina struck out Trot Nixon, got Mueller to ground out to third and then finished his night by getting Varitek to ground out to second.

"I had some pretty good stuff tonight, surprisingly, after throwing 100 pitches the other night and coming out of the bullpen for the first time," he said. "I had no experience what it was going to be like."

Mussina's first relief appearance helped soothe what has been a tough postseason so far. He is 0-3 this October in three starts, with a 4.66 ERA. The Red Sox beat him twice in the ALCS, but had no answer for him Thursday.

After Mussina was finished for the night, he came back to the dugout after a quick change and approached Torre.

"Remind me I want to be a starter," he said.

Mussina was just one of five relievers who helped bail Clemens out of a jam. The five pitched a total of eight innings and gave up just one run (when David Wells, another starter, gave up a solo home run to Ortiz) on five hits.

"I have a completely new appreciation for what those guys have to do out of the bullpen. It's surprising they can do that three or four times a week," Mussina said. "I could barely do it once."

For the Yankees and Mussina, once was plenty.

John Donovan is a senior writer for SI.com.