Post by musicradio77 on Apr 6, 2005 21:18:40 GMT -5
From the Daily News:
Jeter homer saves Rivera
Blast nets 'W' as consolation
BY SAM BORDEN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
It was the ninth inning, the game was tied, the Stadium was humming and everyone in the place thought Derek Jeter had just drawn a leadoff walk.
But it wasn't. It was a walk-off, instead.
After working a 3-0 count against Boston closer Keith Foulke, Jeter twice headed for first on borderline called strikes, then fouled off the first full-count pitch he saw before finally depositing the second one over the right-center fence, bailing out his own closer yesterday and giving the Yankees their second straight win over the rival Red Sox, 4-3.
Joe Torre called it an "escape" for the Bombers, since they were "deflated" when Mariano Rivera served up a game-tying home run to Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek in the top of the inning. It was Rivera's first appearance of the season and, therefore, his first since blowing saves in Games 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS against Boston.
Going back to last fall, Rivera has blown four of his last six save chances overall; he's also coughed up three straight and five of his last 10 opportunities against Boston, an alarming number for a pitcher who has been the Bombers' silver bullet for so long.
"I'm a normal guy," the all-time Yankees saves leader said with a shrug. "I bleed. You guys think I'm a machine or something. It's going to happen."
Maybe, but that surely isn't what George Steinbrenner wants to hear. The Boss looked downright concerned yesterday, sitting all by himself in his owner's box on the loge level and peering intently down at the mound as the Red Sox again got to Rivera.
The 35-year-old righthander blew only four saves during the 2004 regular season, but two were against Boston; Bill Mueller ripped a walk-off homer in the ninth inning on July24 at Fenway, while Johnny Damon smacked the go-ahead RBI single to steal a win on Sept. 17 in the Bronx.
Damon almost victimized Rivera yesterday, too, lofting a high fly ball three batters after Varitek's rope that looked destined for the right field bleachers. Rivera said he never thought it was gone, but he sure looked worried on the mound, and after Gary Sheffield eventually settled under it with his back against the wall, Rivera bowed his head and walked off toward the dugout very, very slowly.
Concern about Rivera's durability lingered from the fall into the winter and heightened during spring training when he was shut down for a week with minor elbow bursitis. Rivera and the Yankees both say there is no need to worry - "I feel great," he said after emerging from the trainer's room - but there is a pattern, however small, forming with regard to his work against the Red Sox.
When a reporter listed a few of the long balls he had given up and asked if he saw any connection between the meltdowns, Rivera was defiant and, for him, unusually blunt.
"Nothing has to do with that crap," he said.
"He's human," Jeter said. "It's always shocking (when he blows a save), but it's going to happen. It was a situation where we wanted to bail Mo out, because he's done it for us so many times."
Jeter, who shook off a stinging Matt Clement pitch off his left hand earlier in the game, did exactly that with his first homer of the year. He also ensured that Hideki Matsui's three hits (including his second two-run blast in as many games) and Carl Pavano's first start as a Yankee - he allowed just two runs and eight hits over 6-1/3 innings - weren't wasted.
Pavano's parents were among the sellout crowd of 54,690 (a franchise record for the second home game of a season), and joined in the standing ovation for their son as he walked off with one out in the seventh. Pavano appreciated the cheers ("It's not something I'm used to. I did play five years for Montreal," he quipped), but didn't want to go crazy because he had left behind a first-and-third mess for Mike Stanton.
The Sox managed a run off Stanton and entered the ninth trailing by one. Not an ideal scenario, to be sure - "Believe me, when he's in the game, we're not doing jumping jacks," Boston skipper Terry Francona said - but then again, it's a situation in which they've managed to turn a number of losses into wins.
It looked like they were going to do it again, too, until Jeter rocked the first regular-season walk-off homer of his career.
"It's not about me," Rivera insisted to the crowd crushed around his locker. "We won the game. That's the most important thing."
Jeter homer saves Rivera
Blast nets 'W' as consolation
BY SAM BORDEN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
It was the ninth inning, the game was tied, the Stadium was humming and everyone in the place thought Derek Jeter had just drawn a leadoff walk.
But it wasn't. It was a walk-off, instead.
After working a 3-0 count against Boston closer Keith Foulke, Jeter twice headed for first on borderline called strikes, then fouled off the first full-count pitch he saw before finally depositing the second one over the right-center fence, bailing out his own closer yesterday and giving the Yankees their second straight win over the rival Red Sox, 4-3.
Joe Torre called it an "escape" for the Bombers, since they were "deflated" when Mariano Rivera served up a game-tying home run to Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek in the top of the inning. It was Rivera's first appearance of the season and, therefore, his first since blowing saves in Games 4 and 5 of the 2004 ALCS against Boston.
Going back to last fall, Rivera has blown four of his last six save chances overall; he's also coughed up three straight and five of his last 10 opportunities against Boston, an alarming number for a pitcher who has been the Bombers' silver bullet for so long.
"I'm a normal guy," the all-time Yankees saves leader said with a shrug. "I bleed. You guys think I'm a machine or something. It's going to happen."
Maybe, but that surely isn't what George Steinbrenner wants to hear. The Boss looked downright concerned yesterday, sitting all by himself in his owner's box on the loge level and peering intently down at the mound as the Red Sox again got to Rivera.
The 35-year-old righthander blew only four saves during the 2004 regular season, but two were against Boston; Bill Mueller ripped a walk-off homer in the ninth inning on July24 at Fenway, while Johnny Damon smacked the go-ahead RBI single to steal a win on Sept. 17 in the Bronx.
Damon almost victimized Rivera yesterday, too, lofting a high fly ball three batters after Varitek's rope that looked destined for the right field bleachers. Rivera said he never thought it was gone, but he sure looked worried on the mound, and after Gary Sheffield eventually settled under it with his back against the wall, Rivera bowed his head and walked off toward the dugout very, very slowly.
Concern about Rivera's durability lingered from the fall into the winter and heightened during spring training when he was shut down for a week with minor elbow bursitis. Rivera and the Yankees both say there is no need to worry - "I feel great," he said after emerging from the trainer's room - but there is a pattern, however small, forming with regard to his work against the Red Sox.
When a reporter listed a few of the long balls he had given up and asked if he saw any connection between the meltdowns, Rivera was defiant and, for him, unusually blunt.
"Nothing has to do with that crap," he said.
"He's human," Jeter said. "It's always shocking (when he blows a save), but it's going to happen. It was a situation where we wanted to bail Mo out, because he's done it for us so many times."
Jeter, who shook off a stinging Matt Clement pitch off his left hand earlier in the game, did exactly that with his first homer of the year. He also ensured that Hideki Matsui's three hits (including his second two-run blast in as many games) and Carl Pavano's first start as a Yankee - he allowed just two runs and eight hits over 6-1/3 innings - weren't wasted.
Pavano's parents were among the sellout crowd of 54,690 (a franchise record for the second home game of a season), and joined in the standing ovation for their son as he walked off with one out in the seventh. Pavano appreciated the cheers ("It's not something I'm used to. I did play five years for Montreal," he quipped), but didn't want to go crazy because he had left behind a first-and-third mess for Mike Stanton.
The Sox managed a run off Stanton and entered the ninth trailing by one. Not an ideal scenario, to be sure - "Believe me, when he's in the game, we're not doing jumping jacks," Boston skipper Terry Francona said - but then again, it's a situation in which they've managed to turn a number of losses into wins.
It looked like they were going to do it again, too, until Jeter rocked the first regular-season walk-off homer of his career.
"It's not about me," Rivera insisted to the crowd crushed around his locker. "We won the game. That's the most important thing."