Right now. At 39, on the last day of the season, Mike Mussina is a 20-game winner. He becomes the oldest pitcher to win 20 games for the first time. I'm sitting here in Mussina's Stanford jersey with a coffee table full of early Mussina cards, and even after doing work all day, just able to watch the ESPN.com box, I'm thrilled. 6 IN, 3 H, 0 R, 3 K, 20-9.

"He is undecided about whether to keep pitching, but if this was his last game, he went out on a highlight," Tyler Kepner writes in a quick take for the Times. LoHud Yankees offers a Bullwinkle salute. Thank you to 11-year-old Patrick for picking the right baseball hero.

In times like these, I'm glad I don't bite my nails. Mike's 19th win last night would have left me short at least one hand, and I'm only seeing the live box scores online. This season is Mike's third 19-win year, the first since the 19-9 of 1995 and 19-11 of 1996. Hat holders, it looks like we have one start to go — the last day of the season, at Boston.

Covering win 19: "Mussina, who took a liner off the right elbow in the third inning, will try to pitch Sunday at Fenway Park, and a victory there will give him his first 20-win season," the Times wrote, and later: "His last chance was on Sept. 28, 1996, when he pitched for Baltimore and Armando Benítez blew the save in what would have been his 20th victory. Mussina’s next chance will come exactly 12 years later, as long as his elbow allows it." That explained the early departure last night (a mystery to box score watchers). "Despite a large red welt on the outside of his elbow the size of a golf ball, Mussina allowed just one more hit before being pulled after going the minimum five innings required for the win," Baseball Toaster said. 

But Canada's Globe and Mail had the best piece, on Cito (background).

Want to get Gaston going, and turn a sunny day into darkness? One only needs to utter the name Mike Mussina, the veteran pitcher for the New York Yankees who's had a long-simmering feud with Gaston.

A smile will quickly turn to a frown and Gaston's eyes will start to pinch.

"Mike Mussina can kiss my ass – and you can print that," Gaston uttered last month to a reporter who had unwisely approached the Toronto Blue Jays manager seeking a quote or two for a story on Mussina.

The headline on that lead today was, "Mussina has the last laugh."

Covering win 18: "Mussina shook hands with the manager and walked off the Stadium mound to thunderous applause Thursday night after throwing six strong innings in a 9-2 Yankee victory over the listing White Sox that put him two victories from his first 20-win season," the Daily News wrote. "Most from the crowd of 53,152 stood and chanted 'Mooose, Moose,' as Mussina approached the Yankee dugout." The Times reported he wouldn't mind coming back for another year with the team. Strategic Failure looked at his chances for 3,000 strikeouts.

One paper looked to 19. "Palmer contends that Mussina would have been the franchise's greatest pitcher if he had spent his entire career with the Orioles," the Sun said. "But Mussina didn't, so Palmer retains that crown – perhaps forever. Mussina is surely OK with that. But don't think 269 is just a number for Mussina. He wouldn't say it, but passing Palmer might be as important to him as getting that elusive 20th win."

Covering the future: So, yes. On the career list, the 19th win moves Mussina to 269, ahead of Palmer and one behind Burleigh Grimes.

Strategic Failure examines the previous chances for 20, the Mussina-Palmer differences and the related Hall considerations.

Mike lost Sunday, got bruised and made an error for the first time in three years, so I felt like blog catch-up on the win in the previous game was necessary and a little pressing. Sunday left Mike needing three wins in four games, and it would be easy to get down now.

So, the previous game: "Mike Mussina worked six innings, improving to 17-7 as he seeks his first 20-win season," the Times said with hope. "He matched a season high with eight strikeouts, improving to 3-0 against the Rays," the AP said. "Mussina's work pushed him past Hall of Famers Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for sole possession of 34th place all-time list with 267 career victories," MLB.com said. "Moose is this year's Yankee MVP — in a landslide," Yankees Watch said.

Whether Mike gets 20 or not — and I still think he will — what a year it's been for him. When everyone thinks your guy is washed up and the next year he's winning 17 and making a cover at work (above, reprint lawyers, come find my cubicle), it's good to be a fan…

… There's that.

