31 posts tagged “mariano rivera”
In short, very.
He is unquestionably the greatest relief pitcher of all time, given his longevity, durability, and success from April through October. And, in my eyes, his 2008 season was the best season ever by a relief pitcher.
Rivera, who was 38 last year, posted a 1.40 ERA in 64 games. In 70.2 innings, he allowed 41 hits, 11 runs, while walking six and striking out 77. That's better than a 1:12 walk to strikeout ratio: it's absolutely mind-boggling.
Rivera posted a whip of 0.665. It was the sixth season of his career where his WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched) was below 1.000. He also posted an ERA+ of 317, which was the best mark ever in the history of the game.
Want more stats? These are his career postseason marks:
W-L: 8-1
G: 76
ERA: 0.77
SV: 34
IP: 117.1
H: 72
ER: 10
BB: 16
K: 93
Rivera has pitched in 26 career postseason series, and yet he has allowed just ten earned runs.
Oh, by the way, he throws only one pitch (for the most part).
Even though the Sandman will be 39 this year, I'm sure he'll be back to his old tricks again in 2009. We will never see another one quite like Mariano, and as Yankee fans, we should enjoy his dominance and savvy on the mound while we can.
I didn't catch the game on YES today, but it's good to see that the Yanks won their second game of the spring, this one by a score of 5-1. Jorge Posada went 2-for-2 with a home run, Shelley Duncan hit a bomb, and all seven Yankees pitchers (Hughes, Coke, Bruney, Marte, Cox, Melancon, Albaladejo) threw well.
I am so looking forward to watching these guys pitch throughout the remainder of the spring and into the regular season. Phil Coke was dominant in his short time in the majors last year, and it seems he has continued his success early on in '09. I haven't seen Melancon pitch yet, but I've heard his stuff is amazing. Hopefully, he continues to progress, since he will probably be the heir to Mariano Rivera. Albaladejo has to be in the conversation too- there is a good chance that he will make the team out of Spring Training.
Boy, it's good to have baseball is back, eh?
Back in May and August, I handed out the first and second trimester awards for the New York Yankees. Now that the regular season is over, here are the third and final trimester awards:
MVP- Mike Mussina
No one expected Mussina to have a good year, yet alone a Cy Young type of year. Mussina finished with a 20-9 record and a remarkable 3.37 ERA. Without Mussina, the Yankees would probably have struggled to stay over .500.
Cy Young- Mariano Rivera
You might be saying, 'How can a pitcher win the MVP and not the Cy Young?' In terms of value to the team, Mussina was more valuable than Rivera, in my opinion. However, in terms of overall stats, Rivera had one of the best seasons ever by a closer. Rivera blew just one save and posted a stunning ERA of 1.40. His WHIP of 0.67 was also the lowest of his career.
Rookie of the Year- Joba Chamberlain
Joba pitched in 42 games this year, 12 of which were starts. He posted a 4-3 record and a stunning 2.60 ERA. He also struck out 118 in just 100 innings. Clearly, Joba was the best rookie on the team.
Surprise of the Year- Cody Ransom
Ransom emerged as a mid-level prospect to a very solid bench player near the end of the season. In limited playing time, Ransom hit over .300 with four home runs and eight RBI's. He has to be considered as a role player for next year.
Biggest Disappointment- Robinson Cano
Cano finished with a .271 average, more than 30 points off his career average. Cano was expected to develop into a better overall player in 2008, but instead, his performance regressed. It wasn't a terrible year, but if his stats were where they were from 2005 through 2007, the Yankees may have made the playoffs.
Game of the Year- July 7th, 2008. Johnny Damon's six hits are capped off by his walk-off winner in a thrilling 12-11 victory over the Royals.
Play of the Year- http://newyork.yankees.mlb.com/media/video.jsp?mid=200809193509924&c_id=nyy
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If you missed any of the other awards, here they are, free of charge:
For we Yankee fans (us Yankee fans?), the prospect of having two American League East teams playing in the ALCS (both of which are not the Yankees) is both frustrating and confusing.
So to make your October a little brigher, here's a great quote I came across today on The Bronx Banter. It's from a piece on Mariano Rivera written by Charles Pierce in 2001:
"He is modest and mild. He is neat and quiet. Closers are not. They snarl and spit. They rage and howl. They are wild and unkempt, hooligan cowboys, living and dying with every pitch. One of them still hangs around the Yankees, helping the relief pitchers. The hair's thin now, and gray. The mustache still droops, and it's gray, too. He's the old rancher with a rifle above the door that nobody asks about. Be they as precise as Mariano Rivera or as fierce as this old gentleman, closers make their own special marks, always, as long as they sign in blood.
...His power seems like some sort of physical trompe l'oeil, it's source a mystery locked inside the elegant movement of his pitching motion. The power is in there somewhere, coiled and mysterious and remorselessly reliable. Otherwise, he looks as if he's tossing a tennis ball against the side of his garage. If he has an identity as a closer, it is that he throws the same pitch at the same speed with the same fluid motion every time, impeccable and contained and neat, like his handwriting, like his career."
