We only just got all the way through The Yankee Years, and amid the brouhaha over how Joe Torre distrusted Brian Cashman and considered A-Rod a big baby, a more unforgivable breach of Yankee decorum has gone unremarked-upon: On page 312, Mike Mussina sees fit to trash Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer of all time and, in our estimation, the single player most responsible for the Yankees’ success since 1996. Rivera, Mussina says, “blew the World Series in ‘01. He lost the Boston series.” Here’s the essential information, as pointed out on the Gotham Acme blog. Career post-season stats: Rivera, 8-1, 0.77 ERA, 34 saves; Mussina, 7-8, 3.42 ERA. Rivera, 4 World Series rings; Mussina, 0 World Series rings. We always considered Mussina a quiet guy who was respectful of his teammates. Now we know he’s just a taciturn jerk.
