Rivera's Ray Revenge

The defending American League champions arrived in New York Friday. The Tampa Bay Rays were expecting to begin another series at the new Yankee Stadium, but after a washout, the opener was pushed back to Saturday afternoon. Tampa hardly seemed intimidated by the Yankee lights-out closer, Mariano Rivera the first time the teams played in early May. Rivera served up back-to-back homers for the first time in his career a month from yesterday in an 8-6 home loss to the Rays. Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria feasted off Mo in that game. Saturday it was Joe Dillon connecting on a cut fastball for the tie breaking single in the top of the ninth. The Rays surged back by touching up Rivera again. Tampa’s 9-7 topping was of the comeback sort. The team battled back with a four run rally and Rivera suddenly looked all too vulnerable.
The Yankees tied the game at five in the bottom of the eighth Saturday. Mark Teixiera vaulted a pitch off Tampa’s bullpen into the stadium seats. With last licks, the Bombers tried to grab the lead again after Rivera coughed it up in the ninth. Rays reliever, Dan Wheeler, with plenty of cushion room, gave up three straight hits to start the inning. Teixiera thwacked a double for two runs to trim the Tampa lead by two. Wheeler worked out of the jam retiring Alex Rodriguez and setting down Jorge Posada. Randy Choate, the ex-Yankee, got Cano to fly out on a deep diving drive to center-fielder, B.J. Upton, for the save. Willy Aybar and Ben Zobrist hit long balls for the Rays, and Rodriguez homered for New York in the game. Tampa won the first game despite a number of errors, including three wild throws by All-star catcher and another former Bomber, Dinoer Navarro.
Rivera hadn’t allowed four runs in a game since April, 2007. He was knocked around by the Rays on Saturday for three earned runs. The 39 year old took the loss and declared his out pitch ineffective. He did not adjust to the Rays hitters and wasn’t his steady self. Marino’s famed cutter did not have as much break on it, and the hitters took advantage of the ball finding too much of the plate. Rivera was even asked by manager, Joe Girardi, to intentionally walk All-star third baseman, Evan Longoria. Longoria has a nice right-handed stick but is currently nursing a gimpy and ailing hamstring. Rivera seemed insulted by the demand but complied nonetheless. Instead of facing Longoria, Rivera pitched to the .218-hitting Upton. The center-fielder clocked a single for one of the ninth-inning runs that would beat New York. Rivera was yanked after getting just two outs. His ERA is the its been since 1995 when he appeared in just 19 games. The closer does not have a win yet this season. It’s hard to believe Rivera will go winless in 2009, but he is allowing more hits than he has historically in his career. Still, walks remain low and strikeouts high. I am not overly concerned about him performing. He proved why on Sunday. Yesterday, Rivera was back on the mound in the ninth to preserve a Yankee comeback and his 13th save. He went head-to-head with Longoria this time, and the Yankees came away with the win after their closer got revenge relieving a perfect ninth inning. Rivera was reliable and brilliant.
Joba Chamberlain was out-pitched by Matt Garza in a hard-throwing mound match-up. The Yankees haven’t had success against Garza in the past but were able to reap his shortest outing in 12 starts this season. The hitters were patient in each count and made the Tampa starter work for every pitch. He lasted just five frames after escaping a tense fifth inning. Garza gave up a Nick Swisher smack in the bottom of the third. It was Swisher’s 100th career blast. Crafty Chamberlain allowed two hits and a run in the top of the inning, highlighted by Upton’s RBI double-bagger. Joba went six innings but issued just one walk. The 25 year old right-handed Garza walked the first two batters he faced in the fifth. Teixeria popped up with the bases loaded to get Garza off the hook. Chamberlain was not so fortunate with the bases juiced and two outs in the sixth after his sole pass to Matt Joyce. Gabe Gross made it a 3-1 game with a center-field grounder. Navarro struck out to end the inning. Joba surrender three runs on five hits Sunday in a quality start. He wasn’t dominating like he was against Cleveland, but Joba was not tripped up either.
It wasn’t pretty in the eighth, but the Yankees took a 4-3 lead. Johnny Damon’s liner off Grant Balfour was followed by Teixeria’s timely single. Alex Rodriguez walked with runners at the corners to load the bases. J.P. Howell relieved Balfour with no wiggle room and nowhere to put Robinson Cano. The semi-flammable bullpen pitcher made it a one-run game by issuing the pass to Cano. Jorge Posada bounced a Howell pitch to third. Aybar, subbing for Longoria, turned a two-run eighth inning lead into a tie ball game. The third baseman gave Posada an RBI when he was charged with an error on a booted ball. Hideki Matsui chopped a soft grounder with the tie scored at three. Matsui beat the throw to prevent being doubled up, and extended the inning on the fielder‘s choice. I was pleased to see Matsui able to run that surely with all the knee problems he’s had. It was substantial for Matsui to reach base in that situation, and he avoided the inning-ending double play. Alfredo Aceves threw two innings of relief and yielded one hit to pick up the win. He fanned four. The Yankees rallied to scrape out the 4-3 win in their 20th come-from-behind beating. The Bombers resume staging these late-game comebacks. Not all is rosy and cozy for New York. Despite the win, the Yankees were 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position. They stranded eight men on base and have now made an error in five straight games.
The dependable Rivera buzz-sawed Joyce, Gross and Longoria on 10 pitched in the top of the ninth. Joyce leaf off with a grounder and Gross went down swinging. Pinch-hitting Longoria grounded out as Tampa’s final batter. Sunday, Rivera protected the one run lead with a 92 mph cutter in a familiar ending. Mo’s hissing hot fastball was like something frying in a skillet as the ambitious closer steamrolled the Tampa trio. The command and composure returned for the loose Panamanian, and the Yankees edged a half game ahead of Boston in the standings. There were no hanging fastballs in the ninth 24 hours after Rivera cracked. Mariano notched his 495th career save and helped Girardi earn his 200th managerial win. The Yankees put a lot of trust in Rivera. There is a reason he is hands-down, the best closer of all time. He can shut down explosive lineups and is problematical to pulsate and pound. On the rare occasion he disbands, re-usable Rivera retaliates the only way he knows how. He marches to the mound again the next day to pick up the pieces of a disheartening loss. Remarkable Rivera has a will to win, welcomes work and wields wryness.

Parting points: A new song and an oldie for today- “A Dustland Fairlytale” by The Killers and “Everything Zen” by Bush

How about Roger Federer winning the French Final? Not bad…but I still consider Pete Sampras the best of all time even sans a Roland Garros title.

“Hey you, you’re constant companion”- 311