Afternoon Baseball

A banner day at the Stadium today. The Yankees continued their assault on the AL Central, roughing up Freddy Garcia, and earned a sweep that is ever so needed when you consider the Red Sox keep winning (although not today).

Derek Jeter, mere hours after I talked about his great season in spite of no home runs, decides to hit one. Then A-Rod hit one. More good news in that, obviously, and A-Rod continued his trait of hitting well in tie-game situations.

Mariano Rivera has 400 saves. Such a feat requires at least a decade of being a premier closer, and that alone would mark his greatness. But when you consider that he also has a career ERA of 2.32 and a WHIP of 1.04, it shows that he's dominated, not simply been around a long time. Of course, that's obvious to those of us who are watching him every day. But 40 years from now, when perhaps 10-20 pitchers have 400 saves, looking deeper into the numbers will illustrate how great Mo has been and continues to be.
As for today, he threw 26 pitches, which is a lot but not overuse as long as he doesn't have to pitch two or three more consecutive games. Mo's still projected for 86 innings, however, which would be the most he's ever thrown as a closer.