| Rob Intrieri. 30th July, 2005 - 9:44 pm
 Amid all the turmoil and chaos the Yankees have been through this season, one man has been as reliable as ever, and relatively quietly. In case anyone’s wondering, Mariano Rivera is having the best season of his life at the ripe age of 36. He’s been untouchable all season long, yielding only 4 ERs in 43.1 IP. Two of these runs came on April 5th-6th, the first two appearances for Mo. Each was a blown save and questions arose from those outings: Had the Red Sox figured him out? Was he finally over the hill? Mo paid no attention to these critics and hopped right back on the horse.
Since those first two games, Mo has converted all 26 save opportunities and has allowed only 2 ERs (0 in the month of June). His ERA for the season is a microscopic .83, the lowest of his 10-year career. Not including the first two games versus Boston, his ERA is .44! (And I’m not one who tends to use exclamation points). In Mo’s 43.1 innings of work, only 22 have gotten hits. He’s struck out 49 to just 11 walks, close to a 5:1 ratio. Righties have hit only .117 against Rivera and lefties fare little better, batting .176 versus the Dom-Mo-nator.
Looking at these numbers, it is safe to come to the conclusion that Mariano Rivera is the most dominating closer in the game right now. Compared to the four closers with more saves (Chad Cordero, Jason Isringhausen, Joe Nathan, and Trevor Hoffman), Mo has the most wins (4), the lowest ERA, the fewest blown saves (2), the fewest hits allowed (22), the fewest earned runs allowed (4), the fewest HRs allowed (1), and the best strikeout-to-walk ratio. With Eric Gagne hurt, John Smoltz a starter again, and Brad Lidge struggling, it is anything but a crime to call Mo the best out there.
Rivera’s such a lock that I feel comfortable enough to turn off the game if the Yankees have any lead at all heading into the ninth. Name one other team that gives that luxury to their fans. Just across town you can hear groans when Braden Looper jogs to the mound to close out a game for the Mets.
Mariano has been dominant for a decade now at a position where very few succeed for any great length of time. To make my point, try to think of the best closers of this year: Rivera, B.J. Ryan, and Cordero come to mind. Now go to last year and find the best closers: Rivera, Gagne, Lidge. Rewind four years, to 2001, and find the three most dominant closers: Rivera, Keith Foulke, and Billy Wagner. Noticing a trend? In a league where the role of closer is normally filled with guess-and-check, Mariano Rivera has consistently put up awesome numbers for the Yankees. Mo has been insanely reliable over the last decade, and Yankees fans shouldn’t take this luxury for granted, they need to appreciate it while they can. |
