Inside Baseball
Rivera adds to his large legacy
NEW YORK — You can run down the list and see the difference. Start with Joe Nathan and Jonathan Papelbon. Move to Ryan Franklin and Huston Street. Then came Brian Fuentes and Jonathon Broxton. Throw in a smidge of Brad Lidge.
What's the connection? Every main closer in the playoffs had a major blowup that cost their team at least a late lead, if not the game itself. Every one, that is, except Mariano Rivera. No coincidence it was the Yankees hoisting the World Series trophy Wednesday night.
Rivera is the greatest relief pitcher in history. Period. No one has saved more games in the postseason or the World Series. He has thrown the final pitch of four Series clinchers — and it probably would have been five if he hadn't thrown away that bunt in the ninth inning of Game Seven in 2001 at Arizona.
His Series ERA has slipped to a microscopic 0.99, fifth-lowest all-time among pitchers with at least 30 innings. In the last 60 years, he's second to Sandy Koufax's 0.95.
When "Enter Sandman" reverberates through Yankee Stadium (new or old) as it did with one out in the Phillies' eighth of Game Six, Derek Jeter said he had one thought in mind.
"Right there, I thought, "It's over,' " Jeter said. "It's the same feeling you have every single time he comes out of the bullpen. Sure, he might make mistakes here or there. He's human. But there's no one else in this game — maybe ever — like him."
It was a tough final outing for Rivera. It took him 40 pitches to get the Phillies' last five outs — including 10 pitches to Shane Victorino before the final ground ball to Robinson Cano at second.
"What was I thinking? It was finally over. Thank God, it's over," Rivera said. "You have to hold your composure. Any wrong pitch could be devastating. I tried to make my pitches and thank God I was able."
As it turns out, the word leaked Friday at the Yankees' parade that Rivera was dealing with an undisclosed rib cage injury suffered during the ALCS. So what he did in the Series is even more remarkable. The Phillies got some good swings on him, better than most teams do, but still seemed to be flailing at the cutter at key times.
Even as Father Time pushes him to 40, Rivera still has an aura of invincibility. The other teams hope their closers can get the job done. The Yankees know Rivera will. He said after the finale he thinks he can pitch another five years. You doubt him?
"All of them are great but this one was special," Rivera said of his fifth title. "It was a drought for nine years, nine long years and we finally got one."
"We pitched in this series and that's the bottom line," said Jeter. "Starting pitching was great, our bullpen battled and we got Mo. Nobody else does."
Lidge is question mark
On the other side, the Phillies' biggest bullpen issue was Lidge. He had a brutal regular season with an ERA nearly 8.00 and 11 blown saves. But he responded in the postseason with 12 strong innings until Johnny Damon ran him into a loss in Game Four. Lidge wasn't seen again as Ryan Madson barely finished Game Five.
"I think everybody knows how successful Brad has been," manager Charlie Manuel said. "And also I think they know he's had some problems.
"This winter there's things that he can think about as far as what he comes into spring training working on. And I would say holding runners is one of them."
The Phillies have Lidge under contract for two more years. They're banking on the '08 version to return, not the '09 one.
"I'd just like to see him go home this winter and actually just kind of get a clear head," Manuel said. "Get himself in pretty good shape and enjoy his winter."
Lee won't come cheap
The Phillies have a bigger decision than the bullpen facing them this season and it revolves around Cliff Lee.
One of the attractions to acquiring Lee from the Indians was the fact he's signed through 2010 with a $9 million option the Phillies will certainly exercise. After that, he could be looking for huge money in free agency next winter unless the team and Lee can agree on an extension.
Lee said after Game Six he would be interested in talking to the Phillies and GM Ruben Amaro Jr. said the team is still mulling its options.
"Clearly, it's on our minds, but we haven't made a decision if we will yet," Amaro said. "Naturally, you have to think about it."
Hamels' future cloudy
The Phillies' other problem centers around Cole Hamels. Is he a potential ace like he showed in the World Series last year? Or is he a .500 pitcher who can't be counted on to be much more than a No. 3 or No. 4 man in the rotation?
The Phillies think Hamels was worn out by his huge bump in innings from '07 to '08 and the busy banquet circuit he was on last winter. That led to a shorter offseason workout program and an elbow strain in spring training that never really healed right.
But Hamels is just 25 and he could easily bounce back, too. Think of Justin Verlander. After the '06 World Series, the Detroit ace needed to get to '09 before he bounced back.
Fans finally get loud
Seeing the final outs of a World Series clincher in person is always a pretty memorable moment and this year was no different. What was interesting was how the noise level of the new Yankee Stadium — correctly pegged as not nearly the equal of the place across the street — finally got to that level when Rivera was an out away.
The flashbulbs went popping in the stands on all 10 pitches to Victorino and the lights were particularly bright on the final three. When the grounder to Cano was still in the second baseman's glove, the players in the Yankees dugout were already halfway to the mound to start the celebration. Pretty cool.
They said it
Jeter, on whether he was losing hope the team would ever get back to where it was in 2000: "I was never worried. Nope. I'm a positive thinker, man. I'm not negative like some people can be. I always try to keep positive."
Jorge Posada: "Every one is different. You try to think about all the things that we did back then. Being at this stage, being a part of what we've done. People were hurt, all the comebacks from behind. To get a ring in this situation shows a lot of heart from this team."
Joe Girardi: We had some guys that had some pretty serious surgeries and were able to get back, and I really tip my cap to those guys. You think about Alex Rodriguez and Mo [Rivera] and Posada and [Hideki] Matsui, what they had to do to get back, it just shows you the determination and the heart."
Jimmy Rollins: "Do I think we're the better team? I really do. They just executed." (Um, dude, scoreboard.)
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