Rivera Happy To Pitch Longer Than Usual
It’s October, and not only are the “Joba Chamberlain Rules” discarded, so is the “Mo M.O.”
During the season, Yankees manager Joe Girardi was steadfast in limiting Mariano Rivera to four outs. In a tied Game 2 of the ALCS, he used his closer for seven.
“I’m beat up right now,” Rivera said jokingly on Sunday. “You play for the organization that has given you everything. It doesn’t matter how long you go, as long as you do it right.”
Rivera got the last out of the eighth on one pitch, then dominated the ninth with two strikeouts. Even after retiring the Angels in the 10th, his longest outing in years, he was only at 24 pitches. That’s often what a reliever, even Rivera, might throw in one inning.
“Knowing we had an off day [Sunday] and how few pitches Mo threw in those four outs, we felt we could go back to him,” Girardi said.
The downside: Rivera, 39, who had minor shoulder surgery — if there is such a thing for a pitcher — last winter may need more care than he has needed in the past. Also, Rivera often struggles coming into tie games because he may be too aggressive with pitches in his first inning to keep his pitch count low for a second inning.
But Rivera’s effort stretched out both the game and the Yankees bullpen so they could win it in the 13th.
Click here to read the full article – By DOM AMORE of Courant.com
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Yankees Close Out Series
There were the home runs by Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada. The heads-up defensive play by Derek Jeter. A lucky break here and there.
But in the backdrop was pitching, on top of pitching, followed by pitching, all wrapped with pitching.
And that’s why the Yankees have done in 2009 what they had not done in five long years, survived the first round of playoffs and advanced to the ALCS. They beat the Twins 4-1 Sunday night to complete a three-game sweep in the Division Series in the last baseball at the Metrodome.
Andy Pettitte pitched the first 6 1/3 innings to get his 15th postseason win, tying John Smoltz’s record, and Mariano Rivera applied the finishing touches as the Yankees held the Twins to six runs in the three games.
“You can talk about home runs all you want,” said Rodriguez, who hit a game-tying home run, his second of the series, off Carl Pavano in the seventh. “If you don’t pitch, and you don’t defend, you’re not going to win. The story of this series was CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte; they were all terrific. You get some big hits at the end, but it wouldn’t have been possible without their performances.”
The Yankees, after pouring still more champagne and beer all over each other, have four days to rest for the ALCS, where they will play the Angels. Game 1 is Friday at Yankee Stadium.
“It feels great, but I have to give the credit to everybody else,” said manager Joe Girardi, who won his first playoff series. “Our starting pitching was tremendous. That sets the tone.”
Click here to read the full article – By Dom Amore of Courant.com
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Jacobs: Posada Needs To Settle Down
Derek Jeter, Yankee captain and best man at Jorge Posada’s wedding, called the situation awkward. Damn straight it’s awkward. You pull a catcher with four World Series rings and nearly 100 games of postseason experience off the big stage, of course, it’s uncomfortable.
Just don’t confuse awkward with controversial. Don’t confuse uncomfortable with a hullabaloo. At this point only Posada can make this situation ugly and if he makes it ugly, well, it would diminish him much more as a man, a Yankee, than as a catcher.
“I’m not jumping for joy here,” Posada said Thursday after the Yankees’ off-day workout. “But I accept it.”
He better.
Jose Molina will be behind the plate tonight when A.J. Burnett faces the Minnesota Twins in Game 2 of the ALDS. And while it would be entirely fair to say that as an offensive player Molina can’t carry Posada’s bat, it also would be no exaggeration to say right now everything is rolling in the Yankees’ favor. The two O’s in October — Alex Rodriguez and CC Sabathia — produced in a significant way in Game 1, the Twins look kind of spent … and if the sometimes electric, other times enigmatic Burnett pitches to his level of talent, there will be an undeniable scent of sweep in the air. Posada would be an idiot to disrupt the momentum.
Molina comes from a family of catchers, brothers in arms and shin pads. And as he held court, a rarity for him in this A-list clubhouse, everything about the career backup suggested he understands the complex psychology of handling pitchers.
“I prefer that a pitcher be 100 percent in his pitch than 50-50 in my pitch,” Molina said at one point. “We don’t know everything.”
Posada has caught 78 of the past 79 Yankee postseason games and sometimes he catches like he knows everything. Posada is prideful. He’s a leader. As evidenced by the two passed balls in Game 1, he also is not Johnny Bench back there. Never was. He hasn’t always meshed with pitchers. Of course, he’s not happy he isn’t playing just as he wasn’t happy when Joe Torre decided to use John Flaherty to catch Randy Johnson in 2005 (the Big Unit was terrible that night). He shouldn’t be happy. No athlete wants to sit.
“I know how bad Jorge wants to be out there and how intense he is,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Obviously, as time goes on, things can either build or diminish in the story. But we talked about it Sunday. I’m not saying he liked it, but emotionally he was good with me.
“It was a hard conversation.”
Click here to read the full article – By Jeff Jacobs of Courant.com
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Posada not jumping for joy about taking seat
Just because Jorge Posada wasn’t surprised doesn’t mean he was happy.
On Sunday, manager Joe Girardi let Posada know that Jose Molina would catch for A.J. Burnett in the ALDS, which begins tonight in The Bronx vs. the Twins.
“I just hope we win that game,” Posada said. “That’s all. That’s all I’ve got to say.”
Girardi is starting Molina because of the “rhythm” he believes Burnett shares with him. The last six times Burnett’s pitched, Molina’s caught him, and Burnett’s gone 3-1 with a 2.92 ERA.
“They’ve been in a real good rhythm when they’ve been working together,” Girardi said. “And we just felt we would keep it that way.”
A dour Posada called it a “manager’s decision.”
“It’s not like I didn’t see it coming,” he said yesterday.
“We talked about it on Sunday and he was OK,” Girardi said. “I’m sure he’s disappointed. Jorge would want to play every inning. I don’t blame him.”
Posada has started 77 of the Yankees’ 78 playoff games this decade. The last time he didn’t start a Yankees playoff game — Game 3 of the 2005 ALDS vs. the Angels when John Flaherty caught Randy Johnson — the catcher who subbed for him was caught a little off-guard.
Click here to read the full article – By MARK HALE and GEORGE A. KING III of NYpost.com
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