NEW YORK – When you see greatness and near perfection on a ridiculously consistent basis over nearly 14 years, you are in utter disbelief when it does not happen.
When Mariano Rivera comes into a game to the tune of “Enter Sandman” by Metallica, you start the car, put on the shoes and get the jackets (assuming its a little cold) in expectation that the game will be over. Another Yankees victory clearly in hand now.
Why?
Because for all of these years, it is what he has done.
He has done it at such at rate for so long that it is freakish. Even at the old age of 40, he still gets the job done as a fresh and clean as he did when he first started doing the job.
On occasion, he will have a hiccup. A moment or two to let all of us know that in fact he is not perfect. That he cannot save them all.
In a unique way, it is Rivera letting all of us know that he is in fact, human.
Despite near robotic like efficiency, these things happen from time to time.
Even to great ones like Rivera.
So as he came into the game with the bases loaded in the eighth inning on Sunday with the Yankees leading the Twins 3-1 and two outs, there was a sense of assurance when Joe Girardi came to the mound to remove Joba Chamberlain and insert Rivera that there was nothing to worry about. Like usual, he will simply get the final out, close out the ninth and send us all home happy.
Besides, no evidence over the last 12 games drew a different conclusion. The Yankees were 12-0 over the Twins. Better put, the Twins were 0-12 against the Yankees.
Minnesota had lost games in all conceivable fashions and this looked to be just another in a long line of defeats. Even facing a Yankees pitcher not even in the rotation, they still found themselves four outs away from being swept out of the Bronx again, adding another loss to an outrageous 3-25 record in both versions of Yankee Stadium dating back to 2002.
As the inning was playing out, you got the feeling that if the Twins were really going to do this, it would take something cataclysmic in order to do it. A clean victory would almost be too easy. They would need to do it in shocking, spectacular fashion.
In came Rivera to face future Hall of Famer Jim Thome, a man who at his age, no longer plays full-time, but can still take one out of the park if the ball happens to hang in the middle of the plate.
Obvious Rivera knew this and pitched to him carefully. The count began at 1-0, got to 2-0 and suddenly reached 3-0 as the crowd started to worry a little bit.
A “take-all-the-way” strike to make it 3-1. Then, a foul ball off the foot made it 3-2. The crowd rose to its feet in anticipation of the out because, that is what he does.
Thome would foul off another and then on the next pitch, the cutter that would paint the outside corner was just high for ball four.
He walked him.
It was the first time Rivera would walk home a run in over five years. To all watching, it was a stunning development.
However, not all was lost. Just getting Jason Kubel out would preserve the now one-run margin.
The first pitch missed inside and when Rivera threw his 1-0 pitch, he and everyone else was in amazement.
Kubel cheated on the patented cutter and got a good swing on it, driving it deep and out of the park for a grand slam to give the Twins the lead.
The Minnesota bench was as ecstatic as they were in shock. The Yankees bench had a look of disbelief. Neither side could have thought what just took place was possible.
It was the first time Rivera allowed a grand slam since July 2002 when Bill Selby (no longer in the major leagues) hit one off him for the Cleveland Indians at (then called) Jacobs Field.
This type of thing just does not happen. Certainly not to Rivera, who had saved his last 51 games at home dating back to August 13, 2007.
You have to go back to 1995 and Geronimo Berroa to find the last time he gave up a grand slam at home.
The same crowd that clapped in hope of the final out now looked on incredulously, just not believing what they had seen just moments ago.
Though the Yankees would bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth, they could not complete the comeback.
The Twins finally got their victory in the most improbable of fashion.
For the Yankees, it was just another loss and no reason to be overly concerned. They know that these kinds of things happen from time to time even the greats as Rivera cannot close them all.
They will continue to have faith in him because he has done the job all those many times before.
When the ninth inning comes with a chance to close the game out, Rivera will be right back on the mound.
The result is likely to be different than it was on Sunday.
Time now for another edition of Yankee Random Thoughts
Nick Johnson (we will refer to him now as Mr. DL) is on the verge of seeing himself miss the next three months of the season if the cortisone shot he takes coming up does not go well.
This cannot really come as a surprise as Mr. DL finds the most unique of ways to come up hurt. It is as if wearing the Yankee uniform for him automatically results in trip to “The List”.
Seeing this happen makes one wonder why the Yankees and Johnny Damon could not find a way to reach an agreement no matter how far apart they may or may not have been.
