Cutters themselves aren't that unusual. Rivera, however, has a long-armed, full extension that prompted David Cone to dub him Inspector Gadget. ...

"I'm sure you can learn it, but it won't cut like his," Yankee starter Mike Mussina said. Mets closer Billy Wagner said he's watched Rivera's impossibly late-breaking ball so many times and so enviously, he's finally decided, "It's a gift from God." ...

Rivera credits former pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre with helping him control it and Torre said that's what makes knowing what's coming irrelevant. Recalling a conversation he had with Sandy Koufax about Randy Johnson this year, he said Koufax reminded him, "It's not what you throw, it's where you throw it."

"Mo," Torre said, "is a perfect example of that." ...

"Being a closer is not a cool job. No pitcher wants to be a reliever," he said. Fumbling for an explanation, he settled on, "It's a lot of responsibility," even as the words sounded funny from a player so branded by his cool unflappability. ...

Rivera's not necessarily the cerebral craftsman Mussina is, but Guidry stiffened at Kaat's lumping him along with his relieving brethren under the title "throwers."

"Mo pitches," Guidry said sharply. "He's got a great sense of what's around him and what he needs to do."