Thank God for Mo.
| Last 3 years | Team | G | GS | W | L | SV | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | K | ERA | WHIP | BAA | |
| 2006 | NYY | 63 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 34 | 0 | 0 | 75.0 | 61 | 16 | 15 | 3 | 11 | 55 | 1.80 | 0.96 | .223 | |
| 2007 | NYY | 67 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 71.1 | 68 | 25 | 25 | 4 | 12 | 74 | 3.15 | 1.12 | .248 | |
| 2008 | NYY | 64 | 0 | 6 | 5 | 39 | 0 | 0 | 70.2 | 41 | 11 | 11 | 4 | 6 | 77 | 1.40 | 0.67 | .165 | |
| Career | 851 | 10 | 68 | 49 | 482 | 0 | 0 | 1023.2 | 800 | 281 | 260 | 53 | 244 | 934 | 2.29 | 1.02 | .212 |
Rivera will turn 39 this November, but he is clearly showing no signs of slowing down.
His 2008 season was one of the few bright spots in the Yankee organization. He converted 39 of 40 save opportunities and pitched to the tune of a 1.40 ERA, a 0.67 WHIP, and a .165 batting average against. It will be a long time before another 38 year old puts up those types of numbers again.
Rivera's dominance in the late innings proved invaluable to the Yankees; in fact, the Yankees went undefeated when leading after eight innings. Rivera often struggled in non-save situations at home, but he made up for it in close, pressure-packed situations.
One game that really sticks out is the game over the July 4th weekend against the Red Sox. Rivera came into the game with a 2-0 lead. He allowed one run and then faced a bases loaded, no out situation. Rivera got three successive outs without allowing a run, and the Yankees won 2-1.
Hopefully, Rivera's offseason surgery won't have any implications for the 2009 season. The Yankees are relying on him to continue his dominance at the back-end of the bullpen.
From The New York Times --
Mariano Rivera pitched four times in five days before the Yankees were eliminated from playoff contention this week. On Thursday, he left the team to return to New York for a magnetic resonance imaging exam on his right shoulder.
There is some fear that Rivera could need arthroscopic surgery, although the procedure would be minor and would not be expected to affect him next spring.
"The only way that would happen is if tests indicate that should happen," General Manager Brian Cashman said of the surgery. "I can't say at this point."
Cashman said Rivera expressed a small level of discomfort to team trainers but would not have been sent home if the Yankees were still in the race. He said he expected Rivera to rejoin the team in Boston on Friday and be available to pitch this weekend."
Let's just be thankful this didn't happen in May.
Here are a few videos from last night's final game at Yankee Stadium:
Final Score: Yankees 3, Orioles 2
Yankees: 83-71
Orioles: 67-85
W- Pavano (4-1)
L- Liz (6-6)
SV- Rivera (37)
Offense: The Yankee offense scored three runs on nine hits, which was enough to win the game. Robinson Cano hit his 14th home run of the year in the third inning, while Brett Gardner followed with a clutch RBI double. It will be interesting to see how the top four batters (Damon, Jeter, Abreu, Rodriguez) finish off the year; they all have a chance to hit over .300. For all the slack I've given the offense on this blog, it would truly be remarkable if all four finished with such a high average.
Pitching: Carl Pavano had a decent start: 5 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts; however, it was really the bullpen that won this game. Phil Coke, Brian Bruney, and Damaso Marte combined to throw two scoreless innings of relief, while Joba Chamberlain K'ed the side in the eighth. Mariano Rivera closed out the ninth for his 37th save of the year. Coke has yet to allow a run in his 10+ innings of major-league experience, and Rivera (1.49) and Bruney (1.99) are each sporting sub-2.00 ERA's.
Final Notes:
- There are now only two games remaining at Yankee Stadium.
- The Yankees have won six of their last seven, but their tragic number has dwindled to three.
- The Orioles, with 85 losses, are practically assured of finishing in last place for the first time since 1988. They are 7-23 in their last 30 games.
Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera both tied records in today's 8-4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Jeter, who had three hits, tied Lou Gehrig for the most hits all-time at Yankee Stadium (1,269).
Rivera, meanwhile, tied Lee Smith for second-place on the all-time saves list (478).
Final Score: Yankees 6, Rays 5
Yankees: 78-70
Rays: 88-58
W- Marte (1-3)
L- Howell (6-1)
SV- Rivera (34)
Offense: After scoring just one run in the first game of today's doubleheader, the Yankees improved on their hitting and scored six runs in the nightcap. Derek Jeter, who had finished the day with six hits in the two combined games, went 3-for-3, increasing his average to .303. Robinson Cano and Cody Ransom also had multi-hit games. Wilson Betemit contributed his sixth home run of the year off Matt Garza, while Xavier Nady and Bobby Abreu each had big RBI singles in the seventh and eighth innings.
Pitching: Sidney Ponson delivered a terrible start, barely lasting into the fourth inning. He gave up four runs, all of which came on a grand slam off the bat of Ben Zobrist. In relief, Phil Coke pitched 2.2 innings of flawless baseball. He has really emerged as a solid pitcher in the past few weeks, and hopefully he'll get his shot with the club next year. Meanwhile, Damaso Marte, Joba Chamberlain, and Mariano Rivera combined to shut the Rays down in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.
Final Notes:
- Derek Jeter is now three hits away from tying Lou Gehrig for the most hits all-time at Yankee Stadium.
- Mariano Rivera now has 34 saves on the season and 477 in his career. He is one save away from tying Lee Smith for second all-time.
- In his last five starts, Sidney Ponson has allowed 25 runs, 35 hits, and 11 walks. I don't think we'll be seeing much of him down the stretch.
