As a lifelong Orioles fan, I’ve always loathed the New York “Evil Empire” Yankees. The only time I would root for them is when their winning would help the Orioles in a penant race (remember, back in the 1990s, the Orioles were in penant races). In essence, I was rooting for the other team to lose.

But, today, with Mike Mussina on the mound for the Yanks, I’m rooting for them to win and for “Moose” to get his 20th win.  Mussina has had 19 wins in a season twice, and 18 wins thrice, but has never crossed the 20-win plateau. The last time he was a win a way from 20, he was pitching for the Orioles (where he started his career), but our bullpen blew it for him (on two separate occassions!). Even though Mussina is in his 8th year for the Yankees, I’ve never really thought of him as anything other than an Oriole.

So today, I hope the Bronx boys can support Moose the way the Birds never did. Go Mussina! Go Yanks!