I want to post a link for a fellow Moose fan, David, who's been tracking Mike's place in history and linking here from Strategic Failure this year. David's blog is must-read after a win. It's no Mike Mussina Male Gigolo.

He's been going through a difficult time recently, and he deserves a good story to read. So, here's the first big story and one of the best, from the Sports Illustrated archives of July '94: "The M&M Boys."

Mike Mussina likes to feed deer. Ben McDonald likes to kill them. "I've already told him, 'Keep it up and you're going to have an animal population problem on your hands,' " McDonald says. His large, round eyes grow even bigger at the thought of all those plump, trusting bucks bouncing happily across Mussina's property in suburban Pennsylvania. "I said, 'All it takes is one phone call, and I'll take care of it.' "

Mussina is a big Star Trek fan. McDonald is a Fox kind of a guy who thinks it doesn't get any better than Married … With Children. "I wouldn't watch Star Trek if it was the last show on TV," McDonald says.

Mussina is rock-and-roll, crossword puzzles, Stephen King , subtle humor and, thanks to taking summer classes, a Stanford graduate who needed less than four years to earn his economics degree. McDonald is country, Supersoakers, Field & Stream , slapstick and one of the most legendary college baseball players ever. "One summer I played in the Alaska summer league, and another summer I played on the Olympic team," says McDonald , who left LSU after three years. "See, that was summer school for me. This is my life. I can always go back to college."

Both of them were high school punters. Mussina was the only one who kicked with his shoe on.

Enjoy the story. Fourteen years on, here's to the next win.

NYT: "Four Yankees home runs overcame a shaky beginning by Mussina, who gave up hits to four of his first five hitters to trail, 3-0. But Mussina allowed only two more hits and no runs the rest of his six-inning stint, retiring his last 14 batters. With his 266th career victory, Mussina (16-7) tied Bob Feller and Eppa Rixey for 34th place on the career list."

Strategic Failure, on surpassing Jim McCormick on the list: "McCormick, a right-hander born in Scotland in 1856, enjoyed his best years with Cleveland of the National League from 1879 to 1884, winning 40 or more games twice during that span (though also losing 30 or more three times)."

Jim Palmer sits next at 268.

MLB: "He fell into an early hole Saturday, giving up three runs and six hits to the first nine Royals batters he faced. They weren't hitting the ball hard off of him, as three of the hits came on well-placed ground balls, but Mussina wasn't satisfied. 'It still looked like they were comfortable at the plate,' he said. 'And when they're standing in there comfortably, that's something you don't want to see.' So Mussina adjusted. He concentrated on his pitch selection and what he was throwing to certain batters."

Newsday: "Yesterday left him looking for four more wins with 38 games left to play – roughly seven more starts, if all goes according to schedule. His ERA dropped from 3.39 to 3.35. Mussina (16-7) has won five of his last seven starts, with a loss and a no-decision. The Yankees, meanwhile, have depended on him heavily, going 17-9 in games that he starts."

NYT Bats: "Whenever he retires, Mussina will make for a fascinating Hall of Fame argument. If people dismiss him, they will cite the usual tired arguments about his never winning 20 and his never pitching for a champion. … Mostly, though, they will have to ignore this compelling fact: only six pitchers in major league history have as many victories as Mussina (265) with a better winning percentage (.637). They are Lefty Grove, Christy Mathewson, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Grover Cleveland Alexander and Jim Palmer. That’s the kind of company Mussina keeps."

Season win 15 makes for career win 265. To celebrate, Strategic Failure takes perhaps the Internet's longest look at Gus Wehyhing, now surpassed on the all-time win list. "He was just the type of player likely to be on Montgomery Burns's dream softball team from that famous episode of the Simpsons so many years ago…." See the list here. Hard Ball Times also has some cool numbers on Mike's control.

