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Apr 22 2013

Mariano Rivera and His Final Season

Mariano Rivera is currently pitching in his final season and will look to close out his amazing career with yet another world series ring.

The greatest relief pitcher in the history of baseball will hang up his cleats at the end of the 2013 baseball season at the age of 43. I have been blessed with and have had the pleasure of seeing the greatest relief pitcher of all time pitch for my favourite team since I was born. The Yankees legend is considered the greatest at his craft and the most dominant closer of all time by a large margin. Rivera holds countless records with a record 613 and counting saves along with 12 all-star selections. Rivera’s 2.21 ERA and .998 WHIP are the best of any pitcher since 1920 and aside from the regular season, Rivera also is one of the greatest play-off performers of all time, leading the Yankees to five world series titles, all mainly with the use of one pitch, his unique stunning cutter which is the best pitch in the game of baseball. Not only is Rivera one of the best players in the history of baseball, he is also one of the most genuinely nice people you could ever meet. I have had the pleasure of meeting the historically great pitcher multiple times, and he is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Reporters say of Rivera that when he asks reporters and crew people how they have been, that he is one of the extremely few players who actually cares how each person has been. I have been spoiled to have seen the closer pitch for the Yankees all my life and to have met the pitcher in person many times.

Rivera grew up in a poor fishing village near Panama City, Panama, playing baseball since a young age with friends. Tree branches were used as bats, with milk cartons for gloves and tape being used to make a ball. Upon graduating from high school Rivera worked with his father on a fishing boat, hauling shrimp and sardines. In free time, Rivera began playing shortstop for a local amateur team at the age of 19. A Yankees scout noticed Rivera’s athleticism and signed him to a $3,000 contract. Rivera was never considered as a major league prospect, but worked his way up the Yankees system as a starting pitcher. In 1995 the pitcher made ten appearances as a starter for the big league club with little success before being moved to the bullpen. At that point, Mariano’s career took off and the pitcher never looked back. To make things even more amazing, Rivera has had all his success with the use of one pitch, his cutter which no one in the history of the sport seems to be able to throw as well as him. The pitch has been named by countless hitters as the best pitch in baseball, and hitters fail to be able to hit it even when they know it is coming, with Rivera breaking countless bats due to the movement of this pitch. In the post-season, what Rivera has been able to accomplish is even more remarkable, with the closer being at the top of countless categories. In his play-off career Rivera has won five world series, has eight wins to one loss, owns a .70 ERA, has pitched 141 innings in 96 games, holds 42 saves and has only given up 2 home runs. It would only be fitting for Rivera’s career to end this year with the closer adding to these feats and getting the final out to win the Yankees their 28th world series and to end the already outstanding career of Rivera. Rivera dominated his position and has a chance to be the only player in the history of baseball to be unanimously elected to the Hall Of Fame, and if any voters do not vote for Rivera, they deserve to have their votes rescinded based of the accomplishments of Rivera. And yet, despite the success and fame which Rivera has achieved, the pitcher remains humble, soft spoken and goes about his job without any theatrics or bravado. Rivera’s attitude towards the game and his outlook remains the same win or lose with his impeccable work ethic. Mariano Rivera has succeeded in being historically great in the most pressure filled innings for the most pressure filled team in the world and it has been an honour to watch Rivera pitch for all these years. This season every time Rivera appears on the field to pitch it is something which must be cherished and no matter what situation a Yankees game is in this year, it will always be something to watch for the opportunity that you might get to see the greatest relief pitcher in the history of the sport pitch one more time. Rivera is the last player in baseball history to wear Jackie Robinson’s number 42 and it is only fitting that it is the most humble and historically great player currently playing who gets to do this. Every time that Enter Sandman starts playing this season Yankees Stadium will be filled with anticipation, as if it is a play-off game, and one of the last chances for a person to see this amazing pitcher close out one last game in person.

