Well, here’s how he’s been doing so far this year (September/October is through 9/16):

It’s terrifying yet also strangely awesome that his rate of giving up line drives is about equal to that of flyballs.

I broke each month down into pie charts by month as well, and since that gets graphically intense I invite you to join me after the jump to check them out.

9.2IP, 12H, 2HR, 3R, 0BB, 13K

11IP, 9H, 3HR, 3R, 1BB, 13K

11IP, 7H, 0HR, 5R, 2BB, 14K

11.2IP, 3H, 0HR, 0R, 2BB, 9K

11.1IP, 9H, 1HR, 1R, 4BB, 12K

59.2IP, 42H, 6HR, 12R, 11BB (1IBB), 64K

So imagine my surprise when the count to Jose Lopez hit 1-2 and some girl a few rows down yelled out “I’m going to start the wave!”

If you are over the age of 8 or so you should never do the wave at a close Major League baseball game. If you are accompanying someone of the proper age to do the wave, you should probably encourage them not to and teach them proper ballpark etiquette. I suggest taking them to a minor league game where anything goes for things like the wave and tossing beach balls around. Basically, if you are not a small child do not do the wave.

Seriously, don’t do it. It’s rude and interferes with people who are actually at the baseball game to watch the baseball game. Yes we actually exist, I know it’s amazing. I’ll give you that there are certain times when it’s not a crime against humanity to do the wave (you can read about all that over here if you’re confused and need guidance), but I promise you that Mariano Rivera closing out a game at Yankee Stadium is never one of those times.

And so, if you try to do the wave and block my view when Mariano is pitching, especially on a two strike count, don’t act surprised/offended/upset when I yell at you to cease blocking my view. Because I am watching the game. Funny how that works.

Mariano ducks out of the way to draw a walk.

Last night, we were blessed once again with an at bat from Saint Mo and it ended even better than his first. He worked a walk with the bases loaded against one of my most hated players, Francisco Rodriguez.

I’m sure he was once again told not to swing the bat, and just like his last appearance he…mostly listened. The one swing came on a 2-2 count to protect the zone (or, try to hit one out if you ask Mariano). The next two pitches were off the plate in classic BB-Rod style and now Mariano has an OBP of .500 for the year! It’ll stay that way unless the Yankees decide to pinch hit him at some point during the year. The Yankees pitchers have looked pretty good at the plate in 2009 even when they haven’t gotten hits, so maybe it’ll happen. You never know.

If you missed the glorious at bat, you can watch it here. It is a beautiful thing and highly recommended viewing.

Mariano also did something else not nearly as cool in this game; he notched his 500th career saves. Saves are a dumb stat, they are in many ways worse than RBI because of the many ways you can record one (see: Mariano’s one out save the other night when the Yankees were not exactly in peril of losing) but accumulating the amount Mariano has is very impressive because they highlight his longevity as a position where so many flame out quickly. I have been watching Mariano destroy batters since I was 15 in 1996 when he was first converted to relief and it has been an absolutely wonderful experience. I understand that had he been able to be an average starting pitcher we would never have seen this, but it is amazing to see a relief pitcher be so consistently excellent for as long as Mariano has.

And, to be honest, we’re all spoiled for it. The cries to keep Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes in the bullpen are because for the last decade and change we’ve watched Mariano come out and get the job done. No other team has had this luxury. The idea of a closer is overrated, for sure, but even when Mariano struggles we all feel that he’ll get it done. It’s not like watching Kevin Gregg or George Sherrill when you never know which version you’ll get on a night.

So thank you, Mariano Rivera, and congratulations on hitting your milestone. I am very grateful to have you around.

He took a great cut but unfortunately his liner went straight to a fielder. But still, I got what I asked for and the world got a great Mariano quote out of it:

My pitching coach told me not to swing … But I had to take a swing. I apologize to my manager and pitching coach.

You can watch it on MLB.com, and below are the of screengrabs I took of the unfolding event. There are a lot, so make sure you follow along after the jump.

Michael Kay is crying somewhere, look at Mariano daring to have fun. Fun in baseball is Anti-Yankees.

