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Fifteen years later, the vision of a spooked Mariano Rivera is still embedded in my cranium. One week into the 1997 season, Rivera surrendered a 464-foot homer to Mark McGwire and blew his second save in four chances. Rivera was the new closer for the Yankees, but he was failing in the ninth inning.

As Rivera fielded questions about letting a 1-0 lead disappear at Yankee Stadium, his voice cracked. He searched for the proper words, but he was really searching for the right answers, too. The more Rivera spoke, the more obvious it became that he was a bewildered soul. He was the closer who wasn’t closing.

“I think I need something to get me going,” Rivera said at the time. “I think mentally to get me going I have to try to think like last year. Just think it’s

“It ain’t over ‘til it’s over”…

There is a reason that Mariano Rivera has been my favorite Yankee for a very long time.  I know that Derek Jeter is a quality guy and a favorite of many, but for me, Mariano Rivera has always been the premier player in my opinion.  It doesn’t mean that I feel Jeter’s not a great player…he is.  He is most likely a first ballot Hall of Famer and will go down as the greatest shortstop in Yankees history (with no disrespect to Phil Rizzuto).  But Rivera has always handled himself with dignity and class, and he’s always been accountable when things have gone wrong.  He has never disrespected another player or team, nor has he placed blame anywhere but with himself.  He

The fallout of Mariano Rivera's torn ACL won't be fading anytime soon. Mike Francesa opened Friday's broadcast paying homage to Rivera's impact on New York, baseball and all of sports.

"If you wanted to end any argument, all you had to do was bring up Mariano Rivera, because there is no argument," Francesa said. "There's been no argument about who who the best .. who carries himself with more grace and more dignity and more class than he has."

Bernie Williams, Rivera's teammate from 1995 to 2006, later joined the show. The scheduling was a mere coincidence.

"He was probably for years the best center fielder we had on the team," Williams said with a laugh. "It was incredible to go out there and see him in batting practice chasing fly balls. That's the way he chose to condition himself.

A pall remains over Yankees Universe with the shocking injury to Mariano Rivera Thursday night. Participating in his normal pregame routine of shagging fly balls during batting practice, Rivera stumbled on the warning track and suffered what was eventually diagnosed as a torn ACL of the right knee.

“I thought it wasn't that bad, but it's torn," a somber Rivera said after a 4-3 Yankees loss to the Royals obviously rendered secondary.  “Have to fix it.”

Rivera being Rivera, he said he will attempt to come back before the end of the season, but given the timetable it takes to rehab an injury of this extent, it’s very unlikely. Also in question is whether will put aside any thought of retirement, something he’s hinted about but never definitively stated.

Spotting Mariano Rivera during batting practice was never a chore. A Yankee hitter would blast a shot into the outfield gaps and a blur would bolt across the grass to grab it. That blur was Rivera, who shagged fly balls as part of his pregame routine. It was easy to watch Rivera glide around the outfield.

On a sobering Thursday in Kansas City, it wasn’t easy to watch Rivera in the outfield. It was awful. Awful to watch Rivera land awkwardly after leaping for a ball near the left field warning track, awful to see his face plastered with pain and awful to see him grabbing his damaged right knee. Rivera, the mightiest of closers, looked helpless.

A few hours later, a somber Rivera revealed that he had torn the ACL and meniscus in his knee, a devastating injury. As difficult as it was to

Chavez Ravine to the Bronx reminds me of Tommy John for some reason…

Welcome to New York, Hiro!  It was a terrific debut at Yankee Stadium for #2 starter Hiroki Kuroda, as he shut down the Los Angeles Angels, 5-0 in the team’s 2012 home opener.  The Angels, historically, play the Yankees very well in New York, so Kuroda’s performance was significantly more impressive than if it had come against a team like the Minnesota Twins.  Obviously, the former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher is not going to pitch like this every time out, but I do feel more confident in the #2 slot in the rotation than I did when it was held by A.J. Burnett. 

The game also marked the 630^th home run by Alex Rodriguez, which tied him with his former teammate, Ken Griffey, Jr. 

Chavez Ravine to the Bronx reminds me of Tommy John for some reason…

Welcome to New York, Hiro!  It was a terrific debut at Yankee Stadium for #2 starter Hiroki Kuroda, as he shut down the Los Angeles Angels, 5-0 in the team’s 2012 home opener.  The Angels, historically, play the Yankees very well in New York, so Kuroda’s performance was significantly more impressive than if it had come against a team like the Minnesota Twins.  Obviously, the former Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher is not going to pitch like this every time out, but I do feel more confident in the #2 slot in the rotation than I did when it was held by A.J. Burnett. 

The game also marked the 630^th home run by Alex Rodriguez, which tied him with his former teammate, Ken Griffey, Jr. 

Mariano Rivera and Derek Jeter hit the biggest milestones of their careers in 2011, but after 17-plus years in the Bigs for both men, it’s understandable if you expect every one of their latest on-field accomplishments to be landmark ones.

Tuesday night, at least, that thought rang true, as both The Captain and The Sandman officially etched their names at the top of another record book.

In taking Baltimore starter Wei-Yin Chen deep to start Tuesday’s game, Jeter smashed his 25^th career leadoff home run, pulling him one ahead of Rickey Henderson for the most in Yankees franchise history (Rickey hit 24 leadoff bombs as a Bomber from 1985-89).

Four-plus hours later, when Mariano Rivera notched his first save of 2012, he not only extended his MLB record to 604, but he also gave

For away games, I prefer to see a Yankees pitcher on the mound for the last out…

Finally, the first win of the year has arrived.  It was a bit delayed in coming, but alas, the victory came with the Yankees’ first game away from Tropicana Field.  Hopefully, the Tampa Bay Rays’ home won’t become a house of horrors for the Yankees this season but it was clear for the first three games of the year that the Rays were the better team.

Still, despite the Yankees’ 0-3 record as they departed Florida (the same mark as the Boston Red Sox at the time of their departure from Detroit), I never felt the sense of doom and despair that usually accompanies losses.  Sometimes, for whatever reason, the momentum of a series goes with one team.  Sure, you