The New York Daily News
May 24, 2006
BOSTON - It had been 7-1 for the Yankees in the top of the seventh after Alex Rodriguez hit one toward the Monster Seats, got one up in the air at old Fenway. It kept going until it was a three-run homer that meant something for the Yankees because it seemed to have blown this one wide open. Only this was Fenway and these were the Red Sox, and Manny Ramirez and Papi Ortiz, two of the great Yankee killers in history, were still in the house. Nothing is ever easy with them in the house, no matter what that old-time scoreboard says at the bottom of that famous green wall.
In the bottom of the seventh, Scott Proctor did what Chien-Ming Wang tried to do the night before, tried to sneak an 0-2 strike past Ramirez. Manny Ramirez put another one in the bleachers out in center. Three-run homer. The Yankee lead was down to 7-4, just like that.
Game back on.
Now it was the bottom of the eighth at Fenway. Kyle Farnsworth had walked Kevin Youkilis and Mark Loretta. And here came Joe Torre out of the dugout, on an old catcher's knee that is getting worse with time, one that requires a brace sometimes, here came Torre making the signal with one out in the eighth for Mo Rivera. All he has ever known in the late innings is Rivera. It is all he will ever know.
In his office later, Torre smiled. "I knew it was the last trip to the mound for the night," he said.
All around baseball, they say that the best plan against the Yankees is to hang in there until the bullpen door opens. That means for everybody except Rivera. After all the guys they have run in there over the past few years, all the guys they have wanted to be Jeff Nelson and Mike Stanton, Rivera is still the only one Torre really trusts.
So a big messy game was something different now. Something special. It was Rivera against Papi Ortiz, with Ortiz representing the tying run. If Rivera got Ortiz, then it was him against Manny, only one of the great run-producing righthanded hitters in baseball. This was as good as it can be in baseball, Rivera of the Yankees, the best closer of all time, against the Red Sox, against the most dangerous 3-4 combination in the game, with the game on the line.
Just that at Fenway.
Rivera against them.
"It was the essence of the game," Joe Torre said. "My best against your best. This is still a team game. But in the end, it's autonomous. You against me."
This was supposed to have been A-Rod's night. This was the kind of game-busting swing that Yankee fans want from him, demand from him, every time he is up there. On this night he had delivered, knocked Tim Wakefield out of the game, knocked down the Red Sox hard. Not many easy games for the Yankees lately, in what could have been a bad stretch without a couple of comeback wins. This one looked easy at 7-1.
Just not for long.
Rivera against Ortiz and Manny in the eighth. They were up at Fenway, good and loud. Monday night it had been 9-1 for the Red Sox going to the ninth. Here came the Red Sox last night, trying to come all the way back from 7-1.
The first pitch Rivera threw to Ortiz, Ortiz ripped it hard and foul to right. "He couldn't have hit it fair," Torre said, "not where Mo threw it." A couple of pitches later Rivera got another one in on Ortiz's hands and popped him up to Jeter for the second out of the eighth. Still 7-4 for the Yankees. Ortiz and his 14 home runs already and his 41RBI and all his late-inning hits, went and took a seat, gave way to Manny Ramirez of Washington Heights.
He started slowly this season. He does that sometimes. Then he slowly worked himself into form and started to become one of the most prolific run producers of this time and all times. Nine home runs for him after the shot off Proctor and 25 RBI. You know he is just getting warmed up.
Rivera threw him one of those cutters and Manny Ramirez ripped it into left field. It was Yankees 7, Red Sox 5. Rivera got Trot Nixon to foul out to A-Rod with Ramirez on first and Loretta on third. We went to the ninth at Fenway.
"With other closers, there's a lot of bells and whistles," Torre said. "With Mo, it's only ever about doing the job."
Already this season, there have been other times when Rivera had been asked to get more than three outs to get the Yankees a win. This one was the most dramatic. This was the Red Sox and this was Fenway and this was a night when the Yankees seemed to have the Red Sox put away.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Alex Cora singled. Jason Varitek was the potential tying run. Rivera popped him out. One out to go for Rivera, against an outfielder off the bench named Dustan Mohr. Rivera went to 2-2 on Mohr. Twenty pitches for him now. He threw a fastball past Mohr and that was that.
There are so many games between the Red Sox and Yankees now, 77 of them these past few years, not all of them great. There are still some that make you remember why you watch. Last night was one. The best of it, the moment to remember, was Mo Rivera against Ortiz and Ramirez in the eighth. His best against theirs. Essence of baseball. Mo against them.
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