It's unlikely that Mariano Rivera would have joined in with the boo-birds at Yankee Stadium when Robinson Cano came to town last week, but the legendary Yankees closer reveals in his new book that his former teammate isn’t his favorite second baseman in baseball — or even in the American League East.In his new autobiography, “The Closer,” Rivera writes about how much affection he has for his former teammate, but adds, “This guy has so much talent I don’t know where to start... There is no doubt that he is a Hall-of-Fame caliber (player). It’s just a question of whether he finds the drive you need to get there. I don’t think Robby burns to be the best... You don’t see that red-hot passion in him that you see in most elite players.” 
As for his favorite second baseman, Rivera says Red Sox Dustin Pedroia is “at the top of the list” of players he admires, adding: “Nobody plays harder, gives more, wants to win more. He comes at you hard for twenty-seven outs. It’s a special thing to see.”He later writes, “If I have to win one game, I’d have a hard time taking anybody over Dustin Pedroia as my second baseman.”The book, written with Daily News sportswriter Wayne Coffey, will be released Tuesday.Rivera had major doubts about Derek Jeter’s attempt to come back from his ankle injury last spring, saying Jeter never looked quite right to him during spring training no matter how good he insisted he felt.Rivera even talked to Jeter about it one day, saying, “I know how much you want to start the season, but you need to be careful and not rush back... because if you push it too much too soon, it could backfire.” Jeter played only 17 games during Rivera’s farewell season, proving the closer’s intuition to be correct.Rivera adds, “Derek is one of the most driven people I’ve ever known. It’s what makes him great. But I also think in this case his drive just blinded him — and maybe everybody else, too.”The future Hall of Famer chronicles the joy of winning five world championships, and poignantly recounts his blown save in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series in Arizona, the most bitter disappointment of his career.Rivera put on a brave face in the aftermath, but the pain did not go away as Rivera — who is terrified of flying — boarded the Yankee charter with his wife, Clara.“Clara and I sit in my row — 29. I have my Bible and I have Clara,” he writes. “The tears do not stop. They don’t stop for the whole trip across the country.”When the Riveras arrived home in the pre-dawn hours, there was a small trophy outside their master bedroom. It was from Little League, placed there by Mariano’s eldest son, Mariano Jr.Rivera writes that he held the trophy close, “not smiling but feeling something much deeper.”The Yankees returned to the World Series two years later, losing in six games to the Marlins, but Rivera writes that neither the 2003 team nor the one that lost four straight to the Red Sox in the ALCS a year later was close to having the same championship-quality fiber as the Yankees’ previous championship teams.“Those teams of ours that won four World Series in five years would’ve hammered (the Marlins),” Rivera writes. “They would’ve found a way and will their way through as a team.”Rivera, who amassed a major-league record 652 saves and 42 more in the postseason, also reveals some startling details of his impoverished Panamanian childhood, writing that he dropped out of school in ninth grade, was once chased out of a night club by a machete-wielding madman; and was sure he was going to die one day in shark-infested waters after his father’s fishing boat sank in the Gulf of Panama.Rivera says that he was terrified of, and often beaten by, his father, who usually used a belt but on one occasion smacked his son’s head into a pillar — and that it had a profound impact on his own parenting style.Rivera, who delves deeply into his Christian faith and how it changed his life, says that his life was on a wayward track and that only the grace of the Lord and the love of his then-girlfriend, Clara, saved him from going the wrong way.“I truly believe if it weren’t for Clara, I would never have become a New York Yankee,” Rivera writes. Mark Feinsand/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
As for his favorite second baseman, Rivera says Red Sox Dustin Pedroia is “at the top of the list” of players he admires, adding: “Nobody plays harder, gives more, wants to win more. He comes at you hard for twenty-seven outs. It’s a special thing to see.”He later writes, “If I have to win one game, I’d have a hard time taking anybody over Dustin Pedroia as my second baseman.”The book, written with Daily News sportswriter Wayne Coffey, will be released Tuesday.Rivera had major doubts about Derek Jeter’s attempt to come back from his ankle injury last spring, saying Jeter never looked quite right to him during spring training no matter how good he insisted he felt.Rivera even talked to Jeter about it one day, saying, “I know how much you want to start the season, but you need to be careful and not rush back... because if you push it too much too soon, it could backfire.” Jeter played only 17 games during Rivera’s farewell season, proving the closer’s intuition to be correct.Rivera adds, “Derek is one of the most driven people I’ve ever known. It’s what makes him great. But I also think in this case his drive just blinded him — and maybe everybody else, too.”The future Hall of Famer chronicles the joy of winning five world championships, and poignantly recounts his blown save in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series in Arizona, the most bitter disappointment of his career.Rivera put on a brave face in the aftermath, but the pain did not go away as Rivera — who is terrified of flying — boarded the Yankee charter with his wife, Clara.“Clara and I sit in my row — 29. I have my Bible and I have Clara,” he writes. “The tears do not stop. They don’t stop for the whole trip across the country.”When the Riveras arrived home in the pre-dawn hours, there was a small trophy outside their master bedroom. It was from Little League, placed there by Mariano’s eldest son, Mariano Jr.Rivera writes that he held the trophy close, “not smiling but feeling something much deeper.”The Yankees returned to the World Series two years later, losing in six games to the Marlins, but Rivera writes that neither the 2003 team nor the one that lost four straight to the Red Sox in the ALCS a year later was close to having the same championship-quality fiber as the Yankees’ previous championship teams.“Those teams of ours that won four World Series in five years would’ve hammered (the Marlins),” Rivera writes. “They would’ve found a way and will their way through as a team.”Rivera, who amassed a major-league record 652 saves and 42 more in the postseason, also reveals some startling details of his impoverished Panamanian childhood, writing that he dropped out of school in ninth grade, was once chased out of a night club by a machete-wielding madman; and was sure he was going to die one day in shark-infested waters after his father’s fishing boat sank in the Gulf of Panama.Rivera says that he was terrified of, and often beaten by, his father, who usually used a belt but on one occasion smacked his son’s head into a pillar — and that it had a profound impact on his own parenting style.Rivera, who delves deeply into his Christian faith and how it changed his life, says that his life was on a wayward track and that only the grace of the Lord and the love of his then-girlfriend, Clara, saved him from going the wrong way.“I truly believe if it weren’t for Clara, I would never have become a New York Yankee,” Rivera writes. Mark Feinsand/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
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