Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Rivera Back In Trouble

The Yankee fans will say it's just been a bad week for Mariano, but I'm not so sure. Mariano had that rough stretch early in the year, then returned to vintage form for a while. But right now, the April Mariano is back.

And it's possible that he never really left. Opposing batters are now hitting .260 off Rivera. That would be his highest BAA since his rookie year of '95, when it was .266. I know his control has been phenomenal this year, and he has an un-Yankee-like 10.60 K/BB ratio, but those are a lot of hits allowed.

The guy is 37 years old. The Yanks have to start worrying about Rivera, because the guy's lost a step. He's still one of the better closers in the game, but he's giving up a lot more hits than usual, and it's starting to catch up to him.

- I think the Yanks should start grooming Chamberlain to take over for Rivera. I know Chamberlain is supposed to be a starter in the long run, but so was Jonathan Papelbon.
Then again, let's see just how long the guy stays hot.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

That would be some good news coming out of Red Sox Nation this morning after yesterday's most embarrassing loss of the year!

Mariano Rivera: One less thing to worry about!

Yeah! Thanks Mario for keeping us at 5 games up.

Sad state of affairs when you have to thank the enemy instead of thanking your own team for a job well done.

Here's what this Sox line-up should look like the rest of the year. No moving around. Live by it, die by it:

Crisp
Pedroia
Lowell
Ortiz
Manny
Kelty
Youk
Tek
Lugo

No J.D.