YANKEE NOTES

TORONTO – Mariano Rivera is ready for big-league hitters. Now it’s up to trainer Gene Monahan, Joe Torre and Ron Guidry to tell him when he will pitch in a game.

Rivera was pleased with a 30-pitch bullpen session yesterday in which he threw the last 15 pitches harder than he first 15.

“I am excited,” said Rivera, who hasn’t been in a game since Aug. 31 due to a strained right forearm.

Rivera will play catch today. With tomorrow dark, the first chance he will get to return is Friday against the Devil Rays in St. Petersburg.

“I want to throw three times before the season [ends],” Rivera said.

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One batting session against pitching coach Ron Guidry was good enough for the Yankees to activate Gary Sheffield from the DL yesterday, though he didn’t get in last night’s 6-3 Yank win.

“It went very well,” Torre said of Sheffield’s simulated game against Guidry, in which Sheffield hit three homers, all into the second deck of Rogers Centre.

For the second straight day, Sheffield worked extensively at first base, the position he could start at in the postseason.

“He looked more comfortable,” Torre said.

Sheffield was pleased with the contact he made off Guidry but learned a lesson about his surgically repaired left wrist on the only pitch he missed.

“I passed the test,” Sheffield said. “He threw me a two-seamer that cut and I missed it and didn’t feel it. I am game ready.”

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Lefty Sean Henn isscheduled to start tonight.