what makes mariano rivera so good?
 

what is so great about him? it seems like every damn time he comes in he just completely shuts the batters down. everyone either strikes out or grounds out, what's up with that?

pinstripes...it's all about the pinstripes...he's also pretty talented. never shows nervousness, as cool as they come...did i mention the pinstripes?

being a yankee fan is like being a fan of pussy. almost every dude is a fan. be original...root for the home team or something...

um, i was born in the bronx, grew up in jersey...thanks for playing though

wait, one more question - what do you have against pussy?

well you're an exception i guess if you were born in the bronx obviously. and i don't have anything against pussy...i'm saying every dude is a fan of pussy, and it seems like every dude is also a yankees fan. they are 2 things that most guys are fans of. everywhere i look someone got on a yankee hat...such a bandwagon team...

I'm a Braves fan, but I love to see great pitchers like Rivera (even though he also dominates my favorite team). He never gets upset, he just keeps going after the batters. He might even be a machine or something...

His arm and control of the ball maybe? I could be wrong.

He throws a pitch that no other pitcher throws - hitters don't know how to handle it. It's called a cut or cutting fastball. Moves across the plate like a curve (without as much of a break) but is 20-30 MPH faster than a breaking ball.
He is a bad ass - GO YANKEES!

i beg to differ...

it is thrown by others but he does it consistantly well for some reason...his location is usually spot on and his movement is downward on the ball...that helps keep the ball on the ground...keeping the ball inside and down helps to break the bats, and take energy out of the ball when hit off the handle not barrel....and for the record i hate his ass

his cutter

^thank you looks like 1 person knows baseball.

His delivery makes his cutter. The ball seems to jump at you out of nowhere and with the late break on the ball you've got no chance. Easily the best closer in baseball history.

I am a Yankee fan and i live in NY,

and Rivera is good b/c to right hand batters the ball moves in on them when its away and vice versa with lefties crazy shit when you watch it right behind home plate camera view

cut fastball is the answer

Agreed.
It tails away from the right handed hitters inducing many groundballs.
It cuts into a left handed hitter and even if you get a piece of it, you'll break your bat.

Lots of people have cutters, but then again every pitcher has a fastball, but it's not Roger Clemens' or Randy Johnson's fastball either.

However, being a "one pitch" pitcher is the reason he's a closer and not a starter. You're not going to get that same pitch by a big league hitter more than so many times before he figures out a way to hit it.
I think that's a big part of the reason Boston was able to rough him up in last years LCS.....they faced him so many times during the regular season because of the unbalanced schedule that alot of their hitters had him figured out.

:2 cents:

yes yes tiz the answer

http://www.canadiens.biz/images/mariano.jpg
This man is awesome! :thumbsup

...so are you gay?

Ice cold... and one hell of a arm