I saw Rivera blow his second-straight save chance today and he looked weak. He threw a bunch of pitches at sub-90 mph, an un-Rivera performance, and gave up the lead on a two-out game-tying single. Location problems Saturday, velocity problems Monday . . . that means Rivera needs some rest. Ironically, if he had held the game Saturday, Torre would have had reason to keep him out tonight -- a 9.5-game lead instead of a 7.5 game lead heading into this series. But Torre has continually managed each game to WIN NOW and Rivera has historically had a minor hiccup here or there (last year he gave up two of the three homers he allowed all year on consecutive nights) before turning it on for the rest of the season -- most notably in 1999 when he blew three saves in four chances in July, then allowed one run in his next 44 innings (31.7 regular season, 1 ER; 12.3 postseason, 0 ER).
Bigger worries: the starters who couldn't get anyone out in Boston; Mike Moooooooooooosina's elbow; Javy Vazquez's recent struggles to keep his s't together. Javy looked excellent in his one inning in the All-Star game. Maybe he should be watching that tape.
And the two previews.
First, this Saturday or so I hope to post my analysis of a rather stupid comment Pres. Bush made and show why no matter what Presidents want to do, they don't have as much control over events as we or they would like.
Second, a proposal for baseball contracts. I think it's workable and could restore some near-term insanity to baseball contracts in exchange for some ownership security. I hope to post this later this week. It all depends upon my work schedule.
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