AP: "Mike Mussina pitched seven sharp innings Thursday night and held the most powerful offense in the majors scoreless in a 3-0 win over the Texas Rangers. … The 39-year-old right-hander gave up eight hits, struck out six and stayed unbeaten in his last seven road outings." NYT: "Mussina became the first visiting starter to not allow a run at Rangers Ballpark since last August. He has allowed two runs or fewer in seven of his last eight starts, and he earned his 15th victory, tying Cleveland’s Cliff Lee for the American League lead."

MLB: "Not only was his final line on Thursday one of his best this season, but Mussina did it against the Majors' most productive offense, in one of the league's foremost hitter's parks. He did it in 98-degree heat, mowing down Josh Hamilton and Michael Young and Ian Kinsler, the three main engines of this Rangers offense. And he did it by pitching — really pitching — on a night when his stuff was self-admittedly ordinary." River Ave. Blues: "Who shuts down the Rangers at home with their best stuff? And for all the grief I’ve given Moose over the years, I have to tip my cap to him this year. He has shown, week after week, that old dogs — headstrong ones at that — can indeed learn a few new tricks. "

Last thing. After the win, we get a great interview with Yahoo Sports.

Q: The Onion has written a few satirical stories with you as a character.

MM: Who?

Q: The Onion, the satirical newspaper that writes fake joke stories? You don't know the Onion?

MM: Nope.

Q: Wow. Well, there was this one headline: "Mussina Convinced He's Won a World Series" and it quotes you as believing you were on the 2000 World Series champs.

MM: OK.

Much more awesomeness within, including Mike's relationships with NYC tourism, Tiger Woods, beer, Orioles' fans, and retail labor.

Moose got a hit but no win in his first start after cursed All-Star night.

Mike Mussina singled to left in the seventh inning for his first hit in six years. The Yankees’ pitchers had been 0 for 15 before Mussina connected, and he had a simple explanation: he wore his pant legs high for the first time as a Yankee. “My 5-year-old told me to,” Mussina said. “He said, ‘You’ll hit better, Dad, if you pull your pants up.’ ”

Anyone else remember Mike getting the first interleague hit for Orioles' pitchers? No picture of this month's hit has surfaced, but his Mustache Day did. And reports said Mike did indeed go to the county fair. MLB.com had a nice look back at his season so far, and an interesting analysis popped up in the Philadelphia Daily News….

The book has a bubbly foreword by good friend Jayson Stark, who has never met a baseball number he didn't cherish. There's a chapter on Michael Jordan's lone season in Birmingham, Ala. There's a wonderful segment about the 2001 Cy Young Award selection of Roger Clemens (20-3) over Mike Mussina (17-11).

Abracadabra and Seidman "adjusts" Clemens' record to 14-9 and Mussina's to 21-7. "Based on peripherals that include innings pitched, walks, strikeouts, skill level and frequency of well-pitched games, there really is no question that Mussina had a much better season," he writes.

That should go over like a 14-inning game on getaway night with the baseball scribes. "I'm not trying to anger anyone," he explains. "I just want people to take a different look at the numbers and not be intimidated by them."

The second start of the second half fared better, looking strong in a 7-1 victory over Oakland. "The 39-year-old right-hander allowed eight singles and a double, but did not walk a batter for the eighth time this year," the Associated Press wrote. "Relying on pinpoint control, he has 16 walks in 20 starts spanning 113 1-3 innings." Following up, Strategic Failure noted the next pitcher on the all-time win list and Mike's improving ranking in strikeout history.

A 5-1 win over Minnesota came next, before a weird and ugly game vs. Baltimore. ("It wasn't awful stuff, but it wasn't good stuff.") But the O's loss was redeemed by The Onion writing just for me: "McSweeney's Rejects Mike Mussina's Seventh Consecutive Submission." And how happy were we to see Manny go to the NL? If only we could get Millar to follow. There's now a MussinaHoF.com site running.

Next start: This afternoon against the tough Angels.

Update at 11:47 p.m. ET: Angels lose. That's win 14 and 264.

