When the Yankees took an eight-run lead after six innings Tuesday against the Red Sox, the night off Mariano Rivera certainly deserved appeared to be a lock. Mike Mussina had retired every Red Sox he faced, and surely if Mussina faltered, Tanyon Sturtze and Tom Gordon could close out Game 1 of the ALCS.
Rivera spent the day traveling alone from Panama, where he buried two relatives electrocuted at his property Saturday. He arrived at Yankee Stadium in the bottom of the second inning and was greeted by hugs and smiles in the bullpen in the fifth.
Two Yankees runs off Curt Schilling in the first were followed by three off the Red Sox ace in the third. Two more against Tim Wakefield pushed the advantage to 8-0.
Yet the way Mussina lost his perfect game – an opposite-field double to left-center by Mark Bellhorn on an 0-2 pitch – was a sign the muscular Red Sox weren’t going to go quietly.
By the time Sturtze gave up a two-run homer to Jason Varitek in the seventh, the lead was down to 8-5. When Tom Gordon surrendered a two-run triple to David Ortiz with two outs in the eighth, the Red Sox had the potential tying run at third.
At that point, Joe Torre did what he has done so many other times when he needed a crucial late-game out: He called for Rivera.
How would Rivera respond? Less than a dozen hours earlier he was at the funeral for two beloved relatives, and his wife stayed in Panama.
Four pitches later, Kevin Millar popped out to Derek Jeter and the lead was intact. Bernie Williams’ two-run triple in the eighth gave Rivera a three-run cushion to work the ninth, and he survived two singles by getting Bill Mueller to bounce into a 1-6-3 game-ending double play that sealed a 10-7 Yankees victory.
It put them up, 1-0, going into last night’s ALCS Game 2.
“It was tough leaving my family there,” said Rivera, who extended his postseason saves record to 31. “I came here and my friends and teammates treated me like a king. That was something special and I appreciate that.”
Rivera said he thought about remaining in Panama but understood he had a responsibility to his Yankees’ family, too.
“I wanted to stay there with my family but there is nothing I can do,” said Rivera, who flew to Newark on a private jet supplied by the Yankees. “I talked to my wife and I talked to my family that I needed to be here. Believe me, I wanted to stay home and be with my family, but I have a job to do. I have 24 players that were waiting for me, and a manager that is happy for me to be here. I wanted to pitch. My teammates needed me there.”
Still, it was difficult. And even though last night’s Game 2 didn’t follow a funeral, it will remain hard on Rivera.
“The most difficult part of the day was leaving my family knowing that they are in pain,” Rivera said. “It was tough coming on that plane alone. There were tears coming out of my eyes. It wasn’t easy, those five hours on the plane.”
Until Mueller hit the ball on the ground back to Rivera, the large crowd held its breath because it was Mueller who beat Rivera with a two-run, walk-off homer in Fenway Park in the ninth inning on July 24, the day Varitek and Alex Rodriguez ignited a bench-clearing brawl.
“It happened once, you have to put that behind you,” Rivera said. “If it had happened today, well, you have to put that behind you, too. I don’t think about it that way. Going against anybody, if they hit me or they don’t, I am the same guy.”
On the mound he was the same Rivera. The proof was in the victory.