By Anthony Martins • Sports Articles • 0 • Tags: baseball

Apr 3 2013

Yu Darvish and The Almost Perfect Game

Yu Darvish’s reaction upon having his perfect game broken up with one out to go till reaching baseball immortality.

On Tuesday night, Texas Rangers starting pitcher Yu Darvish came just one out away from baseball perfection, but in the end came up just short. Facing the Houston Astros Darvish struck out 14 batters and was dealing all game long. Had he gotten the final batter out Darvish would have joined an exclusive list of pitchers who have reached this feat and would have also tied Matt cain for most strikeouts in a perfect game. Marwin Gonzalez ruined this opportunity with the Astros down to their final out when he hit a single through the legs of Yu Darvish to save the Astros from having a perfect game having been thrown against them in the second game of the season. I predicted in my 2013 season predictions that Darvish would have an outstanding season, with the pitcher already off to an outstanding start with this first game. Darvish looked like he would struggle with his pitch count early in the game going into the sixth inning, but ended the 8 2/3′s innings he pitched throwing just 111 pitches as he became more efficient as the game went on.

This almost perfect game got me thinking about other times in baseball history in which pitchers have lost a perfect game with just one out to go in the game. Up until this season in baseball history, only 24 perfect games have been thrown, with only 34 games having a pitcher have a perfect game through 8 2/3′s innings. 70.6% of these games went on to become perfect games, while 76.5% of these game went on too become no-hitters or perfect games. The most recent one of these perfect games to be broken up with one out to go was the infamous “imperfect” game in 2010 by Armando Gallaragha in which a blown call at first base allowed the perfect game to be taken right out of the hands of the pitcher. Before that in 2001, Mike Mussina was one strike away from perfection in a Yankees versus Red Sox game, only to have Carl Everett hit a single. Perfect game’s have occurred more commonly than usual in recent years, but this club is incredibly exclusive and is an amazing accomplishment which barely any pitchers will achieve in their career no matter how outstanding they are.

By Anthony Martins • Sports Articles • 0 • Tags: baseball

Mar 27 2013

Baseball Preview: 2013 MLB Predictions

This year here at GoodMusicRadar the site is branching out to cover more categories and topics along with coverage of all media. This post is the first sports post to appear on the site, with many other sports articles to come in the future with most being about baseball. A this week in baseball segment will start at the beginning of this season and below are my predictions for the 2013 baseball season. I am an avid baseball fan so I only thought it was written that I write about what interests me on the site and share my thoughts on my favourite topics with the internet. I am a Yankees fan, but even more so am a fan of baseball, so I tried to keep my bias on different teams at bay. Click the more button to read all of my predictions which includes my predicted standings for this season and leave a comment with your thoughts.

These predictions are all mine for the 2013 baseball season and undoubtedly many of these will be incorrect due to how unpredictable baseball is and acquisitions which occur throughout the season, although these predictions are what I think will occur this upcoming season. Let me know what you agree and disagree with me on in the comments and watch to see how many of these come true this season. At the end of the season I will take a look back at my predictions and see how well they fared and how many of these I was completely right and completely wrong on.

Projected Standings: My projected standings and a brief description of my outlook on each team for the upcoming season.

AL East: This year the AL East is completely up for the taking and for the first time in a long time, neither the Yankees or Red Sox are favoured to win the division. Any team could win this division which is easily the most competitive division and holds five strong playoff contender teams in it. This division could see three play-off teams emerge from it and could see the standings easily flipped around by the end of the season.

1. Tampa Bay Rays: The Rays silently had a very good season last year and finished third in the AL East. The East is wide open and although the Rays lost James Shield this off-season, they gain a full season of Evan Longoria (only played in 77 games last season) who is my prediction for AL MVP. The Rays have one of the best farm systems in baseball and I expect advancements by their starters, another Cy Young season from David Price, Wil Myers having a great rookie year and manager of the year Joe Maddon to lead the Rays to an AL East title.