"Mussina retired the final 17 batters he faced in seven solid innings," says the AP, with some side talk of Gold Glove-level work on the mound. The NYT ups things with a heck of verb: "After allowing two runs in the second, Mussina never seemed seriously troubled by the Angels as he coolly defanged their offense."

The last few weeks, I had a bad feeling. Cito Gaston couldn't return to the field without something going wrong for Mike Mussina.

At first, it appeared Gaston's return would not allow Mike to win another game, ever. Mike broke his disaster streak last fall against the Jays, and Cito needed revenge. The run-support issues that plagued Mike's middle years were back, and two solid games went to waste.

This blog's local hero remained stuck on 10 wins for the season and 260 for his career. While we couldn't expect wins in every game, the timing was suspicious. The first of the two losses — complete with an odd error and an ordered walk — came the very day of Cito's rehiring.

It was notable, then, when the Yankees went to the edge but held onto Mike's victory Saturday. Strategic Failure chalked up the win. After a strange bout of lightheadedness forced Mike from the game, Mariano wasn't himself for most of the ninth. He hit two Red Sox batters and missed pitches by feet. You could feel Gaston's spirit messing with forces of nature. But we all learned something: If you hit Manny three times with the ball, you reverse the curse of Gaston.

Almost. One beast destroyed, we inevitably thought of what could go wrong next. And the All-Star Game became our Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. Gaston the Gastonian took a new form, and the snub arrived within a day. It had to happen. Had Mussina taken the field at Yankee Stadium, the resident good ghosts would've been too strong for the absent Gaston. Without a presence at the coming game, like he had in '93, Cito made sure to get to Mike ahead of time.

One examined AL manager Terry Francona's explanation of the snub and understood the true forces at work. "Because of who he is and who he represents, we talked long and hard about what is right," said Francona, who curiously has "Tito" for a nickname and once worked in Canada. "Ultimately, what it came down to is, to do that, somebody would have been left off that is really deserving and that would have been difficult to do. So our decision was difficult because of again, who he is and the respect for the team he plays for. But to get that, we would have had to do something wrong."

The deranged ramblings of a man possessed? Absolutely.

Mike said he wasn't too disappointed. He said he'd head to the county fair. He said he didn't know if his kids were disappointed after they watched the selection show. Even the Boston Globe had a nice column.

A commenter at Strategic Failure linked to LoHud's audio of Mike's post-win presser, where the country fair came up. The mention was noted widely, but it seemed worth posting here in transcribed form.

"What's at the country fair that could be as fun as pitching at the All-Star Game?" "Well, shoot, they have demolition derbies, tractor pulls." "Do you have a pig entered or something?" "No, no animals. Sorry. Next year, maybe. Or the year after. But I don't have any animals, so …" we hope for next year, always next year.

When Hank Steinbrenner apologizes for what he said about you, you know you're doing something right. But both Mussina and Steinbrenner come off well in a Monday Newsday piece returing to April's Jamie Moyer comment. Everyone can agree Mike is doing a good job.

He's jumped to win #10 on the season and #260 in his career, up from our last check-in at 257. "He is tied with Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians for the A.L. lead in wins and has now reached 10 victories in each of the last 17 seasons," the Times reported on last week's win. "When you look back on it, you win 10 any way you can do it, it's a good year. And, actually, my minimum's 11. I didn't stop at 10 in any of those years. I actually made it to 11, just like Spinal Tap."

Earlier in the month, win #9/259 led the Times to speculate on a All-Star game start. A few days earlier, #8/258 had the AP noting Mike's tendency to have one bad inning before adjusting and recovering. The trend has definitely been there this year, and it should be interesting to see how it progresses.

Meanwhile, the "almost" of this stretch was a rare loss from Mariano after Mike went an unbeliebable-if-you-didn't-see-the-box-score eight innings. Compared to this effort, the always enjoyable Mussina posts in Strategic Failure fairly described the subsequent #10/260 as a "somewhat more prosaic outing." The blog also made good note of Mike's strikes-to-walks ratio this year, a memorable stat in his early career, one it's surprising to see rebound.

