"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

Before This Did You Really Know What Life Was?

Can I kick it?

Aw, yes you can.

Man, I miss El Duque, don’t you?

11 comments

1 Mattpat11   ~  Dec 15, 2010 11:27 am

I thought that said "Can I lick it?" which took this thread in a completely different direction.

Also, I think I miss Mussina more. I'd beg him to come back before I traded or signed for some crappy innings eater.

And I'm only half kidding

2 Raf   ~  Dec 15, 2010 11:36 am

Duque pitched in the Nationals system last year, and the Rangers system the year before that. Neither team called him up, for reasons I can't quite understand.

3 BobbyB   ~  Dec 15, 2010 11:40 am

Oh Yeah! I made it a point to be at the first game El Duque pitched for the Yankees. You could tell he was going to be awesome. I agree with Matt, I miss the Moose, too.

4 Alex Belth   ~  Dec 15, 2010 11:56 am

I loved Moose but for sheer artistry Duque is hard to beat.

5 knuckles   ~  Dec 15, 2010 12:00 pm

Duque wore his cap better than any player I’ve ever seen. He looked old school and new school at the same time.

6 Dimelo   ~  Dec 15, 2010 12:04 pm

[4] Agreed! I never felt uncomfortable with men on base with El Duque, he always had this cockiness about him that was like "i got this".

It wasn't always the same with Moose. I love Moose, too, but if I can ask him two questions they would be:
1. What is it about getting a guy 0 - 2 that would cause you to labor so you can get that final strike, or the out somehow?
2. Why was it that if it seemed you were going to have a bad outing, it always happened after 4 shut-down innings and then in the 5th/6th you would just completely lose it?

Moose was the master of pitching like Cy Young for 1 - 4, but then sometimes after the 5th, you were left with the "what the fuck just happened" inning.

7 Ben   ~  Dec 15, 2010 12:16 pm

I haven't enjoyed watching anyone pitch as much as the DuKe. Lincecum in the World Series this year was good, real good, but no one beat Duque. Remember the arm angles? Him and Cone? Shit man, remember when Wells would try going side-arm and blow it every time!

[6.] I was always convinced Duque and Cone would walk the bases loaded on purpose, just cause they knew they'd be cooler in that situation than the batter. Confidence baby.

8 Jon DeRosa   ~  Dec 15, 2010 1:26 pm

Duque was my favorite Yankee starter of the dynasty years.

[7] To me, Duque's classic moment was in the 1999 ALDS, when he faced the Rangers in the first inning. He was in a jam, decided to walk the lefties and whiffed the righties.

9 Sliced Bread   ~  Dec 15, 2010 2:50 pm

Duque was the bomb. Loved him, but hate to say I had a bad habit of spoiling his games. Saw him get SHELLED a couple times. But I blamed myself.
Had great seats for one of his starts in Anaheim. Somebody scorched a foul ball into the seats near 3b. I reached up and it glanced hard off my fingertips. If I had a mitt I would've snagged it. Anyway, it stung pretty good, but I was geeked that the last player who touched the ball before me was the great El Duque. It was like getting a drop of Van Gogh's paint splattered on you. Wished I'd caught the ball.

10 thelarmis   ~  Dec 15, 2010 3:33 pm

[1] funny - my brother and i were emailing today about the rotation and i talked about bringing Mikey Moose back! and, yeah, not really kidding.

[6] yeah, that 5th inning would do him in a lot. it seemed like he pitched a lot of those Wed nite espn games and i actually got to watch them. the player/announcer (ie. Sut the Sot) would always predict the 5th inning meltdown and i'd get pissed. then Moose would deliver...and crap out.

Duque was all kindsa awesome! he's still floating around, methinks...

11 Bronx Boy in NC   ~  Dec 16, 2010 1:14 pm

What's this dance called?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRMJQvSJyQg

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--Earl Weaver