"A New York Treasure" --Village Voice

The Unfair One

Tyler Kepner on Mariano Rivera:

Mariano Rivera, who turned 41 on Monday, has continued to defy age. Every year since turning 35, he has pitched fewer innings than he did the year before. Starting in 2004, Rivera’s innings have gone from 78 2/3 to 78 1/3 to 75 to 71 1/3 to 70 2/3 to 66 1/3 to 60.

Rivera pitches less often, but when he does pitch, he is basically as effective as always. He has stayed strong enough to dominate in the postseason, allowing just one run in 28 innings over the Yankees’ last four appearances.

…There are no comparable players to Rivera. The closest is Hoffman, the only pitcher with more career saves than Rivera’s 559. But Hoffman has had two seasons with an earned run average less than 2.00; Rivera has had 10. Rivera has logged more innings in fewer games, and the workload of roughly two extra seasons across all those Octobers.

Okay, we can now go back to fretting about Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Cliff Lee (for the record, I say the Yanks start the season with all three–four, including Rivera–on the roster).

One comment

1 mrp1017   ~  Dec 2, 2010 3:53 pm

Hoffman doesn't even compare to Mariano. Couldn't carry his jock. Hoffman has never pitched well in a big game. I remember he had a chance to propel his Padres into the playoffs and needed a save in the last game of the season to the Rockies. Blew it. Ok. Here's a one game playoff game to win. He BLEW the save again and the Padres sat out the playoffs!
Hoffman is a product of longevity being the only closer on a mediocre team. To mention Hoffman and Rivera in the same breath should be criminal.

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