Certainly, Cashman could not seriously believe that Johnson would play more games than Damon would no matter what the difference in cost between the two players came out to be.
No evidence was in his favor suggesting such a thing would happen. Johnson is always wrong step away from finding himself out indefinitely. The man is human brittle.
So now, the Yankees will have to survive his loss for however long it will be. Perhaps the only good thing that will come out of this is that we no longer have to take hearing Miley Cyrus when he comes to the plate.
The month of May has not been kind to El Capitan.
Jeter is hitting only .166 (11-for-66) and compounded with not having Mr. DL at the plate to draw walks and get on base, it has slightly slowed down the Yankees offense train.
Even the best hitters go though slumps, otherwise every .300 hitter would get three hits every ten at-bats. Up-and-downs are a part of the game and this is why no one is ever to take a small sample and think it is gospel.
Jeter could just as easily hit .400 next month as he is hitting .166 this month.
In the end, it will all even out.
Despite his hot start, you did not expect Robinson Cano to hit .400 with 40 homeruns, were you?
After hitting eight bombs to start the year, Cano’s performance has leveled off as well. No longer hitting the Ted Williams style .400, a market correction has him, like Jeter, has seen the average dip this month, hitting only .196 (11-for-56).
He had three hits this weekend, so perhaps he may be coming out of it, and the Yankees sure could use it this week against Boston and Tampa Bay.
When I saw the game on Thursday and noticed that the bottom three in the lineup consisted of Juan Miranda, Randy Winn and Greg Golson, I probably should have turned off the TV.
For as bad a start to the season as Tex has had, he is tied for fourth in the American League in RBI’s.
Talk about productive hitting even when you are not hitting.
Brett Gardner hit another homerun on Friday against the Twins, this time just into the first row of the right field bleachers.
Was the wind blowing out?
Francisco "Cisco" Cervelli continues to hit.
At some point, this cannot be a fluke. Maybe he really CAN hit!
The backup catcher is hitting an astronomical .395 in 56 at-bats. With runners in scoring position, he is 10-for-13.
Surely, there is not any way possible he will continue to hit .769 in those situations, but right now with the other guys not hitting their stride yet, the Yankees will take all the contributions they can.
Andy Pettitte did not like having to skip a turn in the rotation last week as the team held him out trying to protect his long-term health after having to come out of the game last Wednesday against Baltimore with elbow inflammation.
Pitching on Saturday against the Twins, he showed no ill effects of the injury, giving up only two hits in 6 1/3 shutout innings to improve to 5-0.
His next few starts are against the Rays, Twins and Indians, predominantly lefty swinging teams that Pettitte can pitch to at his advantage.
We may even see him at the All Star Game.
Javier Vazquez is going to get the kiddy treatment from here on out. Positive reinforcement is in order to help get him through this tough time he has had this season.
Wednesday in Detroit was the start of “The Long Road Back” as he pitched seven good innings (really, six), giving up only two runs.
However, the Yankees, not convinced, would not dare pitch him against the Red Sox on Monday or against Tampa Bay later during the week.
Thank goodness for the winning, because this strategy of not allowing a veteran pitcher like Vazquez to pitch his way out of this is crazy. He has been one of baseball’s most consistent pitchers over the last ten years and now we have concluded that he is so mentally weak right now that he cannot pitch against the AL East?
Instead, the Yankees will look to have him start in Citi Field on Friday against the Mets (and even that is up in the air), a team with offensive impotency and a cavernous ballpark always converted deep fly balls normally hit out the park into nothing more than long outs.
Projecting this further, if the team was sinister enough, they could have him pitch against the Mets, hold him out to pitch against the Indians the next week, followed by the inept Orioles twice and the Astros.
On second thought, this may not be such a bad idea.
Phil Hughes does not need skipping. He has been the best pitcher in
the American League so far.
He just oozes confidence on the mound and his seven-inning shutout masterpiece in Detroit on Wednesday continued to put him on an ascending level.
At 5-0 with the league low 1.38 ERA and opponents hitting a paltry .165 against him, he takes the mound with all the belief that he will shut down the opposition no matter who it is.
No longer fearful, he simply attacks. There is no backing down from him.
I treat every Hughes start now as if it were an event.
If he continues, he may be the starting pitcher in baseball biggest summer event.
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