MVN - Most Valuable Network

ST Round-up: Mussina “Crystallizes” a Gem

Leading off for the Yankees in today’s Spring Training game, 59-year-old (his birthday’s tomorrow) director of 61* Billy Crystal stepped up to the plate. Staring down Pittsburgh Pirates’ pitcher Paul Maholm, Crystal worked a full count before striking out swinging. Crystal checked with the umpire if it was a strike that he swung through, walked towards the Yankees’ dugout and got a standing ovation.

In other news, Mike Mussina pitched 5 no-hit innings today as well.

Once again, Mussina was 86 to 88 mph on his fastball. Once again, his curveball was being thrown for strikes. And once again, his fastball complimented his off-speed stuff. Yes, he threw five no-hit innings against the Pirates, which doesn’t exactly have an amazing offensive line-up. However, with Mussina’s less-than-stellar season last year, the last two games have been encouraging to watch. Let’s hope that this isn’t just a flash in the pan and is only a sign of things to come for the upcoming season. On a side note, the Yankees lost today’s game 5-3 by giving up four runs in the 8th inning. Coming into the game in the 7th inning, Jeff Karstens gave up 5 earned runs off of 7 hits and 2 walks in 1.1 innings.

Speaking of Karstens, he is the scheduled starter for Tuesday’s exhibition game versus Virginia Tech. Joe Girardi announced today that he is sending the Yankees’ “A” line-up and the majority of the roster up with him. The article also makes reference to the pledge of $1 million George Steinbrenner sent to the Virginia Tech “Hokie Spirit Memorial Fund.” With the Duncan slide getting a good amount of discussion the last two days, there has been much discussion being made on the class (or lack there of) in the Yankees’ organization, but Joe Girardi put it perfectly in words when he said:

“Mr. Steinbrenner cares about people,” Girardi said. “He’s always had a big heart, and he’s always reached out to communities. I think it’s a great thing for our club. We never know what’s in store for tomorrow, so I think it’s important that you give your greatest effort every day.”

Hideki Matsui was playing left field for the first time in a Grapefruit League game this Spring Training, going 1-for-2 and stating that he is at “100 percent.” Good for him and the Yankees, if that is the case.

Lastly, as Pete Abraham reports, Kei Igawa is seriously fishing to get a TV contract for a sitcom.

Kei Igawa threw a bullpen before the game and wanted somebody to stand at the plate and pose as a batter.

His interpreter, Yohei Fukuda, volunteered.

You can guess what happened. Yes, Igawa hit him with a pitch.

You seriously can’t make this stuff up, folks.

Here is the video of the Billy Crystal at-bat plus highlights and lowlights of the game, provided by RedLasso.

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 11:04 pm and is filed under Jeff Karstens, Joe Girardi, Kei Igawa, Mike Mussina, Hideki Matsui, Spring Training, Off the Facade. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.