Smells Like Yankee Spirit

This smells a bit funky.

New York Yankees super closer Mariano Rivera, battling his way back from a torn ligament in his right knee, tossed his first pitches from a mound recently while, get this, filming a commercial for his new fragrance.

Did that process? While filming a commercial for cologne!

Rivera reportedly threw 25 pitches from the mound, all knuckleballs (ok, I made that up) while filming the spot for a product that is part of the Yankees official fragrance collection.

Check out the black and white video below and see the all-time saves leader toss a slow motion pitch on a snow-covered field.

Why was their snow? Just curious.

One a side note: It seems something funky happens when the bat hits the ball, but I can't figure it out. It looks a little weird.

Oh yeah, I got. It's rare a bat hits a ball thrown by Mariano Rivera.

(That's just dumb.)

Offering Sandman a Paycut? Sleep with One Eye Open

Wow, the Yankees really are serious about the "budget" thing, aren't they?

Bob Klapisch at NorthJersey.com is reporting today the team is preparing to offer Mariano Rivera – you know, the best closer ever – a paycut.

Klapisch writes:

"Team officials are preparing their first offer to Rivera, fully aware he won’t be thrilled. It calls for a pay cut from the $15 million Rivera earned last season, although it remains to be seen just how far down the ladder the Yankees will ask him to go."

Rivera, the most consistently dominant closer we've ever seen, turns 43 this month and will be coming back in the spring following a long layoff resulting from a knee injury that cost the reliever the majority of the 2012 season.