Mussina has much to prove

It's time for Yankee fans to hold their collective breath. Mike Mussina is about to take the hill.

It might seem unfair to heap so much doubt on a veteran with 254 career wins, but Mussina has done nothing over the past twelve months to earn any benefit of the doubt. His 11-10 record and 5.15 ERA over 28 starts last season, and his increasing number of early exits -- Mussina averaged fewer than six innings per start last season -- cause concern for Yankee fans who do not want to see the bullpen taxed early, especially when the Yankees have one off day before May 5.

That concern is exacerbated when Yankee fans realize that manager Joe Girardi has a strict innings cap on his young starters, Ian Kennedy and Phil Hughes. With the bullpen already slated to cover the back innings when the rookies start, Mussina is going to be counted on to log 185-200 innings this season. That seems an unlikely mountain for Moose to climb.

But there's a reason they play the games: numbers on paper are as meaningful as a LaTroy Hawkins spring outing ("it don't mean shit, dude"). The Yankees are riding high after last night's thriller over the Blue Jays. Let's hope Mussina can keep the party going, and keep the bullpen rested.

The numbers

If anyone is going to send Mussina to an early shower, it's going to be the Big Hurt.

Frank Thomas could go to Cooperstown on his numbers vs. Mussina alone. Thomas is .375 (30-for-80) with nine home runs and 21 RBI off Moose. But Thomas isn't the only Blue Jay batter with a good history of teeing off on Mussina.

Shannon Stewart has a healthy but not superhuman .295 average against Moose, but of his 18 hits, nine are for extra bases, with a triple and a home run. Vernon Wells (.345, 2 HR), David Eckstein (.571, 4-for-7), and Aaron Hill (.313) will team up with Thomas to make life tough on today's Yankee starter.

For Yankee hitters, it's feast or famine off Blue Jays starter A.J. Burnett. Here are the numbers for today's probable lineup:

J. Damon -- .154/.267/.385, 2-for-13, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 2 BB, 2 SO
D. Jeter -- .357/.471/.571, 5-for-14, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 3 BB, 3 SO
B. Abreu -- .325/.462/.450, 13-for-40, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 11 BB, 12 SO
A. Rodriguez -- .357/.357/.857, 5-for-14, 2 HR, 4 RBI, 4 SO
J. Giambi -- .300/.364/.300, 3-for-10, 1 BB, 2 SO
R. Cano -- .222/.222/.222, 2-for-9, 2 SO
J. Posada -- .083/.214/.083, 1-for-12, 2 BB, 4 SO
H. Matsui -- .333/.556/.333, 2-for-6, 3 BB, 2 SO
M. Cabrera -- .091/.091/.091, 1-for-11, 1 SO