Mariano Rivera

Yankees 2012: OK But No Cigar...Yet

Is it possible that following one team up close, day by day, for an entire season, can actually give you a distorted rather than accurate perception of how good they are? Like many Yankee fans, I've been ruthlessly criticizing the team's performance, or at least its performance since the All-Star ... More >>

Say It Ain't Mo

And so it ends with a bang and a whimper. No Yankee great's departure has ever caused anything like the shock to the system New York fans are now experiencing. I'm hearing from some, "Well, what about Thurman Munson's death?" A shock, yes, but let's be honest, Munson wasn't loved. Certainly his l ... More >>

The Yankees' Wild Card: Joba Chamberlain

Though it didn't make anyone's sports headlines in a week of Bobby Valentine's smart-offs and the return of Jeremy Lin, what might turn out to be the biggest sports news of all is the exciting progress (measured in the increasing velocity of that once-fearsome slider, now up to 94-95 mph) of Joba Ch ... More >>

Mets' CBA Quandary: Should Wright Stay or Should He Go?

The new five-year collective bargaining agreement signed by baseball owners and players yesterday features a list of tweaks to rules big and small: Among other things, fair/foul calls can now be overruled by instant replay, teams can activate a 26th man for doubleheaders, and those shatter-prone map ... More >>

Justin Verlander Just In Case

If you were about to play what could be your last game of the season, would you use every weapon you had? If we are to believe Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland, he wouldn't. Leyland has repeatedly said he "probably wouldn't use Justin Verlander in relief" in tonight's Game Five against the Yanks, ... More >>

The Day The Yankees Tried to Trade Mariano Rivera

Yankee savior RiveraHere's a story from the November 17, 1997, Seattle Times that's making the rounds: Not even the New York Yankees' offer of reliever Mariano Rivera, rated one of the American League's top closers, could entice the Mariners to give up Randy Johnson. ...

Mariano Rivera: Maybe He Really Is 41.

Rivera: Showing his age?"It's gonna happen every once and a while," said an ashen-faced Joe Girardi, after Curtis Granderson was picked off first base to end Tuesday night's game, with the Yankees losing 6-4 to the Angels. "The one thing you don't want is to become too passive on the base paths whe ... More >>

Mariano Rivera: Even the Outsiders Pitch In On His Greatness

Rivera deliversMariano Rivera's 1000th appearance in a Yankees uniform has triggered a slew of analytical articles examining various aspects of his greatness. Oddly enough, the most interesting ones didn't come from the mainstream New York press. One of the best was by David Pinto, formerly of Bas ... More >>

Derek Jeter The Best NY Athlete of All Time? Really?

​In 1975, a survey representing America's biggest rock and roll stations asked several thousand listeners to name the greatest rock and roll record of all time. The Beatles, you might guess? Stones? Beach Boys? Stevie Wonder? Maybe Elvis? Or The Supremes? None of the above. According to those ... More >>

With Cliff Lee, Will the Phillies Rotation Be the Best Ever?

​Does the acquisition of Cliff Lee give the Philadelphia Phillies the best rotation in baseball history? That's a little premature, but you can certainly make a good argument. Right now, Roy Halliday, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt, and Cole Hamels certainly look to rank with the 1954 Cleveland In ... More >>

Yankees Prospects Look Grim -- Star Pollster Nate Silver

​If Nate Silver is correct, both the Democratic Party and the New York Yankees might be headed for tough times this fall. The ace political pollster/baseball analyst projects the numbers for 1,600 major league ballplayers in the current Baseball Prospectus 2010, and things don't look good for ... More >>

Jockbeat's World Series Wrap

​First of all, on behalf of those at the Village Voice who are Yankee fans, let me thank Roy Edroso for the headline on his piece, "Congratulations Douchebag Yankee Fans." We accept your congratulations, and we assume you mean douchebag in the best possible sense. And, yes, we are doucheba ... More >>

Crazy Yankee Chick: Chan Ho Park spitting on ball in World Series??

Mariano Rivera actually had to be subjected to an MLB investigation over his alleged spitball--an accusation that was dismissed as ridiculous roughly 15 minutes after the league consented to look into it. ...And yet this incident from last night's game oddly is not generating a single peep.

Crazy Yankee Chick: Yankees take Game 2, take Pedro deep

​Ahh, much better. The Yankees beat the Phillies in a much-needed, if technically not "must-win" Game 2, with A.J. Burnett outdueling old friend Pedro Martinez. The Phillies took an early 1-0 lead in the 2nd with an RBI single from Matt Stairs, but the Yanks answered in the 4th with a solo s ... More >>

Crazy Yankee Chick: Blowout win puts Yankees on the brink...!

