Officially Concerned

What have I been saying about Mariano Rivera?

Well today Rivera took the mound in the 9th with one run lead, and gave up a homerun to Jason Varitek.

His first save opportunity and his first blown save.

Thankfully, Derek Jeter led off the bottom of the 9th with a walk off homerun. Odd that this was his first regular season walk off of his career. There was that one in the 10th inning of game 4 in the '01 World Series, to tie Arizona at 2 games each.

Mariano got the win today, after giving up 2 hits, one earned run and struck out 2.

In all fairness, Rivera will be more affective against teams other than the Red Sox.

Most teams will only face Rivera maybe 5 times a year, but the Sox saw him probably 20 times last year, including the post season.

Rivera doesn't have an arsenal of pitches, he has his cutter, and that's about it. As great as it is, if you get to see it enough times, your gonna learn to hit it.

What if I'm wrong about this? Which is more than unlikely. What if Rivera is just losin' it?

What is Brian Cashman's contingency plan?

Tom Gordon as a closer? Please.

Felix Rodriguez?

With Felix at least he has been a National Leaguer his whole career, so the majority of American League hitters haven't seen him before. I would recommend Joe Torre get him in the game tomorrow to see what he can do against the Sox.

Mariano is my favorite baseball player, but even I would have been looking for a backup closer in the off season.

Mariano blew 3 saves in the post season last year, that should have been a clue.



On a another note, on March 14th, I mentioned Miguel Batista. He was slated to be the #3 starter for Toronto, but was moved to closer after last years 5 saves out of 5 chances to end last season. Well Batista has had 2 save opportunities already, and was successful in both. I would love to see how he does against the Sox, but I won't hold my breath that he'll even get in the game. What are the chances of Toronto taking a lead into the 9th inning against Boston, slim and none?

Cashman, The Fu2rman is watching you....