BridgeH2O: All-Star Pitch-Off

Usually Mike Mussina and Joe Saunders are combating against other EHCC opponents, but in their upcoming starts, they will be battling each other. Why you may ask? They will fight each other for a spot on the all-star roster.

All-Star Pitch-Off
By Stevie Miller, BridgeH20 Today

Weasels manager Kenny Beltram has a tough decision to make. Which pitcher should Bridgewater send to the all-star game? “It was a pretty easy decision to send Tim (Hudson) to the game because he has been our number one pitcher all year long.” Beltram said. “But with only one spot left to work with and a lot of quality guys that I could send, I narrowed it down to two. With both Mike (Mussina) and Joe (Saunders) pitching great for us, the only fair thing I could think of is a good old fashion pitch-off.”

And that is what they are going to do. In their next scheduled starts, (Mussina on Saturday and Saunders on Sunday) the two will pitch for the last pitching spot for Bridgewater. GM Nastra Diggus loves this idea. “This is great, young vs old, lefty vs righty, teammate vs teammate, winner takes all, doesn’t get better than this” said Diggus.

Mike “I use to be the Moose, then I lost it for awhile, but am now the Moose again” Mussina has been pitching great as of late for the Weasels, who is 8-1 with a 3.11 ERA in his last 10 outings. The seasoned vet got off to a rocky start this year going 1-3 with an ERA of 5.75 in his first four starts. So what was it that turned it around for Mussina? “Well I decided that it was time for something new, so I decided to stop sucking since I’ve doing that for awhile now” said Mussina. “It was tough to become good again given that I really got comfortable with sucking but I found a way to turn it around.”

Joe “I’ve been a pleasant surprise” Saunders has been the opposite of Mussina. He started off hot and has scuffled a bit as of late. Saunders has lost two of his last three starts, going 1-2 with a 7.56 ERA in that span. The left-hander has given up six home runs in those three outings - one more than he allowed over his previous 10 starts this season combined. But Saunders has put together an all-star type of season for the most part at 9-3 with 43 K’s and an ERA of 3.32. “I’ve been struggling recently, but I feel that this little friendly competition is just what I needed to get myself kick started again.”

The first place Weasels will announce the offensive all-star choices on Saturday which will be another tough decision for Beltram with so many all-star performances occurring this year. Sources have said that Lance Berkman will be one of those choices, as if that was a hard choice for anyone to make.


Steve Miller is a beat writer for the bi-monthly Bridge H20 Today. He has a lot of time off after this article and plans on visiting Quebec City next week to scalp his EHCC All-Star tickets to make some extra cash.

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