Peter Abraham writes that Mo likes to shag fly balls during batting practice to keep his legs in shape. He robbed A-Rod of a home run yesterday and Abraham spoke with Rivera about the catch. Funny stuff.

Mike Mussina has reinvented himself with changing speeds along with control and command within the strike zone. The 39 year old won his fifth straight decision and Mariano Rivera rebounded from the previous night by pitching a perfect ninth inning.

Mussina pitched 6.1 innings and was relieved by Ohlendorf who got help from Derek Jeter when he grabbed a line drive headed to center and turned it into a double play. Chamberlain struck out the side in the eighth and Mo entered in the ninth.

Rivera faced Carlos Pena to start the inning and looked like Mo would be snakebitten with a bloop single to right center, but with Cano playing short right field he was able to catch the ball in short right center for the first out of the inning. Evan Longoria was overmatched and struck out swinging and Cliff Floyd then grounded to short to end the game.

Rivera is 11 for 11 in save opportunities for the 2008 season and last night's save was the 454th of his career. His record is 0-1 on the season and ERA is down to 0.53.

Mo is finally mortal! Although he didn't get banged around that hard, his command was not as exceptional as usual.

Hideki Matsui tied the game in the ninth with one out as he homered off of Rays closer Troy Percival.

Rivera entered in the tenth and faced Carl Crawford to start the inning. Crawford singled up the middle on the second pitch of the AB, but remained at first as Mo toughened. B.J. Upton struck out swinging for the first out, Carlos Pena fouled out to third and Evan Longoria fouled out to first to end the inning.

The Yankees could not get the lead in the 11th and Mo stayed in for the bottom of the 11th. Cliff Floyd singled sharply to right past Giambi and was replaced by pinch runner Jonny Gomes. Gomes proceeded to steal second when Molina's throw bounced and Jeter could not get the tag down in time. Gabe Gross then grounded a single to right center past Cano and Gomes scored the winning run.

Rivera was tagged with the loss and his season record is now at 0-1. His ERA for the season increased to 0.56.

Mariano Rivera reamained perfect on the season by converting his tenth straight save opportunity as the Yankees defeated the Detroit Tigers, 5-2 on Saturday afternoon at Comerica Park.

Rivera faced Magglio Ordonez to start the inning, and as usual, Ordonez got a hit. Ordonez was 6 for 12 off of Mo before the at bat and he hit the first pitch from Mo up the middle for a single. Miguel Cabrera was facing Rivera for the first time and Mo overmatched him with hard stuff inside. On a 1-2 pitch, Mo sawed the bat off in Cabrera's hands and induced a 6-4-3 double play. Gary Sheffield then grounded to second to end the game.

Rivera is still 0-0 on the season with 10 saves in 10 save opportunities. He has pitched 15 innings and has only allowed six hits and no walks. The save for Rivera was the 453rd of his career. His ERA for 2008 remains at 0.00.

Jack Curry has a feature on Mo and his dominance this season.

From USA TODAY:

Mariano Rivera did it again by pitching a scoreless ninth inning to help Mike Mussina and the Yankees defeat the Cleveland Indians 6-3 on Thursday afternoon at the stadium.

Mo got Jhonny Peralta to ground to short for the first out. Franscisco then hit a fly ball down the right field corner which fell for a double with Abreu playing in right center. Franklin Gutierrez popped to Cano for the second out and Ryan Garko grounded to Betemit at third to end the game.

For Rivera, it's his ninth save of the season in nine save opportunities. He has surrendered no runs and only five hits and no walks in fourteen innings on the 2008 season. His ERA for the season remains, of course, at 0.00.

From Bryan Hoch:

SI.com is doing a feature called "Best Baseball Players by Number". Number 42 was given to Jackie Robinson.

But, SI.com's Bryan Armen Graham feels it should have gone to Mo. He states that if the list was the "most important players by number", then Jackie Robinson would be the obvious choice. But, this is "best players" and he feels that Mo takes the cake:

Going into the ninth inning on Sunday, the Yankees held an 8-2 lead over the Mariners. This would not usually be a situation for which you'd call Mariano. But, with him last having pitched on May 2 and the Yankees having a day off on May 5, I take it that Girardi wanted to get him an inning of work after one day of rest, rather than having 3 days of rest, in order to keep him locked in.

No worries. Mo needed exactly 8 pitches to carve out the Mariners' five, six and seven hitters; Jose Vidro, a pinch hitting Willie Bloomquist and Jeff Clement, respectively. No decision for Rivera, but he has now pitched 13 innings in 12 games, has allowed 4 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks and has struck out 12 hitters. This is good for a 0.00 ERA, 0.31 WHIP and .095 BAA. Not a bad line.