Answer to Annual Question: No, Rivera Hasn’t Lost His Edge

By TYLER KEPNER
The New York Times
Published: August 10, 2007

CLEVELAND, Aug. 9 — He has taken the mound for the Yankees 242 more times than any other pitcher in the team’s history. He is 37 years old, a 13-year veteran who has pitched the equivalent of another season and a half in October.

Yet the annual guessing game about Mariano Rivera finally losing it has become as hackneyed as a joke about airline peanuts. As the Yankees begin a three-game series with the Indians on Friday at Jacobs Field, their most indispensable player is as dominant as ever.

“He’s just a freak of nature,” the Toronto Blue Jays’ Frank Thomas said. “He’s mastered a pitch. People say he’s going to lose it. He’s not going to lose it.”

Rivera struck out the side to end Monday’s game, plowing through three fearsome hitters — Alex Rios, Vernon Wells and Thomas — with pitches that reached 97 miles an hour.

Thomas knows how Rivera will pitch him, but he is still almost helpless, with just 3 hits in 20 career at-bats. The cutter — “To me, he’s the inventor of it,” Thomas said — is just that good.

“It’s effortless, and when the ball’s 96 with late movement like that, it’s unheard of,” Thomas said. “He gets better and better and better. When he’s fully rested, it’s a truly amazing pitch.”

Rivera has evolved a bit, throwing a tailing two-seamer sometimes, or a straight four-seam fastball to back a hitter off the cutter. Every spring, he toys with a changeup. But the cutter acts for him the way it does for no one else.



Rivera has converted his last 18 save opportunities, allowing only two earned runs in 21 1/3 innings in those games, with no walks and 22 strikeouts. The Yankees are 57-1 when leading after eight, the loss coming in Oakland on April 15, when Marco Scutaro pulled a two-out, three-run homer to beat Rivera by a run.

It was one of two save chances Rivera had in his first eight appearances. He blew them both, starting the season with a 12.15 earned run average. Predictably, there were questions about whether he had lost his edge.

“It happens every year, so I don’t get offended,” Rivera said. “People have the right to say what they want to say. That’s not what I feel, but I cannot tell people what to do or what to say about me. I always know who I am and what I’m capable of doing.”

His ability extends beyond the mound. Rivera does not have the title of captain, but he fills that role for the pitching staff. He coaxed two strong years from Tom Gordon, in 2004 and 2005, and has become a mentor to his current setup man, Luis Vizcaíno.

“He’s my teacher, my everything,” Vizcaíno said. “I’m happy to hang out with that guy because he gives me a lot of confidence.”

The pitching coach Ron Guidry said he welcomed help from Rivera, whose perspective, as a teammate, is different. Rivera is mild-mannered, but he has a passionate side that allows him to deliver a message effectively.

“He might chew a guy out if he’s not doing the things he should be doing,” Guidry said. “As a coach, you appreciate that, because you can only tell them so much. They walk away, and you don’t know if they really heard you. But when a player gets on you, that’s something else.”

Rivera has an elevated status among players around the league. He is one of them, but clearly on a higher plane. The journeyman reliever Jim Brower, who joined the Yankees this week, said he was eager to learn from Rivera.

“There are a couple of guys like that — John Smoltz in Atlanta was another — and it’s like a dream for a player to be with someone of that caliber, with that success,” Brower said. “Even though I don’t have his stuff, hopefully there’s something I can take from him that can better me.”

The Yankees did not negotiate an extension with Rivera this spring because they wanted to see how his elbow held up. The elbow is fine now, Rivera said, and both sides hope to reach an agreement soon after the season.

“I’ve said from the beginning, we have every intention of signing him,” General Manager Brian Cashman said. “At the appropriate time, we will have that conversation.”

Rivera said he wanted to return and that the Yankees would “have their shot.” No one wants to think about replacing him, but this week’s promotion of Joba Chamberlain offers a glimpse at a possible successor.

The Yankees view Chamberlain, 21, as a starter for the long term. But with a 100-m.p.h. fastball and a wicked array of off-speed pitches, he may have the stuff to be a dominant closer. He pitched two scoreless innings in his debut Tuesday.

“You can be anything you want, as long as you work at it,” Rivera said. “Hopefully, he can be the man — hopefully. It’s a lot of work, and it’s a long time to go. He’s just a kid with one outing. But definitely, I like the kid, and I will do everything I can to do my best for him and be there to help.”