NEW YORK - The bullpen gates in left-centre field opened, "Enter Sandman" blared over the Yankee Stadium loudspeakers and out came Mariano Rivera to an overwhelming ovation and a crackle of thousands of camera flashes.
With the score tied three-all and a runner on first in the ninth inning Boston manager Terry Francona did what he suggested he would, he called on the mainstay of the Yankees' bullpen to do what he's done so many times from this mound: help his team wriggle out of one more jam.
While it didn't go quite to the script that many had hoped for - Rivera closing out the final all-star game at the storied stadium - he did not disappoint, reviving the pre-game Yankees celebration with 1 2-3 scoreless innings in the AL's 4-3, 15-inning victory.
After squelching the ninth-inning rally with a strikeout-caught stealing, Rivera worked the 10th and gave up two hits to put runners on first and third. He then got Dan Uggla to ground into an inning-ending double play.
"Definitely it was good," Rivera said even though he wasn't pitching in a save situation. "This one was top of the line."
Rivera then stood on the top step and leaned on the railing of the AL - Yankees - dugout with Derek Jeter and watched the 11th inning. Alex Rodriguez, along with other starters already out of the game, had left not long after he was removed with one out in the fifth, dressed spiffily in a suit.
Rivera was warmed up by his manager and former catcher Joe Girardi, who also got Rivera's Boston counterpart, Jonathan Paplebon, ready in the Yankees bullpen for his eighth-inning appearance. Paplebon gave up an unearned run to give the NL a 3-2 lead.
Rivera said that he knew he was going to pitch the ninth, even though he couldn't tell the media.
"I knew a few days," he said. "I couldn't tell you that. (Francona) didn't tell me specifically. My manager did."
Earlier in the evening, Rivera was feted along with Jeter and Rodriguez in a pre-game that felt like a Yankees celebration.
The "Bleacher Creatures" in right-centre field regaled them with the usual chants of their names. Rivera heard "Mar-iano!" as he was introduced with the pitchers.
Then Rivera caught one of four ceremonial first pitches from Yankees Hall-of-Famers, who were given the baseballs by George Steinbrenner, as part of a tribute to the frail 78-year-old team owner.
"It was priceless seeing our boss coming onto the field like that," Rivera said
-
OLD AGE: Billy Wagner heard it from all sides.
Giants reliever Brian Wilson talked about admiring the New York Mets closer when he was playing in college. Braves star Chipper Jones made sure Wagner knew he was the oldest all-star on the National League team.
"I gotta make myself feel better that I'm not the oldest one here," Jones said.
Wagner, who turns 37 on July 25, actually was the oldest player on either roster for Tuesday night's all-star game at Yankee Stadium. Not that it mattered to him.
"I think over the long haul you look and go, 'Man, I've been here for a while and I'm still here,"' he said. "It starts to be a compliment more than somebody kind of saying something negative."
Wagner had 22 saves and a 2.31 ERA in the first half, earning his second straight all-star selection and sixth overall. He was looking forward to talking shop with the rest of the relievers in the bullpen.
He relieved Wilson in the eighth inning with two outs and gave up two hits, including the tying, run-scoring double to Evan Longoria to make it three-all.
Wagner also has big plans for Wednesday night - a trip to the White House to have dinner with President Bush. "Still wondering how that came about," he cracked.
Jones, the third-oldest player in the game behind Boston catcher Jason Varitek, also was enjoying his first All-Star appearance since 2001.
"Last time I was one of the youngest," the 36-year-old Jones said before signing a jersey for Colorado's Matt Holliday. "Crazy."
Jones went 1-for-3 with a single in the second.
-
HOTEL GUEST: Josh Hamilton awoke the day after his dreamlike performance in the Home Run Derby and turned on the TV in his hotel room in midtown Manhattan and found the end of the movie "The Natural" playing.
Just then he received a visitor. It was time for a random drug test.
"Right when (Robert Redford's character) was about to hit the home run, the pee guy came in," Hamilton said. "I said, 'Hold on. I've got to watch this."'
-
NO JOE: Dodgers manager Joe Torre was back in New York for the all-star break to host his Safe at Home Foundation's annual charity golf tournament and, along with Mayor Michael Bloomberg, attend a news conference to open the 11th Margaret's Place, a safehouse for student victims of domestic violence.
He did not attend the all-star game at Yankee Stadium, his baseball home from 1996-2007.
When asked by a reporter at the news conference, how it will feel to be back at the Stadium, he quipped, "I couldn't get a ticket."
Instead, Torre, who won four World Series titles and was the AL manager at the all-star game six times, will be home with his family.
"I'm not going. I will watch it," he said. "But if I was there, it would be strange to be on the other side of the field. That would be the odd perspective I'd have to look at it from."
-
WILLIE'S BACK: Former Mets manager Willie Randolph accepted Yankees owner George Steinbrenner's invitation to the all-star game.
Randolph, a former all-star second baseman and longtime coach with the Yankees, was fired last month after the Mets got off to an inconsistent start this season. He was selected to be a coach for the game during the final season for Yankee Stadium and was replaced by Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella.
"George invited him to the all-star game on the basis of his great friendship for him and he wanted him to take part in this momentous occasion," Steinbrenner spokesman Howard Rubenstein said.
Mets star David Wright said he has exchanged messages with Randolph since he was fired, and was glad he was going to the game.
"I think it's good for a guy that's been such a part of that Yankees history to be here," Wright said. "He definitely deserves to be here."
-
BIG RATINGS: More homes were tuned into Monday night's Home Run Derby than have ever watched the event. The contest on ESPN was seen by nearly 6.2 million households, breaking the record of more than 5.7 million set in 1999, the network said Tuesday.
The 6.4 rating was up 25 per cent from last year's 5.1. It was the most-viewed non-NFL program on ESPN since the Florida State-Miami football game Sept. 5, 2006.
The rating is the percentage of homes with televisions watching a broadcast.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment