Saturday, April 09, 2005
Saturday Morning Thoughts: Closing the Book on Yanks-Sox Part 1
I didn't get a chance to comment on the last two games of the Yankees-Red Sox series. So before I offer a word or two about what's happening in baseball this weekend, let me take a quick look back at NY-Boston '05 Part 1.
The obvious topic of consternation for Yankee fans, and absolute glee for Red Sox fans, is the apparent increasing vulnerability of Mariano Rivera.
The tone in the words of the New York scribes, in some national media outlets and from the rattled psyches of short-sighted Yankee fans was downright doomsday-ish. "Is this really the end?" was the recurrent theme.
Mike Lupica, New York Daily News columnist:
What we see in two straight games in April doesn't mean the Red Sox will always have Rivera's number. Or that the Yankees can't win everything this season with him as their closer the way they have won three times already with him as their closer. It doesn't mean he is washed up, even though no power relief pitcher in history has gone this long and this hard and with this kind of sustained excellence. Maybe he took the whole winter off for a reason.
"I don't live in the past," he said yesterday.
He does not. You cannot in his line of work. There will never be another closer like this, not here or anywhere else. He was a champion yesterday in front of his locker, even if he was not against the Red Sox. He does not live in the past but that is where his best days are.
On ESPN.com on Thursday, the daily poll asked:
What should the Yankees do about their closer role?
A) Make a trade for a proven closer
B) Stick with Mariano Rivera
C) Use Tom Gordon or another reliever
Imagine the mindset that goes into seriously picking option A or C?
It was either ESPN doing their damnedest to jump on the pressing issue of the day, or to poke fun at the short memories and high demands of Yankee fans.
The tone out of Boston was a bit more tempered, though the joy was palpable. One can sense that Red Sox fans have turned a definitive corner in their view of Rivera. There was the Manny single to win a game in April 2001 and a Manny home run in the 9th to tie a game that same season. The Shea Hillenbrand walk-off at Fenway. The Bill Mueller home run in that classic game last July. And even the walk/steal/single rally to tie Game 4 last October. Through it all though, I have never sensed a "bring him on!" mentality towards Rivera among the Nation. A decade of big-game success, capped by the team-on-his-back, three scoreless innings in Game 7 of '03 was too fresh, and still seemed too relevant.
Now though, if Rivera comes jogging out of that Fenway bullpen at some point this upcoming week, the hootin' and hollerin' will be more gregarious, obnoxious and confident then ever before. It's hard to argue against the notion that the Red Sox have the Great Closer's number.
Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe columnist:
Red Sox-Yankees has evolved into the very best drama in all of sports and with that comes no shortage of themes, which are often silly or contrived (remember "The Curse of the Bambino"?). However, Boston's newfound mastery of Mr. Rivera has become a clear and present danger to New York's traditional late-game dominance over the Sox. We've gone way past quirk and circumstance. The Sox now own the guy. He's blown four consecutive save opportunities against the Sox. He's blown only 27 since the start of the 2001 season, but 11 have come against the Red Sox.
The dramatic headlines and the idea of the indomitable closer being brought to his knees is the fodder that drives talk-radio and water cooler ribbing. As Bob Dylan once agonized, "Oh Mama! Is this really the end?"
Rivera's reaction to Jason Varitek's game-tying homer on Tuesday was markedly different to any other response to bad events than I can remember from him. He turned to watch the ball sail to right, eyes wide as saucers, a look of disbelief on his face. And when it went over the fence, he bent over and yelled almost painfully, cursing at the ground. His posture and presence on Wednesday weren't much better.
Despite all of this, I'm not ready to jump on the "Mariano is finished train" just yet.
He had a bad week. A really bad week. Against the team he can least afford to be anything but perfect against.
Yet in the face of all this adversity, this supposed crumbling of Rivera's stranglehold on the baseball world, with the bases loaded and facing two of the top five offensive players in the American League, he yielded a routine ground ball and a little dribbler to the right side of the mound. The fact that these two plays resulted in the Red Sox tying the game, then taking the lead, can't be totally put on Rivera's shoulders.
Is there anything in this three-year progression that sends up a red flag?
IP: 46 - 70.2 - 78.2
WHIP: 1.00 - 1.00 - 1.08
K/9: 8.02 - 8.02 - 7.55
OBA: .259 - .272 - .287
SLG: .285 - .300 - .280
The only concern, and it's a moderate one, is that last year Mariano threw the most innings in a season since 2001, and it was the 2nd highest total since he became a closer in 1997. He seemed not only aware of that fact, but probably felt the effects as well, deciding to forego any extensive off-season throwing program for the first time in his career.
Not that it's a huge difference, but looking at the spring statistics dating back to 2002, this was the first time in the last four seasons that Rivera didn't pitch at least 10 innings; he tallied seven this past March. He missed some time due to a cranky shoulder, which has nagged him from time-to-time in the past.
He wasn't sharp against Boston, in any sense of the word. His usually pinpoint control was absent, and the cutter into lefties looked a bit flat. However, keeping in mind that he threw less from November-March as he ever has, I can't go crazy at this point, blown saves to the Red Sox or not. Let me see him work into shape, let me see him in May, June, July and August, when the work has piled up, and the season has come into form.
It was kind of a perfect storm for Rivera on Tuesday and Wednesday, under-worked and maybe a little arm weary, he went against one of the best hitting teams in the sport, a team that has an air of confidence against him anyway. Two blown saves later, he had to answer questions about his impending demise.
