October 19, 2009

Steve Ferguson from On The Sportslines here.

THERE'S NO ONE IN THE POST SEASON LIKE MARIANO RIVERA

A few years ago a close friend of mine gushed about the outstanding year that former Houston Astrons' closer Brad Lidge was having and had the NERVE to argue that he was better than Mariano Rivera! That is until Albert Pujols silenced his world with one might swat put an end to that rancid thought. That led to his dismissal to the Philadelphia Phillies eventually.

This year's playoffs further ilustrate the phenomenal consistency of Rivera. Remember these two closers Joe Nathan of the Minnesota Twins and Huston Street of the Colorado Rockies. Nathan who has been second in the league in regular season saves second only to Mariano since 2004 pitched with the conviction of a scared Little Leaguer.

Did anyone catch the almost asthmatic breathing he was experiencing with the Twins having a 3-1 year a couple of Fridays ago in the new Yankee Stadium. I was in shock but my laughter overrode my initial reaction. He even looked SCARED out of his mind in Minnesota two days later when his team was TRAILING 3-1 late in what turned out to be the end of the Twins' great season! That's a stud closer. Uh, absolutely no way! THIS IS A CHOKE ARTIST!

Then we had Huston Street who blew not ONE but TWO games when the Colorado Rockies had the lead in the ninth inning twice against the Philadelphia Phillies in their playoff series. This was the man that they traded for to close games. What a joke!

Add Brian Fuentes of the Anaheim Angels who served up the FATBALL to A-Rod (not fastball) barely whispering in at 90 miles an hour who was not trusted to come in a tie game unlike Mariano Rivera who pitched 2 1/3 innings of 1 hit scoreless relief in a tie game. That's what a closer is supposed to do in post season and no one does it any better than Mariano! Mike Scioscia is no idiot and it's obvious he knows Fuentes is a FRAUD!

As a New York Mets' fan seeing Armando Benitez a man blessed with a strong arm and a 98 mile an hour fastball but with the intelligence of a flea and the courage of a frightened child and you have another CHOKE ARTIST of the '90's!

Next time you want to see a great closer don't think of any of these imposters or even the Los Angeles Dodgers' Jonathan Broxton who couldn't throw strikes to the ancient 40 year old Matt Stairs coming off cold off the bench while dealing 100 miles of heat because he was still seeing him in his nightmares when he took him deep last year in Los Angeles remember why NO CLOSER except for maybe Rollie Fingers is close to Mariano Rivera!