SI.com's Joe Posnanski has a great feature on Mariano Rivera. Check it out. Thanks to Jack for the tip.

Mo notched another save on Wednesday night in the Bronx. Andy Pettitte and Jarrod Washburn dueled for seven innings with Pettitte being just a little bit better. All the Yankee runs were from the long ball with Damon and Cabrera hitting solo shots and A-Rod hitting a two run shot to put the Yankees ahead at 4-2.

Alfredo Aceves and Phil Coke combined for a scoreless eighth inning and the Sandman entered in the ninth.

Jose Lopez battled and just missed hitting the foul pole in left but eventually grounded out to third for the first out. Ken Griffey, Jr. grounded to second and Franklin Gutierrez grounded to Ransom at third to end the game.

For Rivera it is his 20th save of the season in 21 save opportunities and it is also the 502nd of his career. Trevor Hoffman is the all-time leader at 572 career saves and is still active. Mo's season ERA now stands at 2.76.

MLB.com has video of Mariano Rivera throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before last night's game. He would later throw the real last pitch in the game, as well.

The Yankees and David Wells. Always destined to be together, it seems. John Harper of the Daily News says that the Yankees were eying the then 32 year old Tigers right hander and when Detroit sent back the players that they had in mind, Mariano Rivera's name appeared, according to Gene Michael, the Yankees general manager then.

Joe Klein, Detroit's general manager during that period, told Danny Knobler of CBS Sports that he offered Wells straight up for Rivera. Klein felt that Michael was interested, but wouldn't say yes. Klein made it clear the offer wasn't going to last forever - but he gave the Yankees GM some time. However, Michael says, somewhere around that point, Mo's velocity jumped up in the Minors and he refused to include him in a deal.

Michael says it was in the minors, but Knobler disputes that, saying that Mo was in the Major League rotation when Wells was eventually dealt to the Reds for C.J. Nitkowski, Mark Lewis and Dave Tuttle.

Talks of Wells to the Yankees revived in the next offseason, however, when the Reds were looking to trade the pitcher away. Ben Kabak was River Ave. Blues points to an article in The New York Times on December 27, 1995, authored by Murray Chass.

Chass said that, according to an "official familiar with the Wells talks", George Steinbrenner made a call to Reds general manager Jim Bowden, offering not just Mariano Rivera - but also Jorge Posada. Yikes. However, Wells ended up in Baltimore with the Reds receiving Curtis Goodwin and Trovin Valdez.

The Yankees would finally get David Wells in the offseason following the 1996 season, signing him on Christmas Day. Wells would pitch two full seasons, winning a world title, before being shipped in a package for Roger Clemens. He'd return once more for the 2002 and 2003 seasons, finally leaving the club for good. And, of course, we know what happened with Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada.

Via Ben Nicholson-Smith.

The start of the game was delayed almost an hour by heavy rain and before it began Mariano Rivera was honored for his achievment of 500 career saves by being asked to throw out the ceremonial first pitch. He also threw the last pitch of the night as he earned his 19th save of the season and 501st of his career as the Yankees defeated the Mariners 8-5 in the opener of the series.

The Yankees jumped out to an early 3-1 lead but Joba was somewhat wild and Seattle was able to tie the score at three. A-Rod hit a mammoth home run in the seventh with one on to give the Yankees the lead back at 5-3. However, Brian Bruney was ineffective and gave the lead back as Seattle scored two runs to tie the score at five.

In the bottom of the eighth the Yankees struck for three with a double from Cabrera and a two run single from Jeter to make the score 8-5.

Mo was summoned in the ninth and made quick work of the Mariners. He got Ken Griffey, Jr. to ground to first unassisted for the first out. Mike Sweeney grounded to Jeter in the hole before Franklin Gutierrez struck out swinging to end the game.

Rivera is 1-2 on the season with 19 saves in 20 save opportunities and his season ERA now stands at 2.84.

The Yankees PR Twitter account revealed that Mariano Rivera will be throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before tonight's game.

Via StadiumInsider.

Peter Abraham has some cool audio from Mariano Rivera's session with the press last night after he collected his 500th save. Read on for a more personal note from Abraham about the closer. Very nice.

As an aside, Mr. Rivera was also honored as the co-American League Player of the Week. Congrats.

Mariano Rivera was ESPN's Sunday Conversation (nice timing, ESPN) and, in honor of his 500th save, they also premiered a feature from Tim Kurkjian called "The Great Mariano Rivera." Check them both out below for some Mo related goodness.



As a bonus, check out a recap of last night's game, with comments after the game from the man himself.

MLB.com's Anthony DiComo (twice) and Bryan Hoch as well as Erik Boland at Newsday have reflections from players and Joe Girardi on the career of Mariano Rivera, following his the collection of his 500th save last night. There's some good quotes in there from Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, Trevor Hoffman and others.

In my last post I talked about the dramatic possibility that could happen. Mariano Rivera had a chance to get his 500th save against the crosstown rival Mets in their backyard of Citi Field.

On Sunday night, in front of a national television audience on ESPN, Mo got the job done. The Yankees scored three runs in the first inning with the help of some shoddy fielding by the Mets. However, they had many more chances as the game progressed but Robinson Cano kept hitting into inning ending double plays.

Chien-Ming Wang pitched much better and earned his first win of the season after six straight losses. He got help from Phil Coke and Phil Hughes in the sixth, Hughes also completed the seventh and Brian Bruney started the eighth. Bruney walked two men but was able to get Gary Sheffield on a pop up and he struck out Fernando Martinez for the second out. Girardi then called on Mo for a four out save.

Omir Santos pinch hit and battled Mo tough fouling off three cutters before striking out looking on a back door cutter on the inside corner.

The Yankees ninth was really wild. K-Rod walked a batter and a bloop to short center fell in as the second baseman and shortstop got confused on whose ball it was. K-Rod got two outs but elected to walk Derek Jeter intentionally since Mo was on deck due to a double switch. What a disaster for the hapless Mets as K-Rod ended up walking Mo to force in an insurance run and extend the Yankee lead to 4-2. It was the first RBI of Rivera's career.

In the bottom of the ninth, Rivera got Luis Castillo to ground to second for the first out and then got Jeremy Reed looking for the second out. He only needed one out for the magic 500 and Daniel Murphy fought off a cutter and blooped it over short for a single. However, Alex Cora swung at the first inside cutter and grounded to second to end the game.

For Rivera, it's his 18th save of the season in 19 save opportunities and his ERA now stands at 2.93.