Who says we don't have an ace?

[El Gordo]

Which is why I pointed out to him, examples like Drysdale on the 64 Dodgers, HOF, but Koufax another future HOFer got the opening day nod.

And least of not, our own 69 Orioles with 4 twenty game winners, and only one gets to pitch opening day.

And there are many many other examples which disproves his theory about only an Ace pitches on opening day.

1971 but it proves the point. That year we had four aces and lost the WS to a team with the likes of Doc Ellis, Steve Blass, Bruce Kison, Bob Johnson, and Nelson Briles at SP.

[OFFNY]

Again, Mike Mussina was an ace on the Orioles staff. He wasnt even a number two starter on the Yankees. That is BEYOND dispute.

Sorry, but I will loudly dispute this as it shows complete ignorance of the facts. For example, look at Mussina's 2008 season with the Yankees. Here are the top five starters for the Yankees that year:

Mike Mussina, 20-9, 3.37 ERA, 33 starts

Andy Pettitte, 14-14, 4.54 ERA, 34 starts

Darrell Rainer, 5-10, 5.40 ERA, 24 starts

Chien-Ming Wang, 8-2, 4.07 ERA, 15 starts

Sidney Ponson, 4-4, 5.85 ERA, 15 starts

Mussina finished 6th in Cy Young voting that year; no other Yankees starter got a vote.

So . . . who was the ace and #1 starter for the Yankees that year? Obviously Mussina, and that is beyond dispute from any reasonable person. And remember, you claimed he wasn't even top two. There were two other years where Mussina was arguably the ace of the staff (not to mention top two), 2003 and, by most stats, 2001, but it wasn't as clear as it was for 2008. But to say "He wasnt even a number two starter on the Yankees" is willful ignorance of the facts.

Good post, Larry.

Thanks for the research/breakdown.