This might be a reason why Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera is able to throw only one pitch that has unpredictable, yet precise movement. He has mastered the Angels so far in the ALCS but has Major League Baseball gotten a look at how he "warms up" for his appearance on the mound? With a tie game in the bottom of the 10th, the Yankees bring in Rivera. After warming up, he has his back to home plate so the home plate ump can't see. He looks down at the ball, then up to see if the 2nd base ump is watching. He then looks back at the ball and appears to spit on it. And when he tests clean for steroids they say he is not a cheater. Also note that right after FOX realizes what's going on, they quickly cut to Mike Scioscia. The spitball was banned by baseball in the early 1920s. It gave the pitcher an unfair advantage with the "funny" movement that the pitch seemed to make, and was deemed unsafe to batters as the ball was not as visible when marred with foreign substances. [youtube]KihPKUZni8Y[/youtube] you be the judge... mariano was actually one of the very few yanks i liked (i hate the team)...
The commissioner office already cleared the incident. http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/yankees/mlb_no_evidence_rivera_threw_spitter_0tOjVFwIbDTyHq27OseczJ
he didn't spit on the ball, it's just one of those angle issues, If he was a cheater, he's been good at hiding it for 15yrs and from the camera till now so this story is bogus.