Mike Mussina’s Golden Year – The cranky old man started out as he had pitched pretty much the whole year in 2007 and lots of people wanted him out. I admit, I was one of these people. He was trying to pitch the way he did when he threw his fastball considerably faster. Then, apparently at the urging of Kevin Eiland, he went and reinvented himself and what happened was incredibly fabulous. His four-seamer still borders 90 but Moose all but abandoned it to throw a two seamer that had great movement and his wide variety of secondary pitches. He pitched 200 innings, won 20 games, stayed healthy the whole year and walked virtually no one all year (1.39BB/9, 4.84K/BB). While it’s unlikely he’d post an ERA+ of 128 in 2009, it’s clear that if Mussina comes back he’ll likely be above-average and average at worst. It was a surprising and awesome resurgence from a great pitcher and really the best thing about the season. In early August, the Hardball Times published an article about “The Mussina Renassance” that is worth reading if you want a more in-depth look at his year.

Where Did This Bullpen Come From? – Brian Bruney showed up to Spring Training half the man he used to be with (at least) twice the control over his pitches, Edwar Ramirez made himself useful with the addition a cutter, Jose Veras was good most of the time (sort of) and Kyle Farnsworth put in a mostly good 3/4 of a season with the team. The Yankees bullpen ERA went from 22nd in MLB in 2007 (4.35) to 7th in 2008 (3.78). That is what you call a huge improvement, and even Damaso Marte could not completely screw things up. The weak point was that they ranked in the bottom third of the league in homeruns surrendered (and a lot of that is Edwar, who while useful gets hit very hard when he is hit at all), however they came in fourth in SLG overall. It was really great to see Bruney, who has always had killer stuff, find command hopefully it wasn’t a fluke. David Robertson hit some bumps but he is very young and will hopefully find his stride next year, some guy named Mark Melancon will in all likelihood be joining the team as well.

Saint Mariano Rivera – The season Mariano had was really amazing, and if some bespectacled blowhard hadn’t set a superfluous record, it would be getting a lot more attention. Here’s the total line for the season:

6-5, 70.7IP, 41H, 11R, 11ER, 4HR, 6BB, 77K, 1.40ERA, .665WHIP

Just look at that. Six walks all season. Six. That is ridiculous and gives him a K/BB of 12.83. The only season from a relief pitcher that outshines that in recent history in terms of K/BB and WHIP is Dennis Eckersley’s 1990 (which was better than Mariano’s 2008). Funnily enough, the season Eckersley posted was overshadowed by Bobby Thighpen’s record setting saves year.

Called strike 3 for Mariano Rivera.

August 1st – 1IP, 2H, 1R, 1BB, 1K

July 19th – 1IP, 2H, 1R, 0BB, 3K

July 9th – 2IP, 0H, 0R, 1BB, 5K

July 6th – 2IP, 1H, 0R, 0BB, 2K

July 1st – 1IP, 3H, 1R, 0BB, 0K

June 9th – 1IP, 1H, 1R, 0BB, 2K, 1HR

June 7th – 1IP, 1H, 1R, 0BB, 1K, 1HR

May 29th – 2IP, 1H, 0R, 1BB, 3K

May 22nd – 1IP, 0H, 0R, 0BB, 1K

May 13th – 1IP, 3H, 1R, 0BB, 1K

Total (Tied Games) – 13IP, 12H, 6R, 3BB, 19K, 2HR

Total (All Appearances) – 48.1IP, 30H, 8R, 5BB, 58K, 3HR

I don’t know if Mariano is approaching these situations differently, or what is going on here (I don’t think he ever goes into a game thinking a particular situation is more relaxed than any other and he has put in a few awesome tied game appearances this year) but it’s a strange phenemenom and he doesn’t have to pitch in the 9th inning just because it’s a tied game and he’s Mariano Rivera.

Joe Girardi has been excellent with the bullpen this year, but he’s very stuck on this much like he puts Andy back out to pitch when he’s at ~100 pitches and has had nothing all day. It’s the two things about him I’ve found very strange.

It’s very easy to second guess when things are said and done, but for example last night a better approach would probably have been to put Jose Veras in against the bottom of the order that Damaso Marte faced with Marte and perhaps Mariano warming up. Marte is a very good pitcher, and both Mark Teixeira and Vladimir Guerrero have slightly worse splits against left-handed pitchers.