In a story about Dave Eiland, the Yankees pitching coach, there’s an interesting bit about Mike Mussina:

“You know my background,” Dave Eiland, who won 12 games in the major leagues, began that April 2008 day to Mike Mussina, who’d won 251. “I wasn’t even close to being the same type of pitcher you are. But you’re not the pitcher you used to be, and you have to make adjustments.”

Eiland wanted him to throw inside more, tweak a few other things; Mussina wasn’t interested. Well then, Eiland said, “if you’re not going to do this, you’re not going to pitch here anymore.”

Mussina made the changes, reversing a rugged 1-3 start into a remarkable 20-win farewell season. And Eiland — the pride of Zephyrhills — made his mark, showing he was ready, willing and able to handle the high-profile, high-pressure job of being the Yankees pitching coach.

I always wondered why it took Mussina so long to make the changes he did. If he had gone to that style in 2006 he might have won 20 games three years in a row.