They were supposed to be the rotation of the weak, the hurlers of the poor, the Achilles heel of a Yankees team no longer built on starting pitching but brute power.
Oh, to have been a clubhouse boy when the Yankees starters sat around and shot the breeze prior to the start of the playoffs. How many times had they been painfully reminded of the consensus that the Twins and Red Sox biggest advantage in this ALCS was starting pitching?
Who’s your daddy, Boston?
Mike Mussina and Jon Lieber. Or is it pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre?
After Mussina threw a perfect game for 61/3 innings in Tuesday night’s 10-7 win, Lieber might have been more impressive. He went seven-plus innings and outdueled Pedro Martinez in the Yankees 3-1 win in Game 2.
“Our starters, knock wood, over the last couple of weeks have been there for us, and that’s why we’re able to finish the deal in winning the division and got through Minnesota,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said before last night’s game.
“We had some questions going into Minnesota, with a couple of guys who had never pitched in post-season before, and Kevin Brown had not pitched effectively that often, so we think that those questions have been answered for us. We feel good about our pitching right now.”
The Yankees, who lead the series 2-0, have every reason to feel great about their starting pitching. Kevin Brown goes tomorrow night in Game 3 and Orlando Hernandez probably will start Game 4.
Lieber, who two years ago had Tommy John surgery, was surgeon-like. After Orlando Cabrera opened the third with a single to left, Lieber retired 13 consecutive Sox.
He worked 1-2-3 innings in the fourth, fifth and sixth. After David Ortiz broke the streak with a single to right, Lieber got Kevin Millar to ground into a 5-4-3 double play. When Lieber surrendered a leadoff single to Trot Nixon, Torre came to the mound.
For the second time in the playoffs, Lieber, who worked seven-plus innings of one-run, three-hit ball, walked off the mound at the Stadium to a standing ovation. Mussina knows how that feels. He got an ovation after allowing four runs on four hits with eight strikeouts and no walks.
“During the first six innings, he kind of put on a clinic,” Boston manager Terry Francona said.
Then Lieber hung out his shingle. And Yankees’ starters have the Sox hung out to dry.