Also surprising: Mussina's role with the media this year. His take on Wang's unfortunate injury, rounding the bases in interleague play: "We run in straight lines most of the time. Turning corners, you just don't do that."

Maybe the unexpected wins are giving him more non-gameday leeway in his head, or with the Yankees press. Maybe the relationship is more comfortable with the Yankees youth movement arriving (relatively)? I figure Joba's a good guy but not a solid quote yet. Maybe it's being in a Girardi clubhouse intead of Torre's? Not that Torre would begrudge anyone the right to say something — Joe always seemed like a good listener — but maybe the space is less hallowed and more engaging.

(You had to love young Steinbrenner's take on the injury. "My only message is simple. The National League needs to join the 21st century. They need to grow up and join the 21st century. Am I (mad) about it? Yes. "I've got my pitchers running the bases, and one of them gets hurt. He's going to be out. I don't like that, and it's about time they address it. That was a rule from the 1800s." Forget about interleague games and rivalries. Major League Baseball needs more interleague insults.)

Strategic Failure is reading the Feinstein's Mussina/Glavine book, and I'm interested to hear what he thinks. After being skeptical of what Feinstein — a great writer, but a very regular book writer — could get that wasn't covered in depth last year, a Newsday blog convinces me there's deeper stuff worth reading.

The blog posts about Moose are running fast and furious these days, but other highlights include: the Times Bats taking a look at Cooperstown (no, I've never been there, yes, I of all people should go there), a commenter on a baseball card blog saying his page of Mussina Upper Deck rookies is oddly going down in value (I've got the card, but the Score card was happily my first, thank you late Bethesda Dugout), Seamheads.com has a nice Rookie of the Year reference, Yankee Stadium Insider gets rebuked on doubting the All-Star credentials, and River Ave. Blue posts on the one-inning blues.

And, of course, there's the whiteboard and LoHud (via Bronx Banter).

Mussina wrote "The ice cream is back" on his message board. The Moose made a deal with Girardi that if he got to 10 wins, they'd put the ice cream freezer back in the player lounge. Now there are incentives for 12 wins (donuts) and 15 (candy, maybe).

Mussina went on one of his Dennis Miller-riffs on how he's pitched well for so long on Mountain Dew, donuts and M&Ms.

Now there's a union rep at work.

We're not going to discuss Tuesday and Mike's 2/3 inning. It was a train wreck of a game (Moose in NYT: "It was like I'd never pitched in my entire life"), with the saving grace of the train being operational the next day. Let's move on to Saturday, with Mike on three days rest.

AP: "Mike Mussina survived five shaky innings before turning it over to Joba Chamberlain and New York's reshaped bullpen, and the Yankees pummeled the Seattle Mariners 12-6 on Saturday for their first four-game winning streak of the season. … Coming off his worst start in more than a decade, Mussina (7-4) needed 74 pitches to make it through five innings. He wasted a 4-0 lead, giving up Jose Vidro's three-run homer in the fourth followed by Beltre's solo shot."

MLB.com: "After Mike Mussina left the game with five innings and 74 pitches to his credit, Chamberlain entered, a nod both to Mussina's ineffectiveness and Chamberlain's need for work. … So Chamberlain — roughly slotted for three innings — only pitched two, and it turns out that Mussina could have pitched six quite easily. On another day, he probably would have. But his five innings, however rocky they might have been, gave him the foundation for a victory."

NYT: "Among their happy statistics: starter Mike Mussina (7-4) has the most victories on the staff and is third in the American League. Although he was not dominant Saturday in five innings, he is, mathematically, on pace to win 20 games."

NDN: "Mussina joked that it did not feel like short rest, because his last appearance was so short."

That's win 257, Strategic Failure reminds us ("Embrace the moxie"). Meanwhile, The Bronx Block this week examines Mussina's career with a Bill James-penned Hall of Fame question list. The list has a roughly even split between the quantitative and the qualitative, and the results are more positive than I expected.