I didn't get a chance to comment on the last two games of the Yankees-Red Sox series. So before I offer a word or two about what's happening in baseball this weekend, let me take a quick look back at NY-Boston '05 Part 1.
The obvious topic of consternation for Yankee fans, and absolute glee for Red Sox fans, is the apparent increasing vulnerability of Mariano Rivera.
The tone in the words of the New York scribes, in some national media outlets and from the rattled psyches of short-sighted Yankee fans was downright doomsday-ish. "Is this really the end?" was the recurrent theme.
Mike Lupica, New York Daily News columnist:
What we see in two straight games in April doesn't mean the Red Sox will always have Rivera's number. Or that the Yankees can't win everything this season with him as their closer the way they have won three times already with him as their closer. It doesn't mean he is washed up, even though no power relief pitcher in history has gone this long and this hard and with this kind of sustained excellence. Maybe he took the whole winter off for a reason.
"I don't live in the past," he said yesterday.
He does not. You cannot in his line of work. There will never be another closer like this, not here or anywhere else. He was a champion yesterday in front of his locker, even if he was not against the Red Sox. He does not live in the past but that is where his best days are.
On ESPN.com on Thursday, the daily poll asked:
What should the Yankees do about their closer role?
A) Make a trade for a proven closer
B) Stick with Mariano Rivera
C) Use Tom Gordon or another reliever
Imagine the mindset that goes into seriously picking option A or C?
It was either ESPN doing their damnedest to jump on the pressing issue of the day, or to poke fun at the short memories and high demands of Yankee fans.
The tone out of Boston was a bit more tempered, though the joy was palpable. One can sense that Red Sox fans have turned a definitive corner in their view of Rivera. There was the Manny single to win a game in April 2001 and a Manny home run in the 9th to tie a game that same season. The Shea Hillenbrand walk-off at Fenway. The Bill Mueller home run in that classic game last July. And even the walk/steal/single rally to tie Game 4 last October. Through it all though, I have never sensed a "bring him on!" mentality towards Rivera among the Nation. A decade of big-game success, capped by the team-on-his-back, three scoreless innings in Game 7 of '03 was too fresh, and still seemed too relevant.
Now though, if Rivera comes jogging out of that Fenway bullpen at some point this upcoming week, the hootin' and hollerin' will be more gregarious, obnoxious and confident then ever before. It's hard to argue against the notion that the Red Sox have the Great Closer's number.
Dan Shaughnessy, Boston Globe columnist:
Red Sox-Yankees has evolved into the very best drama in all of sports and with that comes no shortage of themes, which are often silly or contrived (remember "The Curse of the Bambino"?). However, Boston's newfound mastery of Mr. Rivera has become a clear and present danger to New York's traditional late-game dominance over the Sox. We've gone way past quirk and circumstance. The Sox now own the guy. He's blown four consecutive save opportunities against the Sox. He's blown only 27 since the start of the 2001 season, but 11 have come against the Red Sox.
The dramatic headlines and the idea of the indomitable closer being brought to his knees is the fodder that drives talk-radio and water cooler ribbing. As Bob Dylan once agonized, "Oh Mama! Is this really the end?"
Rivera's reaction to Jason Varitek's game-tying homer on Tuesday was markedly different to any other response to bad events than I can remember from him. He turned to watch the ball sail to right, eyes wide as saucers, a look of disbelief on his face. And when it went over the fence, he bent over and yelled almost painfully, cursing at the ground. His posture and presence on Wednesday weren't much better.
Despite all of this, I'm not ready to jump on the "Mariano is finished train" just yet.
He had a bad week. A really bad week. Against the team he can least afford to be anything but perfect against.
Yet in the face of all this adversity, this supposed crumbling of Rivera's stranglehold on the baseball world, with the bases loaded and facing two of the top five offensive players in the American League, he yielded a routine ground ball and a little dribbler to the right side of the mound. The fact that these two plays resulted in the Red Sox tying the game, then taking the lead, can't be totally put on Rivera's shoulders.
Is there anything in this three-year progression that sends up a red flag?
IP: 46 - 70.2 - 78.2
WHIP: 1.00 - 1.00 - 1.08
K/9: 8.02 - 8.02 - 7.55
OBA: .259 - .272 - .287
SLG: .285 - .300 - .280
The only concern, and it's a moderate one, is that last year Mariano threw the most innings in a season since 2001, and it was the 2nd highest total since he became a closer in 1997. He seemed not only aware of that fact, but probably felt the effects as well, deciding to forego any extensive off-season throwing program for the first time in his career.
Not that it's a huge difference, but looking at the spring statistics dating back to 2002, this was the first time in the last four seasons that Rivera didn't pitch at least 10 innings; he tallied seven this past March. He missed some time due to a cranky shoulder, which has nagged him from time-to-time in the past.
He wasn't sharp against Boston, in any sense of the word. His usually pinpoint control was absent, and the cutter into lefties looked a bit flat. However, keeping in mind that he threw less from November-March as he ever has, I can't go crazy at this point, blown saves to the Red Sox or not. Let me see him work into shape, let me see him in May, June, July and August, when the work has piled up, and the season has come into form.
It was kind of a perfect storm for Rivera on Tuesday and Wednesday, under-worked and maybe a little arm weary, he went against one of the best hitting teams in the sport, a team that has an air of confidence against him anyway. Two blown saves later, he had to answer questions about his impending demise.
