Mike Mussina's near PERFECT GAME | Moose and Mark Feinsand discuss that memorable night in Boston

Folks, we might be on the verge of something big here. Honestly, I don't even really remember much about the game. Red Sox haven't had a hit. They haven't had a baserunner. Things like that, when games are going well, they become kind of fuzzy. You don't remember all the things you do the same way you do when you get beat around. When you get beat around, you remember the mistakes. You remember where the pitch was. But when things are going right, you just kind of keep going. For most of his career, Mike Messina had been Mr. Almost. A five-time All-Star, Messina had won 19 games in both 1995 and 96, come within two outs of a perfect game in 97. Sandy Alomar breaks up the perfect game. And finished second in the American League Cy Young Award vote in 99. So tantalizingly close to those events and milestones that can define a pitcher's career and reputation, only to fall short each time. How else do you describe a guy pitching a perfect game than perfect? The guy is perfect. On the night of September 2nd, 2001, Messina seems ready to put all of that behind him. Breaking ball, strike three, Alcantara down looking. 21 in a row for Mike Messina. Six more outs, and if the Yankees can score a run, well, that could be fun here. Pitching in the final month of his first year with the New York Yankees, Messina was facing the rival Boston Red Sox in a nationally televised Sunday night game at Fenway Park. Doing his part to live up to the six-year, $88.5 million contract he had signed to join the three-time defending World Series champions. Strike three is called, fastball inside corner. Messina had cruised through the first eight innings, retiring all 24 batters he faced. With a pitch count of just 95, he was in position to become the fourth Yankee to achieve perfection. Poised to join the list of Don Larson, David Wells, and David Cohn, the last of whom happened to be the opposing pitcher on this beautiful, breezy night at Fenway Park. Cohn and Matt Messina pitch for pitch to that point, scattering just four hits over eight scoreless frames. I remember top of the ninth. Well, look who answers the bell for round nine, David Cohn. I was in the clubhouse because in Fenway Park, especially in September when you have call-ups, there's just no room in the dugout to sit. So I came into the clubhouse, and I'm standing there. I hadn't even sat down yet, and I don't even remember who I was talking to. I said, I'm gonna throw no hitter today, and we're not gonna score. Mike Messina's pitching a perfect game, and he's no better than even. We just couldn't get a lead. One on, one out. Laying in a hard shot to second. Oh, it goes through for Loney in the right center. Oh, what a break the Yankees got. The Yankees scratched out a run in the top of the ninth, giving Messina all the run support he needed as he took his shot at history. As it turns out, we get an unearned run. And what a tough break for David Cohn. I go out on the bottom of the ninth. Clay Bellinger, who entered the game as a pinch runner in the top of the ninth, made a stellar defensive play at first base. Diving stunt, Bellinger. To the Collinger, stole a hit from O'Leary and preserved the perfect game. The crowd had a sense that the perfect game was meant to be. You talk about the Hatfields and the McCoys. They're all Hatfields right now. I mean, everybody is standing and cheering Mike Messina now. Messina struck out Lou Merloni for the second out, leaving pinch hitter Carl Everett as the pitcher's final obstacle. Carl Everett came up, and I just pitched against Boston, and I struck him out three or four times. So I was just trying to do the same thing to him again. Two out, ninth inning to pitch. Jack Swank fouled to the right out of play. When he struck Everett out four times in New York, he struck him out on that high fastball. He kept climbing the ladder, climbing the ladder, and Everett could not lay off. Messina got ahead of Everett one and two, leaving him just one strike from perfection. Everybody's standing, flash bulbs going off all over the ballpark. And I got a fastball a little bit more over the plate, and he hit a humpback line drive over shortstop. Swing and a rubber, left center field, and drop. Once again, Messina was Mr. Almost. Mike Messina kind of smiled as if to say, oh, I can't believe it. I couldn't get it. And he didn't seem angry, but he almost seemed bemused on the mound. He got the barrel to it and hit a clean base at the left field, so it was just that simple. And honestly, that's the first part of it I really remember. The right-hander retired Trott Nixon to complete the one-hit shutout, but his disappointment was obvious to everybody in the ballpark. I'm going to think about that pitch until I retire, Messina said after the game. He threw the pitch he wanted to throw, and he threw it in the spot he wanted to throw it, and if ever it hits it 10 more feet, it's caught by the left fielder. I'm sure he's going to second-guess himself. He always do that. But in that ballpark, you pitch a one-hitter and a one-nothing shutout, it's pretty incredible. Mike Messina came within one strike of a perfect game, and he settles for a one-hit shutout. How's that for drama? The almosts were forgotten when Messina was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019. Now retired for more than a decade, Messina knows how close he was to perfection on that night in 2001, but he looks back at it as just one piece of a journey that landed him in Cooperstown. You know, to get there twice, to get to the ninth inning twice with a perfect game is unique in itself, and I think I'm the only guy to do it twice and not get one, so I've got that going for me.