41-year old righty reliever Mariano Rivera became only the second player to ever get 600 saves last night against the Mariners.  He is going to set the new record for saves in major league history before this year is over as Trevor Hoffman had 601 of them.  Rivera is showing no signs of slowing down.  He has pitched in 59 games (0 starts) for the Yankees this year and he is 1-2 with 41 saves, a 2.05 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP.  Rivera has only given up 46 hits and an amazing 7 walks this year in his first 57 innings while whiffing 55 batters.  Those are eye popping numbers for a 41-year old pitcher with essentially one pitch (a cut fastball).  Rivera has now pitched in 1,037 games (10 starts) in his first 17 years in the majors and he is 75-57 with 600 saves, a 2.22 ERA and a 1.00 WHIP.  2011 is Rivera’s 8th season in which he has had at least 40 saves.  He is a 12-time All-Star in the American League.  Rivera has the 13th lowest ERA in Major League History (2.22) and he is also #3 in WHIP (1.00).  The Yankees have been to the playoffs 15 times in Rivera’s 17 years.  He has pitched in 94 games (0 starts) in the post season for the Yankees and he is 8-1 with 42 saves, a 0.71 ERA and a 0.77 WHIP.  Mariano Rivera is quite simply, the best relief pitcher in Major League History!

Cy Young was a righty starting pitcher who worked from 1890-1911.  Over his 22 year major league career, Young set some records that will never be touched.  He is the majors’ all time leader in games started (815), wins (511), losses (316), complete games (749), innings pitched (7,356) and hits allowed (7,092).  Cy Young won at least 20 games in a season an amazing 15 times and he won more than 30 games in a year five times.  Cy Young pitched in 906 games (815 starts) in his 22 years in the majors and he was 511-316 with 17 saves, a 2.63 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP.  Young was elected into Baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1937.  He is the measure by whom all pitchers are judged as the award for the best pitcher in each league is named after him…..the Cy Young Award.  Forget about the 56-game hitting streak of Joe DiMaggio or Ted Williams’ .406 batting average……no one will EVER touch Young’s all-time record of 511 wins.  To put it into perspective, 44-year old Tim Wakefield is the current leader of active players in wins and he has 194 of them.  34-year old righty Roy Halladay is #2 on the active wins list with 175.

The Mavericks pounded the Lakers in Game #4 122-86 to sweep them out of the second round of the 2010-11 NBA Playoffs.  This likely marks the end of the line as a NBA head coach for 65-year old Phil Jackson.  He has nothing left to prove as a head coach in the NBA as he was inducted into Basketball’s Hall of Fame in 2007.  Jackson finishes his career with a 1,155-485 (70.4%) record during the regular season.  Jackson was also 229-104 (68.8%) during the post-season in his career.  Jackson finishes his NBA career #5 in regular season wins with his 1,155.  He is also #2 all-time in win/loss percentage (70.4%) behind only Tom Thibodeau who has only coached one season in the NBA.  Jackson is also the all-time leader in both playoff wins (229) and win-loss percentage (68.8%) in NBA history.  Jackson also has won 11 NBA Titles and he has been to 13 of them, which are both NBA records.  It’s hard to argue that Jackson isn’t the best coach in NBA history.  But, he has almost always had the best player in the game (Michael Jordan & Kobe Bryant) on his teams.  Jackson wasn’t much of a player during his NBA career.  He played in 807 games in his twelve years with the Knicks & Nets and he averaged 17.6 minutes, 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.  The NBA is going to miss the Zen Master.

Lefty swinging outfielder Andre Ethier has broke a record that Joe Torre held since the 1971 season when he hit in 22 straight games that April.  Torre went on to win the N.L. MVP Award that year for the Cardinals.  He played in 161 games for the Cardinals in 1971 and he was 230 of 634 (.363 avg, .976 OPS) with 97 runs scored, 24 homers, 137 RBIs and 4 stolen bases.  Torre never seems to get much credit for how good of a player he was.  He played 18 years in the majors in which he played in 2,209 games and he was 2,342 of 7,874 (.297 avg, .817 OPS) with 996 runs scored, 252 homers, 1,185 RBIs and 23 stolen bases.  Torre was a N.L. All-Star 9 times in his career and he won 1 Gold Glove.  Torre is best known as the manager of the New York Yankees where he won six A.L. Pennants and 4 World Series.  In 29 years as a manager in the majors, Torre compiled a 2,326-1,997 (53.8%) during the regular season and he was 84-55 (60.4%) during the post-season.  Torre was denied of getting into the Baseball Hall of Fame as a player but he will get in as a manager.  What a career Torre had.

22-year old power forward Kevin Love’s double-double streak ended in Oakland, California last night at 53 games.  Love had 6 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal in the Timberwolves 100-77 loss last night against the Golden State Warriors.  Love has played in 68 games (all starts) this season for the Timberwolves and he averaged 36.3 minutes, 20.7 points, 15.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.  He is also a solid shooter from everywhere on the basketball court as he is hitting 47.2% from the floor, 42.6% from three point range and 85.1% from the free throw line so far this year.  Love has now played in 209 games (127 starts) in his first three years in the NBA and he is averaging 29.8 minutes, 15.1 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.  Love said that he would lead the league in rebounding if he got a full time starting job with the T-Wolves and he’s making good on it so far.  Also, on this website, Kevin Love was projected to be a beast in Fantasy Basketball and I was right about that as he is carrying some of my teams.  Love just fell short of Elvin Hayes all-time record of 55 straight double-doubles in a season.  He did it back in 1973-74 with the Capital Bullets (later called the Washington Bullets).  That season, Hayes played in 81 games in which he averaged 44.5 minutes, 21.4 points, 18.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.1 steals and 3.0 blocked shots per game.  Love is one of the best players in the NBA right now, regardless of position, and it’s scary to think that he might get even better in the future.