Two other things:
1. Why isn't anyone with access writing a Mussina dry-erase board blog? Or maintaining some kind of Web list? Reportedly hanging on his locker and updated daily, the board has a kind of baseball Zen mini-feed going on. Just last week, we've got (Thursday) "Balls that hit the yellow stairs are usually homers. Not tonight." and (Saturday) "K Bryant. 22 points Fri. Fly red-eye to NY to play center on Sat." Lately, Giambi has inspired "Pitchers need thongs too."

The Record this spring makes the popularity obvious: "A witticism, an axiom, an irreverent little quip, Mike Mussina's dry-erase board has hosted them all — and, in the process, become the day's first must-see." Most appear to come from Mussina, but there seems to be a bit of a group-blog thing going on sometimes. (Unrelated, found while googling, why doesn't Mussina play ping-pong? I'm totally cool with messing with the mind of the franchise's most carefully protected rookie, but what's wrong with ping-pong?)

2. Have to say it again. Every newspaper blogger in the world can learn from Peter Abraham's LoHud Yankees blog. Last night we get the lede, "Jason Giambi looks like the male lead in Naughty Nurses, Volume 2 with that new mustache of his. But The Big G isn't shaving any time soon. He's 10 of 19 with six runs scored, four RBI and four extra-base hits in the last six games."

Abraham then gives a ridiculous Ichiro quote and tells everyone to read the comments thread when it becomes an awesome festival of ridiculous Ichiro quotes. Abraham's to start: "Playing on this team and seeing what is happening around me, I feel that something is beginning to fall apart. But, if I was not in this situation, and I was objectively watching what just happened this week, I would probably be drinking a lot of beers and booing."

(Other coverage adds the second part of that conversation, "Usually, I enjoy Japanese beer, but given the situation, I wouldn't care if it was Japanese beer, American beer or beer from Papua New Guinea.")

The best one in the list is undoubtedly this one, originally in USAT: "Tiger is a great golfer, but … when you say athlete, I think of Carl Lewis. When you talk about (golfers or race-car drivers), I don't want to see them run. It's the same if you were to meet a beautiful girl and go bowling. If she's an ugly bowler, you are going to be disappointed."

When last we left Mike Mussina, he had picked up two nice wins in a row and improved his season record to 3-3. He has since picked up three more, raising his career win total to 256. That count has put him at 40th all-time, with Ted Lyons next on the list with 260.

Let's recap the wins.

254, against the Mariners. "Mussina (4-3) mixed pitches and speeds well and kept the Mariners off balance over six innings," the Times said. "He allowed seven hits and a run, struck out five and walked no one." Quote that gets picked up everywhere: "I cut it loose," describing an 89-mph strikeout pitch.

255, over the Indians. Mike pitched five and was fine through four. The Indians scored three runs and tied things up in the fifth, but he finished the inning. Damon put the Yankees ahead again in the bottom of the inning, and Mike got the win.

256, over Tampa Bay. "Mussina (6-3) worked six and a third innings, allowing a run, five hits and a walk," the Times said of the 2-1 win.

Much has been made of Mussina's diminished fastball, but he has at least four other pitches and is now commanding them all. He started Wednesday's game with a 68-mile-per-hour curveball and sprinkled in plenty of changeups at 66 m.p.h. Timing is everything, as they say.

"Whether it's Joba throwing 96 or me throwing 86, they have to gear their approach to whatever speed is coming," Mussina said. "Well, if I can make them gear from 68 up to 85 or 86, that's a big spread. No matter how hard the top is, the spread is pretty large.

"And if I can throw changeups for strikes at 70 miles an hour, and dump curveballs in there for strikes at 70, and work in between — throw sinkers at 81-82, throw cutters at 81-82, throw fastballs at 85-86 — then that makes it hard on them, no matter what the speed is.

"I'm not going to strike out 10 guys a game, and I know that. But I can mess with them enough that they're not going to get the swing that they want to get. And that's all I'm trying to do."

In other news, Mike is the winningest pitcher in interleague play. His next start is Tuesday against Baltimore. Meanwhile, Strategic Failure — still tracking Moose's victories — attempts to answer the question, "Why Mussina?" I owe the same answer to this blog sometime.