축 ! 올 해의 최우수 구원왕상 수상 ! 마리아노 리베라 !

Rivera named DHL Delivery Man of Year
Award recognizes most outstanding relief pitcher of season


매리아노 리베라가 팬들이 선정한 올 해의 DHL's Delivery Man...

(쉽게 말 해 팬들이 선정한) "올 해의 The Best Closer" 수상자로 
2년 연속 영광의 주인공이 되었다.

그의 화려한 연도별 성적중에서도 Career High였던 지난 해에 비해
올 해의 성적 또한 그리 떨어졌다곤 생각하지 않는다.

다만... 정규 시즌 도중 겪었던 두 차례의 크고 작은 부상과 1년
내내 양키스의 경기 흐름이 세이브 상황과는 무관했던 경우가
대부분이었던 관계로 올 해는 다른 해에 비해 세이브 기회 자체가
너무나 없어서... 총 37번 기회에 34세이브...

방어율(1.80), 블론 세이브수(딱 3차례... 그 중 1경기는 심판의
결정적 오심 2번과 삑사리 안타 2개로 역전허용, 또 1경기는 포수의
악송구로 동점허용, 실질적 블론 세이브 경기 딱 1차례... ), 볼넷
허용수(75이닝 투구에 고의사구 2개 제외하고 딱 9개), 피홈런
(딱 3개), 피 OPS(0.552) 등 진정한 실력을 평가할 수 있는 수치
에선 여전히 매우 빼어났지만 유난히도 올 해들어 특급성적들이
속출하며 타팀 몇몇 클로저들(보스턴의 파펠본, 미네소타의 네이선
등등... )에 비해 기록면에서 조금 밀린 느낌이 있었기에...

기대를 하지 않았던 수상이라... 기쁨이 더 큰 것 같다.

Rivera is DHL Delivery Man of the Year Second consecutive year Yankees closer takes home honor

NEW YORK -- At the current pace, the DHL Delivery Man of the
Year Award may eventually be renamed after Mariano Rivera.

That's because the Yankees closer picked up the honor for the second time in the award's two-year history, beating out nine of
the best relievers in baseball.

The Delivery Man of the Year Award is officially sanctioned by
Major League Baseball, recognizing the most outstanding relief
pitcher of the season as voted on by the fans. From Sept. 25
through Oct. 9, fans cast nearly 90,000 votes for the award on
MLB.com.

Rivera, who garnered 18,559 votes, helped the Yankees win
their ninth consecutive American League East Division title by
saving 34 games in 37 opportunities. He finished the year with a
1.80 ERA, striking out 55 batters and allowing 61 hits over 75
innings pitched.

In recognition of this honor, DHL will donate $15,000 in Rivera's
name to the Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) Program, an
MLB youth-outreach initiative designed to increase participation
and interest in baseball, encourage academic participation and
achievement and promote greater inclusion of minorities into the
mainstream of the game of baseball.

The eight-time All-Star also earned the save in the American
League's 3-2 win in the 77th All-Star Game. The save was
Rivera's third in the Midsummer Classic, tying him with Dennis
Eckersley for the most in Major League history.

Rivera posted solid numbers both on the road and at Yankee
Stadium, where he converted all 20 of his save chances with a
minuscule 1.51 ERA in 32 games. In 31 games away from the
Bronx, Rivera struck out 31 batters while walking just four.

If there were any question as to how important Rivera is to the
Yankees, it was answered during the first three weeks of
September, when Rivera sat out with a mild muscle strain in his
right forearm. The Yankees mixed and matched out of the bull-
pen, using Kyle Farnsworth as the primary closer -- and
causing many stressful moments for manager Joe Torre.

"I think we all take 'Mo' for granted," Torre said. "When he's
not available to you, if we didn't have the sizeable lead we
had, there would have been a lot more uncomfortable nights in
that dugout."

This season, Rivera became just the fourth reliever in history to
compile 400 saves, reaching the milestone on July 16 against
the White Sox. Rivera is the only one of the four 400 save
members (Trevor Hoffman, Lee Smith and John Franco are the
others) to record all of his saves with one franchise.

"Personally, I think it's a great number for a reliever," Rivera
said. "I never thought I would be talking about getting close to
400 saves, especially with one team. It's amazing. Without my
teammates, I couldn't have accomplished anything."

Rivera's 413 career saves are the most ever in the AL, ranking
him fourth on the all-time list. He also holds the records for most
postseason saves(34) and appearances(73), posting a minus-
cule 0.80 ERA in the playoffs over his career.

"Mo has done things that nobody else in the history of the game
has done," said Derek Jeter. "We wouldn't have the success
we've had without him. Only a few teams in history have had
the luxury of having someone they can count on every single
day. He's been pretty much automatic."

Rivera beat out San Diego's Hoffman, Chicago's Bobby Jenks,
Minnesota's Joe Nathan, Boston's Jonathan Papelbon, the
Angels' Francisco Rodriguez, Toronto's B.J. Ryan, the Mets'
Billy Wagner, Seattle's J.J. Putz and Detroit's Joel Zumaya for
the award.

To create the ballot, an initial list of 15 relievers was compiled
by the editorial board of MLB.com. The 10 finalists were chosen
from this list of nominees by a special "yellow-ribbon" panel
consisting of newly inducted Hall of Fame pitcher Bruce Sutter;
former manager/player Lou Piniella, Mike Bauman, national
columnist for MLB.com; Jerome Holtzman, the official MLB his-
torian and a member of the writer's wing of the Hall of Fame;
and Bob Watson, MLB's vice president, on-field operations.

Throughout the season, the panel also selected the monthly
Delivery Man of the Month Award, which went to Papelbon
(April), Jason Isringhausen (May), Jenks (June), Nathan
(July), Rodriguez (August) and Hoffman (September).


Rivera named DHL Delivery Man of the Year for 2nd
straight season

Mariano Rivera was named the DHL Delivery Man of the Year
for the second straight season. The award is awarded via fan
vote to the top relief pitcher of the season. Rivera beat out such
great closers at Joe Nathan, Francisco Rodriguez, Trevor Hoff-
man and Jonathan Papelbon. Congrats to Mo !