Friday, October 30, 2009
At the Stadium October 29, World Series game 2
- World Series Game 2. The 39 pitch night. Mo enters in the 8th.
- Matt Stairs, Rivera, Posada. photos from top: reuters, getty, ap
- above 2 getty. Final score 3-1.
Labels: Rivera 39 pitches, World Series game 2
Monday, October 26, 2009
At the Stadium October 25, ALCS game 6
- ALCS ends with Mariano, Gary Matthews Jr, and Posada. reuters
- 2 innings pitched by Mo. Above Arod and Mo. 1 & 3 reuters, middle ap
- Final score 5-2.
- Angels dugout, 9th inning ALCS game 6, 10/25/09, getty
Sunday, October 25, 2009
At the Stadium, ALCS game 6 rainout
Friday, October 23, 2009
Mariano Rivera best closer of all time--Howard Bryant
- "Of all the positions in all of professional team sports,
- there is no greater gap than the best closer of all time
- to the second-best.
- He is that good....
- his two-thirds of an inning in the eighth of Game 5
- underscored his greatness as a pitcher.
- Mariano Rivera proved yet again the breadth of the gap between him
- and every other closer."...
....................
Labels: Mariano Rivera best closer of all time--Howard Bryant
In Anaheim October 22, ALCS game 5
NY Daily News, bottom 3 getty. Final 7-6 Angels.
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
In Anaheim October 20th, ALCS game 4
- Mike Lupica: "Before the game Tuesday, he (CC Sabathia) was in the lounge in the visitors clubhouse, eating Doritos - of course -
- and watching a replay of Game 7 of the 2003 American League Championship Series, Yankees against the Red Sox,
the Aaron Boone game, the last time the Yankees played themselves into the World Series.
- Mo Rivera was with him.
- "How many innings did you pitch in that game?" Sabathia said.
He knew and Rivera knew and the Yankees knew Sabathia would be expected to pitch more than three innings last night. And he did. He sure did. The Yankees would give him a lot more stick than he needed in the baseball home of those annoying thundersticks. ...Try to remember the last time you trusted a Yankee ace starter such as this at this time of year.
- "He was tremendous," Rivera said when it was over, 10-1 for the Yankees."...
Rivera on practice day preceding ALCS game 5, 10/21/09, ap
Labels: Game 7 2003 ALCS playing in Yankee clubhouse before Game 4 2009 ALCS
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
In Anaheim October 19, ALCS game 3
- Adam Sandler, Jack Nicholson, ALCS game 3, getty
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Mo goes the distance in regular and postseason- NY Post
- "There's no tomorrow," he said.
- Rivera continued his career mastery --
in last night's incredible ALCS Game 2 victory for the Yankees. In their 4-3 13-inning win, Rivera logged 2 1/3scoreless innings, going beyond two innings for the first time
- since he went three innings on May 30, 2006 against the Tigers.
Last night, Rivera was summoned in the eighth with men on first and second and two outs and Erick Aybar at the plate. The legendary closer, who had a feeling he'd be called on face Aybar if the situation presented itself, proceeded to retire the Angels shortstop on a groundout to second.
- Rivera then had a perfect ninth -- striking out two -- and allowed a leadoff single to Vladimir Guerrero in the 10th before going 1-2-3 after that. His career LCS ERA is now a miniscule 0.86 -- the lowest ever."
