Enter Sandman

You may have realized that I left someone out in that last post. Of course I didn't forget about The Greatest Closer Ever, he just needed his own post.

Apparently Mo makes his own schedule for Spring Training, only coming into a game when he deems himself ready. In the past two years he has pitched the one game that we have gone to. I call it luck. I can't tell you if I ever saw him before because I just don't remember. The last time I saw Mo pitch in person before today though was back in September against the Rays in the game that will forever immortalize Greg Golson and his rocket arm.

Mariano Rivera IS the greatest closer ever, at 41 he still rocks. I watched a video on Sports Science about his cutter, now I know how it works. You would think batters would learn to swing later or something but no matter what after all these years, the guy can still get you out with hardly breaking a sweat(though he may break your bat)



Today was Mariano Rivera's spring debut. I managed to make it for Rafael Soriano's spring debut as well but when I heard that Mo was pitching today I got totally excited. When he starting running out onto the field, the whole stadium gave him a booming standing ovation. He got a louder ovation than the whole team did when they took the field at the top of the first. The ovation lasted pretty much through Enter Sandman which played loudly over the PA speakers. Before I could even tell my grandpa that this was Rivera's first spring game, he had already struck out Jason Kubel. I couldn't even mention that Jason Kubel hit a grand slam off Rivera on my birthday last year(also noticed when I watched the game on mlb.tv they mentioned that) Mo then struck out the next two batters he faced. I think maybe he took 2 minutes to get through the inning including throwing his warmup pitches. He received another standing ovation as he walked back to the dugout.

It is such an honor to be able to watch him pitch. There will never be a closer as dominant as Mariano Rivera, who will have the longevity that he has been blessed with. I am not looking forward to the day when he is no longer pitching. Hopefully that's not for a while.

I took this picture at last years game. That's Rivera obviously, talking on the mound with Posada and Jeter. I'm pretty sure he threw a perfect inning that time out too.