I keep trying to listen to XM and they keep dumping on Mariano Rivera

Each time, within 1 minute, whoever was on was knocking Mariano Rivera. Last night it was Joe Castellano in general remarks. This afternoon, first Mark Gray. Then I tried an hour later, and got another replay of Castellano's interview with Goose Gossage,

• in which Joe knocked Mo, and invited Gossage to do the same. Which was a cinch. Hundreds of articles via MLB, Inc. and related newspaper, internet, radio, and tv accounts have put Goose Gossage's insults of Mo into heavy rotation. Castellano either has his own agenda, doesn't know the truth, or knows it can only help his career to fall in with the company line.

I thought Castellano was going to cry last night referring to a NY Post article from January 2006, which he said he clipped and has saved ever since. It was by Kevin Kernan and quoted Gossage. Choking back his emotions, he read part of it. He treats Gossage's words in the article like they are definitive proof that Rivera is inferior, triumphantly offering some stats supposedly making Gossage sound much better. One of them was about number of hits given up over some period of time, but I looked up hits/9, BB/9, and WHIP, regular season only (not even including Mariano's 112.2 post season IP), and none of them made Gossage look better. I believe Joe referred to Mo's 7.05 Hits/9IP like it was something bad, but Goose had 7.45 Hits/9IP, so that doesn't work. I spent about 2 hours today trying to get a copy of Kernan's article, and was able to get the first paragraph, but not the stats Joe spoke of.

• Then, at 4:56Pm this afternoon, I tried again to listen to XM, but got Mark Gray saying, "When Mo Rivera was automatic, that was the great Yankee advantage."

If MLB didn't approve these views they wouldn't continue.

• There was an All Star game in 2006 Mo did OK in. (Don't mention All Star performance vs Gossage--generally not good).

Mark Gray must only be aware of the company line, which is that Mo is over with and has been for years, was never that great anyway except maybe in the post season which was not his doing but just the luck of having "opportunities." If you had seen many of the games, you'd know they were anything but gifts. If you want to see an "opportunity," view the cherry-picked 'save situations' given out to certain relievers by the manager for the purpose of padding a pitcher's regular season stats....

• An hour later I turn on XM again and hear a replay of Joe doing the Goose Gossage interview. A few seconds in, Joe dumps on Mariano, invites Gossage to do the same saying in effect, people like Rivera who are only 1 inning pitchers, (throaty laugh heh heh), except once in awhile, but you know Goose you were so much more...
• (There are many other stats in baseball than "regular season IP per appearance" that show not only durability but sustained success, but apparently XM MLB hosts aren't compelled to mention them).

Goose says to Joe, yes, you know, "they gave me The Cy Young or the Fireman's Award in 1975," ... Joe doesn't draw any distinction between the two. Soon, Mark Gray comes back on the air cutting out of the replay of the interview, and he references no distinction either. (After about a minute, I had to turn it off again).

• I looked it up, and I find Gossage has never won the Cy Young Award, but did in fact win the Fireman's Award twice, in 1975 and 1978 from the Sporting News. Mariano Rivera has won it 5 times. The Sporting News has changed the name of it to "Reliever of the Year Award" as of 2000 to more accurately reflect today's game.

Gossage is widely quoted saying, he doesn't want to be lumped with Eckersley nor with today's player Mariano Rivera (being that Goose says he was much more than Mo. Did Gossage ever go 107 & 2/3 innings giving up only 1 HR as Mariano Rivera did in late inning relief in 1996? I notice also in 1996 Rivera broke Gossage's own strike-out record record as a Yankee relief pitcher).

• Goose proved in the past that he's baseball media's dream by dumping on Mariano thusly: "It's an insult to me to even be compared to Mariano Rivera, it really is," etc. This statement has appeared in hundreds of places, I got it from the Denver Post, 1/12/06. Since I'd lost interest in listening to questionable material, I don't know if he added this colorful prose to his XM radio interview.

• Conversely, Mariano has good words about Gossage:

"but Rivera wondered why Goose Gossage has not been inducted. ...," from The Record of No. Jersey, May 25, 2004.

• P.S. This is not a post about "debate" of HOF credentials but about what's said in the media. I hope Mr. Gossage gets in.

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