Say it ain't so, Mo!

I don't like the Yankees. While there are very few players on the team that I actively dislike as individuals, I don't like them as a unit. However, there are some players from the Bronx that I do like (please don't abandon my blog in disgust), and Mariano Rivera tops that extremely short list.

By all accounts, Rivera is a stand up guy: he shows up on time every day, does his work better than anyone else, takes care of business and his body, and is generally friendly to his teammates, opponents, and fans. Mariano Rivera is like the popular kid in high school that you want to hate because they are just so good at everything and everyone loves them - but you can't, because they're genuinely too nice to loathe.

I've been convinced for several years that Rivera is some sort of android, a well-oiled machine who picked up the ball, threw perfect pitches, recorded three outs (almost never more), and nailed down the save and the win for the Yankees.  Mariano Rivera turned every Yankees game where they were leading into an eight inning affair, because he didn't just slam the door on his opponents, he locked it, barricaded it, and tossed away the key.

I was out at a diner with some friends at about 1 o'clock this morning (it's finals time), and I saw SportsCenter interviewing Derek Jeter.  I thought it was late, even for being in Kansas City, but I shrugged it off, thinking it must have been an extra inning game - and then I saw the replay of Rivera being carted off the diamond in a field car.

The sound on the TV was off in the diner, so I Googled "Mariano Rivera" on my phone, and I found out the horrible truth.  The best closer in baseball had sustained a serious injury, not doing what he did best, but doing his usual pre-game warm-up: shagging flies in the outfield (and by all accounts, he was rather impressive at that, too).

Now the reports are in, and Mo is out with a torn ACL.  He's done for the season and possibly his career.  I've dreamed of hearing that Rivera was going to call it quits - a Rivera-less Yankees team is one that's much easier to beat. But not like this.  I wouldn't wish an injury like this on my worst enemy, and certainly not someone like Rivera, whom I respect a great deal.

Mariano Rivera deserves to retire after celebrating a save, not going after a fly-ball in batting practice.  Not every baseball great gets to have an epic homer or three-pitch strikeout in their last appearance, but if anyone deserved that honor, it was Rivera.

But Mariano always says the right thing: "If it's gonna happen like that, at least let it happen doing what I love, you know? And shagging flies, I love to do. If I had to do it over again, I would do it again. No hesitation. There's reasons why it happens. You have to take it the way it is and fight, fight through it. Now we have to just fight."

Say it ain't so, Mo.

Yankees' 1990s Core 4 now 50% retired

Unless you're living under a rock (and I won't judge you if you are), you've probably heard that New York Yankees' catcher Jorge Posada retired today. Posada was drafted out of Puerto Rico in 1990 - I was less than six months old - and debuted five years later on September 4, 1995.  Needless to say I cannot remember a Yankees team without Posada behind the plate.

He'll end his career with a .273 BA, .374 OBP, .474 SLG, 275 HR, and 1065 RBI - extremely solid numbers for someone who squatted behind the plate an average of 93 games per season (when you take out his first two seasons and his last, that average jumps to 112).

With Pettitte now gone for an entire season, and Posada bowing out, the only remnants of the dream teams of the late 1990's are Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera (who we all know is some sort of android and will never get old).  Even as a Red Sox fan, I came of age hearing these names and seeing these faces in magazines and newspapers and on television - and it certainly feels strange to know that I won't be seeing them anymore.

In a way, Pettitte's retirement was less jarring, as he spent three years in Houston just as I was getting old enough to stay up until the end of baseball games - he wasn't a Yankee lifer like Posada and the others.  Even as it will be strange to see the Yankees without Posada, he is making the best choice for himself and his team.  All too often in baseball, we see players trying to hold on just a few years too long, claiming that they'll regain their stroke with the right offseason diet plan or workout.  As painful as it is to see your heroes retire, it is so much worse to watch them struggle on in denial.

Posada had a taste of that struggle last season, batting just .235 with 14 homers and 44 RBI, and managed just one game behind the plate.  His retirement, though emotional for Yankees' players and fans, is the right decision.

But just for fun, let's look at what Bill James projected for Posada, had he participated in the 2012 season: 110 games, .246 BA, .343 OBP, .416 SLG, 12 HR, and 47 RBI.  Apparently James foresaw Posada sliding slowly into mediocrity - but Posada had other plans, and made his final, tearful farewell this morning in the Bronx.

Ichiro Suzuki: BAMF

This was my Facebook status at 1:00AM on Saturday:

Attention: Ichiro hit a ninth-inning, game-winning, home run off Mariano with two outs. The man is a STUD.

Everyone knows it's true. Ichiro Suzuki is that guy. You know, that guy that you love... except when he's playing against your team. The man has the ability to be a game changer on every single play. There aren't too many active players like that.... maybe just enough to list on one hand, but Ichiro is a category unto himself. Ichiro has 83 career home runs, and hit a career-high 15 back in 2005. This statistical trend doesn't seem to matter, as he can seemingly go bridge on command, against whichever pitcher you might throw at him.

Mariano Rivera, for instance, has given up just sixty home runs over a fifteen-year career, and if you throw out his rookie season, that number shrinks to forty-nine... So, take a guy who hits an average of 9ish home runs a year, and put him against the second-most prodigious closer of all time (Yankees fans often forget the still-active Trevor Hoffman has 66 more saves than their beloved Mo) who gives up less than four homers per year, you'd probably feel pretty secure putting your money on the latter.

WRONG. Ichiro is practically magic. He has shown time and time again that he can be a home run hitter, and instead chooses to spray base hits all over the field (to the tune of 200+ hits every one of his nine seasons in MLB, in addition to an already impressive career in Japan). If people can honestly argue that Derek Jeter deserves the AL MVP award based on "intangibles," then I can go a step further and suggest that Ichiro win it based on "intangible awesomeness (and suspected witchcraft)." Seriously. It's one thing to make your team play better when it's comprised entirely of all-stars, and quite another to pull off the sort of turnaround the Mariners have seen (they lost more than 100 games last season, and are on pace to go 85-77) with a team of rookies and past-their-primes (hello, Ken Griffey, Jr.). [In all seriousness, I'll cry if Derek Jeter wins the MVP. However, I will also be upset if Ichiro wins, because the man that deserves it plays in Minnesota. Maybe you've heard of him?]

Even beyond the numbers, Ichiro was the first position player to come to the Major Leagues and play every day. He is a superstar on two continents (maybe more), and deservedly so. He plays the game the right way, consistently beating out more infield hits than any other player, and hustling in the field. I'm also convinced he's secretly related to Spiderman, but that's another story...
He's also sort of a general badass, and, according to Jason Bay, quite the joker:

Workout day. I run back in from the field to get sunglasses. Locker room completely empty except Ichiro stretching on the floor and his translator sitting on the chair beside him. So we make small talk, and I ask him where he lives in Seattle because I lived in the suburbs.

Well, I had barely got the last word out when Ichiro says something in Japanse. Then his translator turns to me, deadpanned and straight-faced and says, “I’m going to mess with your house.” The way he said it was malicious, and Ichiro is on the floor dying laughing like it was the funniest thing ever. I was just like, “OK, I’ll see you guys out there.” I didn’t know what to say. It was weird.

Anyway, you can see why I love the guy, and why is is, far and away, my favorite baseball player, non-Sox division.... At least until he does something like this against the Sox:


The best part is, he probably could do that.