Free Fallin

"For certain I'm happy it's the left and not the right," [Joe] Torre said. "But the thing that bothered me is the fact that he thought enough to throw the left and not the right. I wish he would have thought a little bit more on that subject." (N.Y. Newsday)

"If you're going to get hurt playing this game," fellow starter Mike Mussina said, "let's get hurt playing the game. Pull a hamstring, get hit with the ball. But to take yourself out for possibly the rest of the season because of a situation like this is frustrating for the rest of us, I think." (N.Y. Newsday)

"I think we've all been frustrated about stuff," Mussina said. "We've all been upset. We've all said stuff. But to physically do something to cause injury to yourself, I don't relate to that." (N.Y.Times)

"You just hope anybody can control their emotions. Sometimes your emotions get the best of you. Hopefully, if you're going to harm yourself, it's not going to harm the team."

"He's probably the most competitive guy I've ever played with," [Gary] Sheffield said. "He cares about his performance and how the team does. And he takes it all on his shoulders when he doesn't have to. In this situation, I'm sure he didn't want to hurt the team. He's probably feeling worse than anybody." (Newsday)

Why don't we start with the good news? First of all, Em and I took a drive to the country yesterday afternoon, so we missed the game. That's for starters. Second, the Red Sox finally lost a game. (What? Is the moon blue or something?) Lastly, Mike Mussina pitched well. Now for the cruddy news: Mariano Rivera gave up four runs---ouch, that smarts, okay, mercy, mercy---and Sidney Ponson pitched a two-hit, complete-game shutout. As the say in my 'hood: "Oy." Kevin Brown will have surgery this afternoon at Columbia Pres. He'll be out for at least three weeks.