"Unleash the full fury of Joba to Mariano to John Sterling"--NY Post

(NY Post): "Keep Chamberlain where he is and you hang a psychological sword of Damocles over the other team's head: you have six, maybe seven innings to make hay before we unleash

• the full fury of Joba-to-Mariano-to-John Sterling.

Remember, Joe Torre stopped being Clueless Joe as soon as he was able

• to trot out the young Rivera to get the game into John Wetteland's closer hands.

Remember, Rivera had been a starter. Imagine if the braintrust went that way with him. With apologies to Don Mattingly, Girardi would be wearing No. 23 today, talking about the Yankees' 23rd championship. New York Yankees

• Keep him where he is because his emotional makeup at this point in time is better served for shorter, apoplectic bursts of adrenaline....

He's made for it. He's a bulldog. A middle linebacker bringing the heat. Living on the edge.

• He has clearly taken to his setup role like a duck to water, so if it ain't broke, why fix it?

Besides, what guarantee is there that he will be another Clemens anyway? The odds of him becoming even more dominant as a starter than he already is now cannot be considered good."...

• From NY Post by Steve Serby, "Derek Deals with Strain," 4/08/08

P.S. One constantly hears, "Mariano Rivera is a failed starter," but until today I had never ONCE heard--in voluminous media coverage--

• GOOSE GOSSAGE IS A FAILED STARTER--yes, I looked on Baseball-Reference

after hearing Mike Francesa on the topic. He was saying there's no guarantee someone will succeed as a starter, that teams had tried and failed to make Gossage one. (sm)

Tweet Stumbleupon StumbleUpon