by Mark Hale, NY Post, 10/18/09, "Mariano Pitches Long and Strong" photo NY Post, 10/18/09
Labels: Mariano goes the distance in regular and postseason-Hale
At the Stadium October 17, ALCS game two, 13 innings, 4-3 Yankees
- the Jeff Mathis 10th inning bunt attempt, Arod and Mariano both trying to catch it, finally Mo does. 1 and 2 getty
- Mo enters in the 8th with 2 runners on, getty. Final in 13 innings, 4-3 Yankees.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
At the Stadium October 16, ALCS game 1
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Rivera's post season stats, MLB.com
YEAR | W-L | ERA | G | SV | IP | H | SO |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 1-0 | 0.00 | 3 | 0 | 5.1 | 3 | 8 |
1996 | 1-0 | 0.63 | 8 | 0 | 14.1 | 10 | 10 |
1997 | 0-0 | 4.50 | 2 | 1 | 2.0 | 2 | 1 |
1998 | 0-0 | 0.00 | 10 | 6 | 13.1 | 6 | 11 |
1999 | 2-0 | 0.00 | 8 | 6 | 12.1 | 9 | 9 |
2000 | 0-0 | 1.72 | 10 | 6 | 15.2 | 10 | 10 |
2001 | 2-1 | 1.13 | 11 | 5 | 16.0 | 12 | 14 |
2002 | 0-0 | 0.00 | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
2003 | 1-0 | 0.56 | 8 | 5 | 16.0 | 7 | 14 |
2004 | 1-0 | 0.71 | 9 | 2 | 12.2 | 8 | 8 |
2005 | 0-0 | 3.00 | 2 | 2 | 3.0 | 1 | 2 |
2006 | 0-0 | 0.00 | 1 | 0 | 1.0 | 1 | 0 |
2007 | 0-0 | 0.00 | 3 | 0 | 4.2 | 2 | 6 |
2009 | 0-0 | 0.00 | 3 | 1 | 3.2 | 4 | 7 |
Total | 8-1 | 0.74 | 79 | 35 | 121.0 | 76 | 100 |
Monday, October 12, 2009
Joe Mauer broken bat v Rivera, ALDS game 3, 8th inning, 10/11/09
Sunday, October 11, 2009
At the Metrodome October 11, ALDS game 3, Rivera's 53rd multi inning post season appearance
top photo Star-Ledger, next reuters.
Jeff Passan: "While Games 1 and 2 were won by nearly $250 million in mercenary arms – CC Sabathia(notes) and A.J. Burnett’s(notes) – Pettitte carved up the Twins in Game 3. And Posada hit the go-ahead home run in the seventh inning. And Jeter made a brilliant defensive play the next inning, catching Twins runner Nick Punto(notes) taking too wide a turn around third base, relaying the ball to Posada and watching him gun down Punto at third.
- And Rivera finished off the eighth inning and pitched the ninth, the
- more than three outs.
- Such is the legacy of the survivors. Pettitte’s victory tied him for first all-time with 15 playoff wins." ...
- After all these years, the four survivors are still alive and kicking – and hitting and pitching. Now, finally, they’ve got a worthy fifth wheel (Alex Rodriguez) along for the ride."
Pettitte photo by ap. Reference to Dynasty by Ryan Fagan in his article on SportingNews.com, 10/11/09, "Like Old Times: Yanks Old Guard Pivotal in Win"
-----------------------------------------
Update: Rivera post season multi-inning apps. now stand at 57 out of 96 appearances:
Jeff Passan noted the 53 mark after ALDS game 3 in 2009.
All in 2009: ALCS game 2, ALCS game 6, World Series game 2, World Series game 6.
Labels: Mariano Rivera's 53rd multi inning post season appearance 10/11/09
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
At the Stadium October 7, ALDS game 1
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Mo best 'regular season' closer too-Lupica
"At the beginning of another October for the Yankees here is Derek Jeter talking about the great Mariano Rivera. In another time in New York, it would have been Willis Reed talking about Clyde Frazier:
"People like to say Mo's always the same, that he never changes. And they're right. But here's something else that doesn't ever seem to change, especially the longer he goes.
- He struggles in one or two games early in the season, and people start saying he's done. Then he pitches the way he pitched this season and he's back to being as great as ever.
"You want to know how great he really is?
- is when he occasionally blows one."
October again for the Yankees. That means it is Rivera's time. And maybe because the Yankees will have to go all the way to November if they are going to win what would be the fifth World Series Jeter and Rivera have won together - and because this is the November when Mo Rivera will turn 40 - people are talking to him and about him for more than the occasional blown save now.
- In so many ways, all of them good, it is as if we are seeing Rivera for the first time all over again....
He has done what he has done, at such an amazingly high level for such an amazingly long time (at least for a power closer), with such a cold-blooded and ruthless efficiency, that any kind of failure, even in a meaningless regular-season game - a walk-off home run from Ichiro a few weeks ago - is still a shock to the system of the Yankees, and their fans. It will be that way with any playoff failure from Rivera, if there even is one this time, if anybody manages to lay a glove on him.