​I think I might have been just as happy with the score as I was with the fact that the Yankees won last night. I don't know if my heart could have handled another extra innings monument to high anxiety. A pitchers' duel would have sent me into seizure fits. (Of course, an Angels' hit parade ... More >>

This Week in the Voice: Best Of!

​Hurrah for Best Of the Best Ofs! What do you think? Is Mexico 2000, "a quaint shop under the J/M/Z line in East Williamsburg," New York's Best Bodega? Or McGovern of Brooklyn the city's Most Morbid Florist? Surely you have an opinion on our Best Yankee (Mariano Rivera), Met (Jerry Manuel) , ... More >>

Crazy Yankee Chick: Tale of the Tape is Bulls[p]it

​Just to bring everyone up to speed, in the past year, the media/society et al have demonized the Yankees based on accusations from the following sources: A laundry list of names from a clubhouse source who not only has biased connections rendering clear conflict of interests, but who devel ... More >>

Crazy Yankee Chick: The First Cut is The Deepest: Yanks' postseason win streak ends

​I don't know if I should be writing this right now. I have a hair trigger temper when it comes to baseball, and an uncensored tongue when it comes to lashing out at, well, anyone who crosses my path after a loss. It may well be the most telling litmus test of my friends. The ones who try to ... More >>

Crazy Yankee Chick: No Sympathy For the Angels in Yanks' 4-1 win

​After all that ado, not a lick of rain. Just goes to show you. God's a Yankee fan, and even though they're "angels," it's bro's before halos. Four wins down. Seven to go. Man, it's cold out. When I started this whole watching-the-Yankees-bat-from-outside ritual, it was a 65 degree situat ... More >>

Crazy Yankee Chick: ONE DOWN...Yankees' quest for 27 begins with 2-7 win

​So about 5 hours ago, I lamented that my hands have been shaking all day. And they still are. But for different reasons now. The Yanks are down 2-0 in the bottom of the 3rd, and that was around the time my manic desperation started to manifest itself full throttle. It's a crazy frenzy that ... More >>

Picking My Battles: Twins or Tigers in ALDS?

​"So who would you rather play in the ALDS?" I think the only set of 9 words I've heard more often than this is "Thank you for your submission to our publication. Unfortunately..." But in the last week, the pending ALDS opponent has been like a bag of PopSecret stuck in the penant race micro ... More >>

Hand over Fist(er) tonight, Yanks...

​ What are the prerequisites for getting "he's human after all" exemptions? Because there are a lot of stars and legends out there...but only certain people get this said about them with some degree of frequency. I think everybody should only get one. Like, from birth. You don't assume anyone ... More >>

Yankees Sweep Mets

God damn it. The Metropolitan reports Yankees fans outnumbered Mets fans at Citi Field; we are overrun. Mariano Rivera got his 500th save and batted in a run, and Derek Jeter felt comfy enough to talk smack about Shea. Okay, let's start thinking about prospects for 2010. Maybe if this recession ho ... More >>

Jockbeat: The Mets are in Worse Shape Than You Think

As the Mets prepare for what looks like a rough seven game road trip -- starting tonight with the first of three games against the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers and ending with three against the NL East-leading Philadelphia Phillies over the Fourth of July weekend -- it's time to face up to s ... More >>

Sporting News: Yankees, Mets, Meteorologists Suck, Say Experts

Bronx Bumblers

How can a team with four Hall of Famers fall so far?

God Returns to First

Notes from the grapefruit league, Yankees edition

As Tampa Turns: Who's Boring and Corporate Now?

Seven Days in Shea

Why do the Mets keep torturing us?

Classic Fall

Careful, Yanks. The Boss Is Watching

Sports

Sports

The Era of the Darn Good

Where Have You Gone, All You Young Joe DiMaggios?

Sports

Only Angels Have Rings

Pick Up the Ball, Barry. Pick It Up.

Yankees Go Home

The Bombers' Current Run Officially Ends

Say Hey! The Results of Our Quiz

The Winners? Brian Calandra and Willie Mays.

Gorillas in Our Midst

They're All Going to Cooperstown. Which Ones Will Have to Pay Admission?

Masters of Their Domain

Relax, Yankee Fans. Everything's in Good Hands.

Here’s to the Losers

Thanks for the Memories, You Yankee Role Players. Now Get Out of Here.

Pitching Machines

The Hamstring’s Connected to the . . . Fastball

Meet the Yets

The Best of New York Baseball

The Mets Were ThisClose

Wait 'Til Next Year

Forced to Retire

Yanks: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

Sweeping Questions

The Yanks Are Champs Again. So What?

Above Average Joe

The Subtle Genius of Torre's Yankee Reign

Open Season

Luck Be a Yankee Tonight

Dueling Stadia

Pinstripe Destiny '98

Inside The Yankee Docudrama