A young fellow named Ben Jacobs is on board with anti-Mariano spam

I knew it would ruin my day, but I read this propaganda anyway & had to comment: I see written on Foxsports.com by Ben Jacobs of Rotoworld & a few other places (Jacobs is a sports copy editor and freelance writer whose work can also be found on The Hardball Times) posted Sept.1, 2006, this is listed as a Fantasy Baseball column.

• (Ben is out to confuse the facts, starting with the media darling...FALL IN LINE, BEN. Ben does, by MISLEADING YOU:)

Closer: Trevor Hoffman (rock solid) (so Ben says): "Hoffman pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings* and earned two more saves in the past week. He's now 35-for-39 in save chances with a 1.98 ERA, 0.96 WHIP, 37 strikeouts and nine walks in 50 innings. There's not much to say about him other than that he continues to get the job done even though he turns 39 in six weeks."

• THIS IS DELIBERATELY MISLEADING. First, 1 of these 'saves' was only 1 out, with a 3 run lead, but it's sold here as no different from a save where a pitcher came in with men on base and only a 1-run lead.
• Hoffman hasn't pitched more than 1 inning in OVER 2 YEARS yet you'll think he works harder than others from this story. The opposite is true. Hoffman was out of a job a year ago, and wasn't an automatic re-hire by San Diego. This has been reported, and that Sandy Alderson was hesitant. Hoffman is lucky any team, especially one in a low-pressure, temperate climate, national league pitchers' park was able to afford the luxury of hiring a guy who refuses to throw more than 1 inning under any circumstances, putting the burden onto other team members. He's desperately hoping this gimmick will get him into the HOF.

Then about Cleveland Indians closer Tom Mastny, Jacobs says:"Mastny solidified his place at the head of Cleveland's bullpen by earning two ninth-inning-only saves this past week."

• So Jacobs reveals he's able to discern such a thing as a "9th inning save," which he'll let you know about if he feels like it. (Learning a copywriter's bias is always fun--if this is the same Ben Jacobs I'm reading about, he was only 15 years old when Mariano Rivera emerged on the scene in the 1995 post season, and of course what life he's lived has been as a die-hard Red Sox fan. Add that he probably sees this field as his career path, & you see no Yankee fans of consequence in this entire field-- in spite of the fact that I've heard Joe Sheehan and Ben Kabak are. They both chicken out when it counts--they're weak fans, as are the few others online. They avoid the most important battles because their first priority it to retain a mass appeal audience and be accepted amongst their colleagues--which means back off when we tell you to).

Finally young Mr. Jacobs knows his power, knows you're lazy and won't check up on what he writes. Onward to the continual dumping on Mariano: "Rivera allowed one run in three innings and earned one save (his first since August 15) in the past week."

• What? He only "earned" 1 "save" which was "his first since August 15." Man, Rivera must be a lazy, worthless, barely above average journeyman. WHAT THE YOUNG MR. JACOBS DESPERATELY DOESN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW:
• First, Mariano wasn't 'resting' for 2 weeks. He had a 'Win' on August 20. He pitched 2 consecutive innings twice after August 15th, first on August 20, then on August 27. It may hurt Jacobs too much to remember the 2 IP on August 20 for the Win happened at Fenway Park. Between Aug. 20 and 27th, the Yankees were losing all the games with 2 exceptions--one they were ahead by 7 runs, and the other was the Monday day game against Boston, where Mariano had just pitched 2 consecutive innings about 14 hours earlier. But, Jacobs et al won't mention that--if anything, they'll say well Rivera was being "rested." It's only defined that way when Mariano is involved--not others.

Jacobs, like others in the mass communications field of baseball (as opposed to people actually in the game like AL managers) seems to be confused, doesn't really have the time to check out his facts. He next goes on to glorify another pitcher not named Mariano, this time, Frankie Rodriguez: "Rodriguez has been so impressive this year, I can't remember the last time I had to say anything bad about him. He pitched another 3 1/3 scoreless innings with a win and two saves this past week, and he hasn't allowed a run in his last 21 2/3 innings."

• OK, Ben, I'll remind you: FRANKIE HAS GIVEN UP 6 HR SO FAR THIS YEAR, 2 OF THEM IN 1 GAME (June 4); HE'S WALKED 19 YTD, 2 OF THEM IN 1 GAME, July 22-- if that had been Mo, you'd have remembered; THE WIN YOU MENTION IS 1 OF ONLY 2 HE HAS FOR THE SEASON. HIS IP= 57.1

• Ben, MARIANO HAS PITCHED 71 INNINGS SO FAR, ALMOST 14 MORE THAN FRANKIE; HAS ONLY GIVEN UP 3 HR ALL YEAR, & ONLY 11 WALKS; MO ALSO HAS 5 WINS ALONG WITH HIS 33 SAVES.

Ben's propaganda appears in several different venues from what I can tell. Anti-Mariano spam is around every corner, and most people too busy, lazy, or scared to expose this fraud.

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