Rivera, who earned No. 500 on Sunday night as the Yankees defeated the Mets, did it in the New York spotlight, with his biting cut fastball.
Hoffman was in the relative shadows of San Diego with a changeup as his signature.
But they are more alike than they are different.
"They joke around, they have personalities, but when they get locked in, it's a whole different beast," Brett Tomko, who has sat in the bullpen with both men, told FanHouse.
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That things got weird, awfully weird, at Petco Park on Sunday. The Diamondbacks carried a five-run lead into the ninth inning against San Diego thanks to seven innings of one-run ball by Dan Haren and a scoreless inning of relief by Tony Pena.
Then the wheels really fell off.
Juan Gutierrez and Chad Qualls surrendered five runs in the ninth, the last three of which came on a game-tying home run by light-hitting David Eckstein. Eckstein has 20 career homers in nine professional seasons, and a career slugging average of .359. So if you're keeping score, one of the most punchless players in the majors went deep in the most cavernous park in baseball, and things were only starting to get interesting.
It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. The Closer Report will give you that info. And if that wasn't good enough, we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.
As you'll see, Heath Bell has taken over the top spot on this edition of The Closer Report. A few big-name, top-of-the-charts closers from years past have fallen off quite a bit. How weird is it to see Brad Lidge near the bottom of the closer rankings and Joe Nathan stuck in the middle?
Every Sunday, MLB FanHouse empties out its notebook in Baseball Brunch.
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. – The cleanup hitters in Thursday's game were Preston Wilson and Carl Everett. They have combined to play in more than 2,500 major-league games, hit 391 homers and make more than $80 million.
Wilson and Everett were on opposite sides in the 2003 All-Star Game in Chicago, but this night they were far, far away from U.S. Cellular Field. They were the DHs for the Long Island Ducks and Newark Bears of the Atlantic League, respectively.
And they weren't the only former big-leaguers on the field.
From the Windup is Matt Snyder's extended look at some aspect of America's pastime each Thursday.
With the recent news that Mark DeRosa is on the trade block and the White Sox have possibly landed Jake Peavy, junkies of major league baseball trade rumors got an early glimpse at what promises to be a very interesting July. It's far to0 early to know exactly who will be in the market for what -- or who can afford to take on temporary payroll in this economy -- but it's certainly fun to speculate. Let's do it.
BALTIMORE -- Where they make oversized Styrofoam syringes, I'm really not sure. But several fans were waving them Friday night as Alex Rodriguez, charter member of the ever-swelling Superstar Juicers Club, stepped to the plate for his first real at-bat since confirming he used steroids. The home crowd stood, booed lustily and rooted passionately for a strikeout, which qualifies as a keepsake ballpark thrill in the performance-enhancement era.
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the Roto Rush is your double espresso shot of fantasy baseball advice every weekday.
At least we know Alex Rodriguez will have plenty of help from Yankee Stadium as he makes his way back from hip surgery.
Just ask Johnny Damon, who's suddenly turned into one of the hottest power hitters in baseball after hitting only 17 home runs all of last year. Damon has already knocked seven out this season, including three this month. The Rays joined in on the ball-smashing fun Thursday, launching six homers as a team. So is a trip to Yankee Stadium the same as visiting Arlington now?
Starting Five is our wrapup of the previous day's baseball action, with a quick nod to what is ahead.
You Oughta Know ... That the unthinkable happened to the Dodgers in Thursday.
Having Manny Ramirez suspended? No, that's not unthinkable.
Losing at home to the Nationals? Unthinkable.
The Dodgers went into the game 13-0 at home this year and 21-8 overall, the best record in the majors. The Nationals had the worst record in baseball, 7-18, and had lost their past 10 games at Dodger Stadium.
It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. Each week The Closer Report will give you that information. And if that wasn't good enough we'll rank the closers from top to bottom.
Here's an interesting statistic. Somewhere between 30 percent and 40 percent of the closers who are listed as the the team's official closer will not be in that role by the end of the season. It's the case every year. Whether a closer loses his job due to injury or just plain can't get the job done, you're going to learn that you can find saves on the waiver wire throughout the season. You just have to know where to look.
NEW YORK – Mariano Rivera and Trevor Hoffman got to 500 saves in different ways.
Starting Five
BALTIMORE -- Where they make oversized Styrofoam syringes, I'm really not sure. But several fans were waving them Friday night as 
Poppin' out the box scores and right into your cubicle, the 
Starting Five
It's always nice to know how secure a closer's job is and who's next in line if somebody loses their 9th inning job. Each week 
Back in early February, 