2. Baltimore Orioles (wild card): The Baltimore Orioles won a wildcard spot with 93 wins last season, but many are writing off this team due to a phenomenal record in close games last season. This season I see the Orioles surprising yet again and being in the race for a wild card spot as well as being in the running for the division although I think they will just barely come up with the final wild card spot. Dylan Bundy once recalled will play a huge role in this wild card push, and although this team will face some regression, the growing experience of this young team, gaining confidence, the return of Brian Roberts, a full season of Manny Machado, improvements by young players and another season managed by Buck Showalter will lead to the O’s just barely coming up with a second consecutive post-season birth.

3. New York Yankees (Wild Card): This season the Yankees are the underdogs of the AL East, with expectations for this season set extremely slow. The Yankees had a slow off-season with a huge loss of power to go with an onslaught of injuries. People quickly forget that the Yankees won 95 games and the AL East with an onslaught of injuries last season which included Brett Gardner, Mariano Rivera, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Joba Chamberlain and many others. Although the depth and offence of this Yankees team is not what people are used too, this teams pitching should carry it to a wild card spot with Michael Pineida, Alex Rodriguez, Curtis Granderson, Mark Texeira and many others coming to aid the team for the stretch run. The loss of power is not as big of a deal as it is being made out to be, with the Yankees leading the majors in home runs by a large number not seeming to help them in the play-offs  this year the team has the addition of speed and although this team is weaker than last years, this team is still a competitive team which I see making the play-offs. With the teams pitching staff carrying them until injured players return, I see this team remaining competitive the whole season. The Yankees will be battling off the Orioles and Jays, and I could see these three teams easily flipping spots, but I would never count the Yankees out and see them coming out on top for a wild card spot.

3. Baltimore Orioles (wild card): The Baltimore Orioles won a wildcard spot with 93 wins last season, but many are writing off this team due to a phenomenal record in close games last season. This season I see the Orioles surprising yet again and being in the race for a wild card spot as well as being in the running for the division although I think they will just barely come up with the final wild card spot. Dylan Bundy once recalled will play a huge role in this wild card push, and although this team will face some regression, the growing experience of this young team, gaining confidence, the return of Brian Roberts, a full season of Manny Machado, improvements by young players and another season managed by Buck Showalter will lead to the O’s just barely coming up with a second consecutive post-season birth.

4. Toronto Blue Jays: The Jays were the obvious winners of the off-season this past year and are being heralded by many as the favourites to win the competitive AL East. Although this team made some huge improvements this off-season and I see them being competitive for a wild card spot, this team has faults which I see stopping them from being the beast in the east as they are being predicted to be. As you may remember the Miami Marlins had the same predictions after making similar moves to the Jays last season and we all remember how that turned out. Although I don’t believe the Jays will turn out even as close to as bad as the Marlins, they are an example of how a team on paper doesn’t always play out on the field. The team is mostly filled of former Miami Marlins after their fire sale and is filled with injury prone players like Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, Brandon Morrow, among countless others which could cause a problem for this potential play-off team. With the acquisitions of Josh Johnson, Jose Reyes, R.A. Dickey, Melky Cabrera, Emilio Bonafacia, Mark Buehrle and many others this team will be a competitive force this season, although I see this team finishing on the outside looking in on the play-off picture after being in the race for a wild card spot all season as a result of a few disappointing seasons and injuries.

5. Boston Red Sox: The Red Sox had an extremely disappointing season last year and don’t have much expectations for this upcoming season. Without manager Bobby Valentine under the helm, this team should be competitive and while I predict them to finish in the cellar of the AL East, I could see this team also finishing at the top of the division without being shocked. I expect great seasons from starters Clay Bucholz and Jon Lester, although I expect the rest of the rotation other than Ryan Dempster to not perform that well. The Red Sox bullpen is not an asset, but the offence although having less talent than recent years is still a strength of the team and rookie Jackie Bradley Jr. should prove his worth this season as a rookie.

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By Anthony Martins • Sports Articles • 0 • Tags: baseball