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Mariano Rivera has been very good for a very long time
Kevin Kennedy offered an interesting anecdote Monday on his daily Sirius XM baseball show regarding being in the opposing dugout as the Red Sox' manager one day early in Mariano Rivera's career.
(Derek Jeter makes a guest appearance in it.)
Click below for that, via Sirius XM.Kennedy: Ill never forget this as long as I live; its a true story: Were in New York, the old Yankee Stadium, Rivera comes in and he just blows it by Mo Vaughn, [Jose] Canseco, Reggie Jefferson, whoever. He went through us in the seventh and eighth inning like he was facing little leaguers. And youre talking about the [1995 AL] MVP [in Vaughn].
"Ill never forget after the eighth inning, I think he struck out Mo, and I saw Derek [Jeter] cover his glove over his mouth and Rivera happened to get the ball and look at him, and Derek just kind of shook his head and laughed. Now, he covered his mouth out of respect because he wasnt laughing at the Red Sox. He was laughing like, I cant believe how good this guy is, how dominant this guy is. Im glad Im not facing him.
"It was a respectful thing. I knew what Derek was doing. It wasnt about, Oh, weve got you guys. It wasnt about that. Ill never forget that, watching that from the visiting dugout, and Im thinking the same thing on the bench.
"Now, all these years later, did I know Rivera would have 500 saves and be able to do this for, you know, 15 years in a row? No, but I did know there was something special we were watching that year in 96.














