Yankee Great Mariano Rivera Says He's Lovin' Pudge

Now we're not saying that Mariano professed undying eternal love for the Yank's newly signed All-Star catcher Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, but he did say that he thinks he's great, loves that the team signed him, and implied he feels the Yanks are in a real good place to make a playoff run.

Mariano, whose taken on much more of a mentoring role with the young pitchers in recent years, was quick to deflect attention away him by talking about who he thinks are some of the best young relief arms in the game right now - Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels, Joaquín Benoit of Texas & Boston's Jonathan Papelbon. He said more, so check out then video after the jump...