Yankees captain Derek Jeter has announced that he will retire following the 2014 season. On one hand, it's absolutely time for him to call it quits (and in fact might even be a few years overdue). On the other.... well, let's just say if he's expecting the public outpouring of support that teammate Mariano Rivera got in 2013, he'll probably be disappointed.
Was Derek Jeter a great shortstop? Sure. But Rivera was the greatest closer of all time - and Derek Jeter is not the greatest shortstop of all time. I truly think Rivera could have pitched effectively for a few more years (maybe forever - that man is probably an android), whereas Jeter stopped being an effective defensive shortstop some time ago.
I also think Jeter's level of respectability has been inflated by playing next to the baseball pariah Alex Rodriguez for so many years. Jeter may have kept himself out of most major scandals (though not all), but he's no Saint Mo. I'm sure some teams will send the Captain off with a parting gift of some sort, but if he's looking for the same sort of emotional sendoff all over the league, he's got another thing coming.
It's always rough to go into Yankee Stadium and lose the opening game of a series - especially when your ace faces off against their ace and theirs comes out on top. Sadly for the Red Sox, starter Jon Lester had flashes of brilliance where he sent Yankee after Yankee back to the dugout, but his few lapses were more than enough as CC Sabathia gave up just a single run in seven and a third innings.
Though the Sox kept things interesting in the ninth inning, with back-to-back hits by Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz with just one out, Mike Napoli struck out and then Stephen Drew grounded the ball back to Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who made the play to end the game. Dustin Pedroia scored the only run for the Red Sox in the seventh inning, and had three hits on the night, continuing to tear things up on the field despite the UCL tear in his left hand.
The Sox know as well as anyone that if you leave your scoring against the Yankees untl the end of the game, it's likely that your chances will be limited. Mariano Rivera is legendary for a reason, and he doesn't blow many save opportunities. Tonight was no exception, even though the Sox managed to bring the tying run to the plate.
The Red Sox will still maintain sole possession of first place even after losing tonight's game to the Yankees - but the Yanks do pick up a full game in the standings, trailing the Sox by just a single game with two more games to play in this weekend series. Tomorrow's game will see Felix Doubront facing off against Phil Hughes.
Mariano Rivera is one of the greatest pitchers of all time, and not a soul in the game could find a bad word to say about him. Of course, I always hope for a rare blown save from him when he faces off against the Red Sox (or, even better, a Red Sox blowout and no save chance for Mo at all).
But when Rivera tore his ACL shagging flies during pregame warmups last May, I was as sad as any dyed-in-the-wool baseball fan. Rivera is too talented, too accomplished, and too well-respected to lose what he hinted might have been his final season to a fluke injury.
And so Rivera is back in pinstripes for this season, and he'll apparently be announcing his plan to retire at the end of the Yankees' 2013 run in a press conference on Saturday. I sincerely hope that Rivera enjoys great success in his final year - just not against the Red Sox.
I once theorized that Ichiro Suzuki was secretly related to Spiderman, given his success in climbing fences and robbing homeruns.
I don't regret that comparison at all - Ichiro is crazy flexible, unreasonably quick, and ridiculously agile, and he very well might be fighting crime in his off time.
But I would like to make a different superhero comparison for Ichiro, this time to one of the X-Men. The Yankees outfielder is thirty-nine going on twenty-five, seemingly immune to the scrounges of aging, and he's impressively injury-resistant (the fewest games he's ever played in a season? 146). Yesterday, Ichiro was in a car accident that left his SUV completely totalled, and him without a scratch.
I think you can see where I'm going with this: Ichiro is self-healing and clearly ageless. I know nobody has seen adamantium claws slide from between his knuckles, but can anyone prove they don't? It's become clear to me that Ichiro Suzuki is a mutant in the mold of Wolverine, with a dash of Spiderman (this kind of splicing is totally allowed, because both characters exist in the Marvel universe).
I was devastated when the Yankees dealt for Ichiro last season, because he's one of my all time favorite players, and it's always a bummer to have to like a Yankee - not to mention my naive wish that he play for the Mariners his entire career. I think it's especially unfair for the Yankees to be allowed to have a superhero like Ichiro when they already have an android on their pitching staff (Mariano Rivera), but apparently badassery isn't considered a performance enhancing drug, and as such is not regulated by MLB.
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."
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.
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:
