The New York Yankees’ shocking loss to the Boston Red Sox in the 2004 playoffs is a moment that still resonates with fans of both teams and former players to this day. That disappointment still clearly bugs MLB legend Gary Sheffield and he foisted all the blame for that series loss on ace Mike Mussina, the pitching staff, and manager Joe Torre in a recent interview.
For the Red Sox to end one of the most iconic championship dry spells in sports history they needed to make history. In the 2004 American League Championship, the team again faced the Yankees a year removed from a heartbreaking loss in the prior year’s ALCS. However, this time around they overcame a 3-0 series deficit and made the unthinkable reality by winning four straight en route to a World Series title.
- Gary Sheffield stats (Yankees): .291 AVG, .383 OBP, .515 SLG, 76 HR, 269 RBI, 243 R
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During an interview earlier this year on AJ Pierzynski’s “Foul Territory Show” podcast, former pinstripes star Gary Sheffield was asked about what happened in that series, and the legendary slugger first took a shot at the pitching disadvantages that year’s team had with Mike Mussina leading their starting rotation.
Gary Sheffield claims former New York Yankees ace Mike Mussina was really a ‘No. 3 starter’
“I don’t like to call out one thing but; I wouldn’t say I’m blaming them but that’s just what we had [in the rotation]. We didn’t have the pitchers that the Boston Red Sox had, and we knew if the game wasn’t played a certain way and we didn’t put those games away we were in trouble,” he said.
“Mike Mussina was our ace. As you know, Mike Mussina’s a great pitcher, he’s a Hall-of-Famer but he’s always been a No. 3 starter. We got him going up against Pedro [Martinez], [Curt] Schilling, and guys like that.”
However, the 55-year-old then expanded on his thoughts and threw legendary New York Yankees manager Joe Torre under the bus for the bullpen decisions he made in a series that they led going into the eighth inning in five of the seven games.
“Joe Torre made a decision that always haunts us in that series,” he began by saying. “He said he wasn’t going to pitch Mariano Rivera in, I think, Game 4. So Mariano knew he wasn’t pitching and somebody got in trouble and they brought Mariano in. Instead of using him when we got the lead, bringing him in for two innings, and finishing this game off, he waited too late and when brought him in Mariano wasn’t right. And then the next day the same thing happened.”
Rivera, the greatest closer of all time, blew the lead in their eventual Game 4 loss, which set the stage for the Red Sox’s unbelievable series comeback. Sheffield said he blamed Torre for years until recently for missing out on his best chance to win a World Series title during his 22-year MLB career.