Mussina hangs up spikes after first 20-win season

Baseball Betting Lines

11/20/2008 - Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees right-hander Mike Mussina, as expected, retired on Thursday after 18 seasons in the major leagues.

Reports circulated on Wednesday that Mussina had decided to call it quits after the first 20-win campaign of his illustrious career. He finished the 2008 season with a record of 20-9 and a 3.37 earned run average in 34 starts for the Yankees, and was awarded his seventh Gold Glove.

At age 39, Mussina became the oldest pitcher in baseball history to record 20 wins in a season for the first time in his career. Jamie Moyer held the previous mark with his first 20-win season in 2001 at age 38.

Mussina's 2,813 career strikeouts ranks sixth among active pitchers and 19th on the all-time list. The first-round pick of the Orioles in 1990 completed his career with a 270-153 record and a 3.68 ERA. His .638 career winning percentage is sixth-best all-time among pitchers who made at least 500 career starts, and his 270 victories ties him with Burleigh Grimes for 32nd place on the all-time list.

Mussina has pitched his whole career in the American League East -- the last eight seasons with the Yankees and the first 10 of his career with the Baltimore Orioles. Signed as a free agent by the Yankees prior to the 2001 season, Mussina compiled a record of 123-72 with a 3.88 ERA in eight seasons with New York. No American League pitcher has recorded more wins during that time period, and Mussina's 1,278 strikeouts while with the Yankees ranks sixth on the club's all-time list.

He won 15 games in a season 11 times during his career, and six times placed in the top five for Cy Young Award voting, though he never won it. Mussina ostensibly came to New York with the hope of winning a World Series in mind, joining the club after the last of its three straight titles from 1998-2000, but he never did get a ring.

The Yankees made two World Series appearances during his tenure, but both were losses -- in 2001 to Arizona and in 2003 to Florida. Mussina finished his career with a 7-8 playoff record and a 3.42 postseason ERA.

Mussina, a native of Montoursville, Pennsylvania, was known for his control, and walked only 785 batters in 3,562 2/3 career innings, a ratio of 1.98 walks per nine innings pitched. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Mussina is one of only three pitchers in MLB history to throw at least 3,000 innings and hold opponents to fewer than two walks per nine innings pitched, joining Jack Quinn and Cy Young.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.