Rivera saves Yanks, same as it ever was

By BOB KLAPISCH
BERGEN COUNTY RECORD COLUMNIST
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/
October 26, 2009

NEW YORK – By the end Yankee Stadium had turned into Animal House – all that was missing were the kegs. The Angels were falling apart, literally, dropping the ball, throwing it away, ruining their reputation for being the last American League teamthat wasn’t afraid of the Yankees.

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 25: Jorge Posada(notes) #20 and Mariano Rivera(notes) #42 of the New York Yankees celebrate their 5-2 victory over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the top of the ninth inning of Game Six of the ALCS during the 2009 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium on October 25, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. The New York Yankees won the ALCS series 4-2 over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim to capture the American League pennant. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)

It made for a great show for the sell-out Stadium crowd, everyone body-surfing their way to the World Series. The Twins caved in a hurry and the Angels were softer than anyone knew, but the Yankees are bracing for a miniature apocalypse with the Phillies. Finally: a notheast-hardened team that’s unmoved by the Bombers’ mythology.

But no one was thinking about this Turnpike turf war just yet. For one night, the Yankees were cherishing their gifts in a 5-2 victory in Game Six of the AL Championship Series – notably the Angels’ errors that led to two unearned runs in the eighth inning, Andy Pettitte’s crisp 6.1 innings and Mariano Rivera’s six-out save.

It was only fitting that the game’s greatest closer delivered the Yankees’ first pennant since 2003. For once in this series Joe Girardi controlled his urge to over-manage, marginalizing Joba Chamberlain (two-thirds of an inning) and by-passing Phil Hughes altogether.

When the first note of “Enter Sandman” filled the ballpark, it was as if Girardi had taken a blood oath to never again stray from the straight and narrow path of late-inning success. Rivera jogged in from the bullpen, the crowd letting out a roar that was more like a thick wall of sound.

How many times have we seen Rivera accomplish the near-impossible, reducing major league hitters to jelly – a thousand? A million? He allowed the Angels a run in the top of the eighth, but Mike Scioscia’s players, noted for their sound, crisp defense all year, made two appalling errors in the bottom half of the inning. Howie Kendrick dropped a throw covering first base on Nick Swisher’s sacrifice bunt. And then Scott Kazmir threw Melky Cabrera’s attempted bunt somewhere to China.

It was an embarrassing end for a team that really was sloppy, confused and surprisingly under-motivated. Except for a late, two-run rally in Game Five, did the Angels ever play like their hearts were in it?

By the time they stepped to the plate in the ninth inning, the Angels knew the last three outs would be a formality. But Yankees fans didn’t treat it that way. Rivera got Howie Kendrick to bounce out to Mark Teixeira for the first out, and induced a harmless fly ball from Juan Rivera. The Angels handed pinch-hitter Gary Matthews a bat as their last hope and – talk about a pigeon being sucked into the turbines of an oncoming 757 – Rivera quickly had two strikes on him.

The crowd was now on its feet, woozy with pennant-lust, every Yankee perched along the top step of the dugout, Alex Rodriguez, on his way to his first World Series as a Yankee, seemed frozen at third base.

It might’ve been fitting for A-Rod to grab that final out, like Charlie Hayes in the 1996 World Series, but not symmetrical as Rivera destroying Matthews with a cut fastball for the ages.

It was the same devastating pitch the Yankee closer has been using for a decade, and like the thousands of hitters before him who were over-matched, Matthews simply swung through it for strike three.

The ball exploded in Jorge Posada’s glove, turning the place into an open-air asylum. It was Animal House, alright, but instead of Belushi you heard Frank Sinatra booming “New York, New York” over and over into the night.

The Yankees mobbed each other, back-slapping, high-fiving, hugging each other – men’s substitute for tears. They sought out Pettitte, who set a major league record with his 16th post-season victory. They crushed CC Sabathia, who was voted the ALCS Most Valuable Player, and A-Rod, who was freed from the prison cell of his past October failures with another brilliant night. He reached base in all five trips to the plate, raising his post-season average to .438.

NEW YORK - OCTOBER 25: Mariano Rivera(notes) #42 of the New York Yankees pitches against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the top of the eighth inning in Game Six of the ALCS during the 2009 MLB Playoffs at Yankee Stadium on October 25, 2009 in the Bronx borough of New York City. (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)

And the Yankees made sure to find Rivera in the chaos because as Derek Jeter would later ask, “where would we be without him?” The right-hander, just shy of his 40th birthday, continues a run of excellence that defies the laws of aging.

Man or machine? Rivera has appeared in 47 post-season games at home during his career, and has allowed an earned run in just three of them. There were rough moments in 1997, 2001 and 2004, so it’s unfair to say Rivera has been perfect. He is the first to admit, “I’m only human.”

But all night, the Angels knew time was running out on them. They trailed by two runs after the fourth, and Scioscia realized that unless he could tie the game before the seventh, his hitters would have to deal with Rivera over a span of six outs.

Pettitte spoke for everyone when he said, “when we bring Mo in, we feel like the game is over.” Rivera remains the single greatest asset the Yankees have known since 1997, and now he has a chance for his fifth Series ring.

The Phillies are waiting for Rivera, for A-Rod, and, yes, CC, too, even as he’s preparing to pitch in Games 1, 4 and 7. The NL champs have been busy crushing faux powerhouses for the last three years, starting with Mets in 2007 and now the Dodgers in 2008 and 2009. Jeter was right when he said, “when you’re in the playoffs, every round gets tougher and tougher.” But the difference between the Yankees and Phillies will be in the bullpen and, specifically, those last three outs.

You don’t have to ask who holds the advantage between Rivera and Brad Lidge. The Yankees just beat an Angels team that believed destiny was theirs, only theirs, and it was Rivera who made it final, whipping one more perfect cutter by Matthews.

“This is very tough for us, it really stings,” Scioscia said. “But the bottom line is the Yankees played better than us. They beat us, and they deserve (to go to the World Series).”

The champagne flowed like crazy in the home clubhouse, everyone wishing the party could go on forever. But there’s one more stop along the way. The World Series awaits, and somewhere, somehow, you know the Yankees will eventually turn to Rivera with a familiar October request: save us.

Same as it ever was.