Yo Joe, how 'bout a start once in a while? Mo Rivera is perfect again this season, with a 0.00 ERA in 10 games.

Props to Oakland’s Dallas Braden tonight for chucking a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays (in case you missed it, since it came on Mother’s Day and all: and nobody showed up in Oakland to watch it anyway (12,228 fans, really? That stadium was 2/3rds empty, for a perfect game?).

Note to A-Rod the A-Hole: Stay off Dallas’ mound yo. Check that, keep stomping on that mound, so the A’s can keep stomping the AL East.

I don’t want to stomp on notsellingjeans’ beat here, so I’ll keep this post on The Cutter, The Closer, and The City of Dreams.

Putting my West Coast Bias aside for a minute: great upcoming piece by EastSidePN’s E:60 this week on New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

While watching a preview tonight on SportsCenter, and smacking the floor with my jaw after seeing his stats – 0.00 ERA this season at the age of 40, 0.74 ERA in the playoffs, 13 runs in 133.3 postseason innings, 39 postseason saves, and recording the final out in four World Series! – I couldn’t help but ask myself the question:

No, not “is Mariano one of the greatest New York Yankees of all-time?” like ESPY asked.

Or is he the greatest reliever in MLB history?

Is Mo the best right-handed pitcher we’ve ever seen?

Not even close. Panama City’s finest was never given an opportunity to be that guy.

But what if he had been used by Joe Torre as a starting pitcher after learning how to throw that disgusting cut fastball in 1997, by accident, in a bullpen session with good ol’ Dodgers catcher Mike Borzello (yeah, so at least he’s been part of something in his MLB career, along with being Torre’s godson I guess)?

What if?

A few overlooked stats about this somehow overlooked/soon to be hall of famer (not sure if only the second player to record 500 saves can go overlooked, but still): Mo made his debut 15 years ago this month, May 23, 1995, to be exact, and went on to start 10 games that season.

Number of starts since? Zip, zilch, zero. Nada. Not a single start for the inventor of the nastiest pitch of our generation. A pitch everyone and their mom (it’s Mother’s Day, pardon the cliché) knows is coming at the end of every ballgame.

Oddly enough, this is a question that isn’t brought up by the mainstream media, not a shocker I guess, or in the blogosphere for that matter. Maybe it was asked a long time ago, before the Internets, but the best thing I could find nowadays was this take by a NYTimes blogger on changing the role of the starting pitcher and making The Closer be The Opener.

Interesting conversation.

I know I’d rather have Mo trot out to the mound for a start than Javier Vazquez, and his 1-3 record and 9.78 ERA in five starts, but that’s just me. Maybe it’s the Left Coast state of mind.

Speaking of the Westside, I’m also looking forward to Straight Outta L.A. on Tuesday, the story of the LA Raiders.

ESPN be getting it done like Dallas Braden this week. If only they could remain close to perfect like Mo after all these years.