Yankees saying 'uh-oh, Mo'
Posted: Thursday, August 16, 2007 12:13 PM
The Yankees’ determined charge to the playoffs might have hit the one bump from which there is no recovery. After converting 19 straight saves, Mariano Rivera has blown two straight games, one that the Yankees came back to win, and one that they lost.
It could just be a tired arm. Joe Torre has pretty much held to his preseason vow of not overusing his closer, but this week, he was called on three times in four days. On Sunday against Cleveland, Mo needed 30 pitches in an inning and a third to save a win against Cleveland. The next night, against Baltimore, he allowed the Orioles a run in one rocky inning, but the Yankees came back for the win. Wednesday night, after Shelley Duncan hit a dramatic, three-run ninth-inning home run to tie the Orioles, the not-so-Mighty Mo gave up three runs, including a two-run homer, and lost the save and the game. He threw 27 pitches, for a total of 76 over the four-day span.
Rivera has had high pitch counts in other games this season. In June, he hit 33 in one game and 28 in another. But before Sunday against Cleveland, he’d thrown as many as 20 pitches in an outing only twice in 13 previous outings going back to July 7. Two days before that Sunday outing, he’s needed just 13 pitches to get three outs against the Indians.
There’s no way Torre can use Rivera for at least two days. When he comes back, the Yankees can only hope and pray that he just hit a little slump and his arm got tired from overwork. It’s happened before, and rest has always been the cure.
It had better be, because without Rivera, the Yankees aren’t going to complete their remarkable comeback. Rookie Joba Chamberlain has the stuff to close games, but the team has vowed not to put his arm at risk by pitching him in back-to-back games. The rule for him is one day off for each inning pitched.
And after Chamberlain, there’s not a whole lot, just the erratic Kyle Farnsworth, who has not shown that he has the mental makeup to close out games.
The Yankees can not survive without Rivera. And his past two games put Torre in a tough spot. The season has entered a stage at which the Yankees can not give up any games. That means they may need Rivera to pitch two or three nights in a row. But if he’s getting tired and what we saw this week is more than a little slump, they won’t be able to do that.
The Yankees are not the same team without him because they don’t have the same confidence. If he starts blowing saves, the team will start pressing for more runs and everything can fall apart as quickly as it all has come together since the All-Star break.
History says that Rivera will get over it with a couple days rest. Reality says the Yankees can’t afford to give him the rest he needs. Your head says not to panic. Your gut says reach for the Maalox.
Just don’t even bother looking ahead to the playoffs, though. If this is what happens when Mo has to pitch three times in four nights, he won’t get through the postseason, when they need him every night. And if Mo can’t go, the Yanks are finished.
