The true measure of Rivera's genius. His resolve.

On Saturday in the Joe Nathan make Armando Benitez look clutch post we spoke about the troubles that Joe Nathan has had in his playoff career. If you look at the numbers, it’s quite unbelievable really. It’s like he’s a completely different pitcher. But that’s what pressure does.

You squeeze the ball to tight, you muscle up, you aim…… All these things reduce ball movement, velocity and misplace the ball.

There is a great article up today by Mark Newman of MLB.com today that discusses the problem with getting those last few outs that closers are having. In the first round of playoffs alone there have been 6 blown saves! And these were from closers that were from the teams that are good enough to be in the playoffs.

There was Ryan Franklin's blown save for the Cardinals against the Dodgers, Joe Nathan's blown save for the Twins against Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees, Jonathan Papelbon's blown save for the Red Sox that allowed the Angels to clinch, Phillies reliever Ryan Madson in the seventh inning of Game 3 and the eighth inning of Game 4, and Huston Street's blown save for the Rockies in Philadelphia's clincher on Monday night.

Closing out games is not an easy thing to do. It’s as much mental as it is physical. If you do it, well that’s what you are supposed to do, if you don’t, you are a goat. They should probably have psych class for football field goal kickers and baseball closers on how to deal with failing. Look what did to the promising career of Byung Young Kim, he was never the same. Remember Donny Moore? Talk about blowing a save and having it weigh on your shoulders.

These examples all this point to the unbelievable success that Mariano Rivera has had in the post season. And he’s not perfect either. He’s human. As for the few that got away, they motivate him, they make him better. Rivera still says Dave Roberts was out stealing second in the ninth inning of Game 4, Yankees against the Red Sox in 2004 (the beginning of the end even if nobody knew it at the time.) And he still thinks he should have gotten out of that inning and caught Bill Mueller's game-tying single after Roberts did steal second.

He can recite every pitch and every moment of Game 7 against the Diamondbacks in the World Series of 2001, the bottom of the ninth that was the greatest shock of all with Rivera, Arizona scoring two and finally winning the Series on a bloop single by Luis Gonzalez over Jeter's head. It eats at him; it just makes him work harder.

Maybe that is the true measure of Rivera's genius. His resolve. He remembers the ones that got away with as much clarity as that night in Game 7 of 2003 against the Red Sox when he pitched the last three innings and seemed perfectly willing to pitch all night.

Rivera comes in the game, relaxed, composed and seems to be able to block out and of the mental things that makes the body tense up, panic or take him out of his normal routine. And this on the biggest stage in the world.

We all know that Mariano Rivera is great. We know that he’s an all-time great. But he probably deserves even more accolades than that! There will come a time when Mariano will not be around to close out games anymore, and when that time comes, the legend of Mariano will grow, and grow and grow.

Derek Jeter on Rivera - "You want to know how great he really is? The only time you see people really wanting to talk to him after a game is when he occasionally blows one."

Sometimes you think: If he doesn't give up the home run to Sandy Alomar in Game 4 of the ALDS in 1997 … if he gets out of it against the Diamondbacks somehow … if he doesn't walk Kevin Millar to start the bottom of the ninth in Game 4 in '04 … then maybe he has won seven World Series already with the Yankees.

Rivera might not be the greatest baseball pitcher of all time because the most best starting pitchers all-time had to go through batting orders at least three times and sometimes four to get to where they got to in the record books. But Rivera is better at what he does, closing out games, than any pitcher who ever pitched. There has never been anyone better at getting the last out of a big game.

The moral of the story is that Yankee fans shouldn’t take this stuff for granted. You are watching a once in a life time athlete. Enjoy it while you can. - Keith A. Baker

Keith A. Baker is a sports agent in Stamford, Connecticut. His goal is to offer a unique insight to the world of sports and Major League Baseball in particular. Comments in his columns are for entertainment purposes only and do not reflect the views and opinions of his firm or his clients.

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