- But it is as if this season, especially the latter stages of it, has demanded that we take a step back and taken a closer look at him,
- made us realize once again that genius like this in sports is never routine,
- that there has never been a pitcher like this in the history of the New York Yankees
- the way there has never been another Yankee hitter like Babe Ruth.
- (it is worth remembering that before he became the greatest closer in baseball history, he was the greatest set-up man).
- He is the most dominant ninth inning in regular season history,
- the most dominant ninth inning in postseason history,
- He has even closed a bunch of All-Star Games.
And is still here. If this goes the way it is supposed to for the 2009 Yankees, the ball is in his hands for the next Yankee World Series the first week of November, as the Yankees finally win No. 27, do it across the street this time....
- There were other home run hitters after Ruth. There have been a number of 300-game winners among starting pitchers. But even though Trevor Hoffman still has more career saves than Rivera, no one who has watched Rivera on this kind of stage, for this long, would say that Hoffman is a better closer than Mo Rivera.
Put it another way:
- If it were one game for everything,
- which one would you choose?
"Think about what it will be like when he's gone," former Yankee manager Buck Showalter said on Friday.
- Showalter was the Yankee manager before anybody knew Rivera's name, when he was a skinny kid coming back from major arm surgery, throwing on back fields in spring training with Whitey Ford and Ron Guidry. This was back when everybody around the Yankees was hoping the kid would be worth the wait.
"You look around baseball," Showalter said, "and everybody has closer issues eventually. Everybody except the Yankees. Closers come and go. Except Mo never goes anywhere."
- Then Showalter said, "And you want to know the best thing about him? What kind of person he is. He has changed less over time than any great athlete I've ever known."
On the field, Mo really is the same, night after night, game after game, season after season: No change of expression, just more broken bats, just the constant grand sight of him elevating his fastball when he wants to or has to, three more outs in the ninth, one more save.
- That is the Rivera he wants the world - and the opposition - to know. But in the clubhouse, there is the Rivera the Yankees know, the one who is smart and funny and charming and remembers everything that has happened since he showed up at Yankee Stadium, who loves to bust chops. This is the Rivera who says he doesn't even have to talk to new Yankees, all he has to do is look in their eyes to know whether they are going to make it in New York or not.
- And he can take you through every pitch and every moment of Game 7 against the Diamondbacks in the World Series of 2001, the bottom of the ninth that was the greatest shock of all with Rivera, Arizona scoring two and finally winning the Series on a bloop single by Luis Gonzalez over Jeter's head.
Maybe that is the true measure of Rivera's genius, what a sure thing he has been for so much of his career, but especially in October: We remember the ones that got away with as much clarity as
- that night in Game 7 of 2003 against the Red Sox when Mo pitched the last three innings and
- seemed perfectly willing to pitch all night.
Sometimes you think: If he doesn't give up the home run to Sandy Alomar in Game 4 of the ALDS in 1997 … if he gets out of it against the Diamondbacks somehow … if he doesn't walk Kevin Millar to start the bottom of the ninth in Game 4 in '04 … then maybe he has won seven World Series already with the Yankees.
- I asked Joe Morgan the other day if he thought Rivera might be the greatest baseball pitcher of all time, not just the greatest relief pitcher. And Morgan said, "Now I love Mo," but pointed out that the most famous starters of all, the Tom Seavers of the world, had to go through batting orders at least two times and often three to get to where they got to in the record books.
Then I asked Morgan this question: Is Rivera better at what he does than any pitcher who ever pitched?
- Morgan smiled and said, "Now you're talking."
We come into this October talking about Mo Rivera, more than ever, certainly more than he ever has about himself. But looking for more of the same from him. There have been other home run hitters.
- There have been other hitters and strikeout pitchers and other relief pitchers.
- First round, second round, World Series. The real fall classic is him."
"Greatness of Yankees Closer Mariano Rivera Comes into Sharp Focus during October," by Mike Lupica, NY Daily News, 10/3/09
Labels: Rivera best 'regular season' closer too--Lupica