YOU CAN'T HIDE OUT THERE:

Yankees' Mussina rips struggling Rodriguez (CBC Sports, 21 Jul 2006)

"I don't know what's going on," said a pained Mussina. "I know he's played better. I know he's disappointed in the way he's playing. It's not him right now. We need him back the way he's supposed to be." [...]

"It's a play I should have made," said Rodriguez. "It got away. I just tried to throw it around the runner and kind of pulled it.

"I was a little hesitant. It was hit a little soft but I felt I had a play at home and I think I was right."

However, Mussina didn't mince words when assessing the play.

"All he had to do was throw it on target," he said. "He would have been out by 20 feet."

Mussina was cruising through the first five innings, but gave up three straight hits in the sixth after Rodriguez's blunder.

"It bothers me when it all mounts up like that, especially after pitching so well for five innings," said Mussina. "When you get momentum going like that it's tough to stop."

In fairness to the Yankees and White Sox, it should be observed that they got fat in the first half by facing bad teams and you just aren't going to look as good when you play better ones.

Posted by Orrin Judd at July 21, 2006 7:19 PM