Despite a victory against the Yankees in Game 3 of the ALCS yesterday, Angels fans are acting like Mel Gibson did in the film Conspiracy Theory. Today, a group of them are accusing closer Mariano Rivera of throwing a spitball to Erick Aybar during the 10th inning after Phil Hughes had left the winning run on second base with zero outs. The video featured here is supposed to serve as conclusive evidence that Rivera—hailed the greatest reliever of all time—is a disingenuous cheater (or at least he was cheating for one particular batter).
See that? See him look around and then spit on the ball? Oh no! Cutter explained!
Now, in all honesty, these are fairly serious allegations—-I mean, it’s Mariano Rivera—-and, following the outcry in Anaheim, the MLB has actually looked into the matter today, investigating video and still pictures from the supposed incident. Initially, according to Joel Sherman, they had stated that there was no conclusive evidence to affirm that Rivera had actually doctored the ball with his Hall of Fame spittle. However, upon further review of game media, the MLB has concluded that Rivera spit near the ball, not directly on it, as Angel fans would like to believe (the camera angle in the video is deceptive).
Furthermore, bringing logic into the argument, if Mariano Rivera’s cutter was really a spitball in this particular game (or for his entire career), in order to gain a true advantage, Rivera would have had to douse the ball with his saliva repeatedly—throughout the Aybar at-bat as well as subsequent others—which did not occur. Whereas the Girardi bullpen decision was a legitimate controversy, this appears to be of the fabricated variety. Basically, move on folks, there’s nothing to see here. Regardless of its legitimacy, we’ll probably hear Rivera address the issue later today.
Related posts:
When you can’t beat a guy make something up!
(Quote)
[Reply To This Comment]
This is good. Angels are complaining and whining. That means bad karma for them. Go Yanks.
(Quote)
[Reply To This Comment]
The spitter was outlawed because it was an uncontrollable pitch. It darts all over and puts batters and catchers at risk. Mariano’s cutter hits hit spot every time and breaks the same way every time. End of story, no spitter. I don’t think anyone who knows anything about pitching would disagree with me.
(Quote)
[Reply To This Comment]
The other Chris H Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Also the spitter was outlawed because thrown wrong you can end up tearing your elbow up and Mariano has been one of the most consistently on the field pitchers I have ever witnessed.
(Quote)
[Reply To This Comment]
Chris H. Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
How do pitchers even grip a ball that’s covered in saliva? It seems like it would be hard to throw.
(Quote)
[Reply To This Comment]
The other Chris H Reply:
October 20th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
It’s suppose to be coated on so thickly it becomes tacky in the fingers…
(Quote)
[Reply To This Comment]