Mariano Rivera, RBI Specialist?

On a day when I had already been punched the gut multiple times, first by Brazil dashing U.S. Soccer hopes, then while watching the Braves do everything they could to try to give the game to the Sox in the 9th, the Yankees game was a great relief for me.

I warned my fiance back on Wednesday that I would be glued to the TV for the Confederations Cup Final and then Sunday Night Baseball. The former was pretty painful, and while I could go on and on about soccer in the States, I think a quote by Landon Donovan sums it up well: "We're at the point where we don't want respect anymore. We want to win." Still, the fact that U.S. made it to their first final in a FIFA tournament is a sign of progress that should not be taken lightly. All major U.S. sports outlets were glued to Johannesburg, and all were scrambling to come up with their best movie analogy where the hero dies at the end.

But when one hero dies we look for another storyline to fill the void that's left in our hearts. For me, that came a few hours later when the Yankees went for the sweep against the Mets. Now, to be honest, for all intents and purposes I had come to terms with a Yankees loss. I mean, the Sox had lost so we wouldn't be giving up any ground sending Wang to the mound. So why not? What I didn't expect was for good old Wanger to put aside his 14+ ERA and 0-6 record as a starter and pitch 5.1 innings, his longest outting of the year.

The Yankees scored 3 runs in the top of the first, and that's all they need when they allow only 2 in 8 innings (or 7.2). If a team waits until their last 3-4 outs to come back against the Yankees, they're met with by the most dominating closer ever.

Mariano Rivera lived up to the spectacle that is to be expected coming into a 3-2 game between the Yankees and Mets going for save number 500. Despite some half-hearted trickery by the Yankees in the top of the 9th, K-Rod ends up intentionally passing Jeter to give Mo the third at-bat of his career. Now after watching tape of Mo cut against the Braves just last week, K-Rod starts pitching around his closing counterpart. Despite taking the count full, the Mets stopper misses one too many times, allowing Rivera to reach base with no where to put him, driving in a run.

The bottom of the 9th went the way we expect it, and the legend that is Mariano Rivera grows; the final pitch from his hand hit off the end of the bat of ex-Red Sox stud Alex Cora, from Cano to Texiera, and back to Mo's glove where it can find its way to his award mantle next to his World Series MVP trophy and his 4 Championship rings.