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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With the official half-way point in the MLB season upon us, I wanted to take a look at who's stuck out in the first half of the season by selecting who would win each of baseball's major awards if the season were to end today! So here we go:

AMERICAN LEAGUE AWARDS

AL MVP: Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins: Justin Morneau is on pace for a career year, and that's saying something, seeing as he's already won an AL MVP award (2006). One pace for a 40 home run, 135 RBI year, and he's hitting .312 to boot. His teammate, Joe Mauer, could also get some votes, as should Torri Hunter, Mark Teixeira and Evan Longoria.

AL Cy Young: Zack Grienke, Kansas City Royals: Grienke is having the best season out of any AL starter right now, and despite being snubbed for the AL all-star start, he shouldn't miss out on the Cy Young award if he has a second half that's close to matching his first half magic.

Rookie of the Year: Andrew Bailey, Oakland Athletics: Bailey has kind of come out of nowhere and taken reigns of the A's closer position. His 10 saves, 1.92 era and 60 strikeouts lead all major league rookie relievers. Should be a solid closer in Oakland for years to come.

Manager of the Year: Ron Washington, Texas Rangers: The former A's coach took a couple of seasons to get settled in Texas, but he's finally turning that franchise around, as they sit at 48-39, their best record they've had at an all-star break in many years. They're only 1.5 back of the Angels in what should be a tight division race down to the wire.

Comeback P.O.Y.: Aaron Hill, Toronto Blue Jays: After struggling through an injury plagued 2008 season in which he hit just .263 with 2 hr's and 20 RBI in 240 at-bats, he's bounced back and is having a career year. Amongst the AL leaders in home runs (20) and RBI (60) and has had his average right around .300 or better all year.

Rolaids Relief Man: Joe Nathan, Minnesota Twins: Joe Nate just continues to dominate year in and year out. He's aging terrifically, as he's 34 years of age, but quite possibly putting together his best statistical season of his career. I still can't get over the trade that sent him, Liriano and Bonser to the Twins for that POS catcher.

NATIONAL LEAGUE AWARDS

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals: Forget just the mid-season award, I think it's pretty safe to say, unless he gets injured of course, that Pujoles will real in his third career NL MVP Award. The dude has put up numbers (.332 avg, 32 HR, 87 RBI, 73 R, 10 SB) that most stars, not just average players, but most all-stars would take over course of a full season. The best-right handed hitter I've seen on my 25 years on the planet.

NL Cy Young: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants: Dan Haren is equally deserving, but Tim Lincecum has led his team atop the NL Wild Card standings and has earned himself the start for the National League in Tuesday's all-star game. Putting up even better numbers than the ones he won his first Cy Young award with last season. Again though, if Dan Haren's era and WHIP continue to drop, it would be hard to argue against him as well.

Rookie of the Year: Randy Wells, Chicago Cubs: Tommy Hanson and Andrew McCuthen have had nice first-halfs, but Wells has been a solid cog in the Cubbies pitching staff all season long and is sporting an impressive 2.72 era and 1.12 WHIP. He's only been credited with 4 wins do to lack of run support, and he's only had one bad start in 12 outings.

Manager of the Year: Bruce Bochy, San Francisco Giants: Boch has the Giants, a team everyone thought would struggle to make it to .500, atop the NL wild card standings and has led them to the second best record in the league at the break. He's been pushing all the right buttons in order to win ballgames and squeeze runs out of an average-at-best starting lineup.

Comeback P.O.Y.: Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals: After missing most of the last two seasons due to a broken down elbow, Carpenter has returned back to his ace-like ways (7-3, 2.47 era, 0.87 WHIP with a 64:13 strikeout/walk ratio in his 83 innings pitched this year. In fact, there are some that feel he's throwing the ball better now than he did during his last healthy season in 2006.

Rolaids Relief Man: Ryan Franklin, St. Louis Cardinals: There's a reason why the Cards are atop a very deep division in the NL Central. Albert Pujols and Chris Carpenter are doing what they do best, but the Cards have developed themselves an elite closer in Ryan Franklin aka "The Beard", and I think his steadiness has really made a difference in the standings. His 0.79 era and WHIP are by far the best in the league and he's tied for third in the NL in Saves. Heath Bell and K-Rod should also get some recognition.- David Fry

David Fry is an independent sports photographer currently covering Major League Baseball. David will be reporting on observations as he sees them in MLB stadiums throughout the year.