Sunday, July 12, 2009
Why the Yankees and not the Braves? Mariano Rivera--Bradley, AJC
- "We forget it now, but they ran neck-and-neck for a while in the ’90s, each trying to outspend the other, each making the playoffs every year, but it wasn’t until 1998 that the Yankees became imperial and the Braves began to recede.
- (In the 1996 World Series, Rivera pitched in 4 of the 6 games v the Braves, at one point 3 days in a row. Worthy of mention) sm
Continuing, Bradley AJC): "Watching last night at Turner Field, watching Rivera work a four-out save with all four outs being strikeouts, I was reminded of
- how much difference one man can make. The Yankees found their Rivera and have been winning ever since.
(No, not always titles, but winning nonetheless.) The Braves never quite found theirs, and they paid the price.
Postseason baseball comes down to bullpens, and the Yankees always out-bullpenned everyone else. First Rivera was the set-up man to John Wetteland in the 1996 championship run, and the next year he became the closer. That was 12 years ago, and he’s still as great as he ever was,
He wasn’t quite perfect. He blew an ALDS game against Cleveland in 1997,"...
- (Yes, he blew it by giving up a home run, but the game became tied at that point. It wasn't lost yet, contrary to widespread portrayals, eg Mo blew the ALDS, etc. In fact that wasn't even the last game of the ALDS. Cleveland and the Yankees played game 5 the next day, which the Yankees lost 4-3). sm
(Continuing, Bradley AJC): "and his wild throw on a bunt undid the Yankees in the ninth inning of Game 7 in Phoenix in 2001 or those Bombers would have won five titles in six seasons. But he was as perfect as it gets in the imperfect realm of sports, and his perfection was simplicity itself. He threw one pitch.
- Actually, he throws one pitch two ways. He throws a straight fastball, and he throws a cut fastball. The cutter, according to Braves hitting coach Terry Pendleton, moves from off the plate to on it or from on to off, depending on Mo’s whim. (The Yankees have always called Rivera “Mo,” you should know.) Said Pendleton: “You start out swinging and it’s on your hands, or you let it go and it breaks over.”...
Put Rivera on the Braves of the ’90s and the Braves of the ’90s would have been the Yankees of the ’90s. Try as they might, the Braves could never find their Mo. The Yankees found him, and they have him still."
- by Mark Bradley, AJC, 6/25/09, "Why the Yankees and not the Braves? Mariano Rivera."
