The weirdest controversy/non-controversy of this ALCS was quickly put to bed by MLB, which - after an investigation that might have taken, what, a minute? - officials declared that Mariano Rivera was innocent of throwing a spit ball.
Which, as most baseball fans know, isn't accomplished with spit.
Far as we know, spitting on a ball would only make it wet. And a wet ball only makes it harder to throw (see Game 1, rain). If you doctor it, put Vaseline on it, scrape it with sandpaper - that's another story.
Rivera throws an amazing cut fastball, which he cuts by throwing it with a snap off his long middle finger. Case closed.
What they really need to investigate is where certain Yankee bats disappeared to in this ALCS: Teixeira is 1-for-13, Swisher is 2-for-10, with two key runners left in scoring position, and if it weren't for a lefty going today, Melky Cabrera might have been benched for Brett Gardner today.
Enough of this. I thought it was funny at first, but it's getting stupid. Spitters go all over the place. Mariano is a control artist. Not only does he hit his spots, his ball moves exactly the same way every time. That's the opposite of a spitter. In fact, he's probably the least likely pitcher in all of baseball to throw a spitter.
Posted by: Rob A from BBD | October 20, 2009 at 05:51 PM
it was really just a spit
Posted by: Geneza Pharmaceuticals | March 15, 2011 at 11:22 AM