THE GOOSE IS SILLY WHEN IT COMES TO MARIANO

Rich Gossage is entitled to his own opinion. After all, this is a man that pitched 2 to 3 innings to close games back in the day. We all get that, and no one gets it more than he does. He tells everyone what he did and did it again when people started putting Mariano Rivera on a pedestal after he announced he was going to retire at the end of 2013.  That's right, Goose is very, very loose apparently.

When asked about Mariano Rivera being the greatest of all time, he had a round about way of diminishing what Mariano had accomplished in his career. He said:  "I think that these guys are so dominant in that one-inning role that they've forgotten what we used to do... It takes three guys to do what we used to do.... Believe me, I do not want to take anything away from this guy, this guy is right up there. But had we been used like that, hard telling what [our] statistics would be. They'd be right there. We were dominant in that role for three innings... I believe had Mo been used like us, he might have 350 saves... You just wouldn't have had the numbers. The workload was amazing."  The full story is HERE. By the way, Gossage had 310 saves in his career.

Now look, I get it. But truth be told, the only thing that stinks about this story is that Rich Gossage wasn't born later in life. I mean, he can say what he will about pitching ONLY 1 inning as he says, but it's silly.

Back when Gossage was throwing, it was a different time. These days, they've changed things. Pitchers are treated differently. If he doesn't believe me, he should watch Joe Girardi read the binder when it comes to lefty, righty match ups. It's a different time, plain and simple.  The reality is, there is nothing wrong with what Mariano does, he is truly the greatest.  I mean, during his time, Gossage was one of the best too, no doubt about that.

But with time comes change and the fact that I'm even devoting time to this story is silly. If you break it down, Mariano is the best..EVER. If you look at how he pitches through one inning, with one pitch, Mariano is the best.  If you look at the amount of Saves he has in a career, again, Mariano is the best.

And you know what? When closers were pitching 2 to 3 innings back in the 70's, they were pretty damn special too. I loved watching Rich Gossage close. There was nothing better than watching him throw and his arms and legs were coming at the batter.

I appreciated Dan Quisenberry, Dennis Eckersley, Sparky Lyle... they were awesome! But it's 2013 and when you put it all out there, there is no comparison. Different times, different heroes... And a silly story to boot!

I love you Goose, but you got this one wrong. Plus, it sounds like sour grapes, Bro. We still love you too, but hands down, Mariano is the greatest closer I've ever seen. Case closed.

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