SPECIAL SPORTS ARTICLES

Nobody Asked Me But....
by Wilbur Wilke
April 2, 2005

LET'S PUT THE BLAME WHERE IT BELONGS!

Last year in the ACLS Championship games between the NY Yankees and the Boston Red Sox, with the Yankees leading 3 games to none, and the Yankees leading 4-2 in game four, Mariano Rivera was called in from the bullpen to close out the game. He failed. He blew the save and the Red Sox won the game. Nobody's perfect, and Yankee fans dismissed it as just one of those things. The very next day, Rivera came in again with the Yankees leading in the ninth inning and promptly blew the save and the game again.

We all know that those two blown saves inspired the Red Sox to come back from their big 3-0 hole and win the Amerocan League pennant. And wasn't it Rivera in the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2001,that came in from the pen in the 7th game to preserve a one run lead and quickly blew it and the Yankees lost the series?

But after the Red Sox debacle, during the long, quiet winter, the Yankees set out to bolster their starting pitching staff. They insisted that had they had a premeir starter, they would have won the championship. Now, let's look at the facts. The starting pitching was good enough to win the first 3 games. They were good enough to hand the closing task to Rivera with a 4-2 lead. All the starting pitching did was allow the Red Sox just 2 runs. Not bad. The next day the starting pitching allowed 2 runs again before handing the ball over to Rivera. So what was the problem with the starting pitiching?

Then this year, in the second game of the 2005 season against the Red Sox, Carl Pavano pitched a superb game, allowing just 2 runs. In came Rivera in the ninth inning to hold on to a 3-2 lead. He couldn't do it again. He blew the save, allowing the Sox to score the tying run and denying Pavano a well-deserved win. The irony of that game was that the Yankees scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, thanks to a walk off homer by Derek Jeter, and Rivera got the win and Pavano got nothing. How does a pitcher who pitched poorly, blowing the save, get the win. A bad ruke that needs fixing, don't you think?

But that's not the end of the story. The very next day, in the third game of the young 2005 baseball season, Rivera was once again called in to the game by Joe Torre to hold on to a 3-2 lead and guess what happened. You guessed it. He blew the save and allowed the Red Sox to score five runs to win the gme. Now I ask you. Who's to blame?

First of all it's Rivera's fault, not the starting pitching. Let's put the blame where it belongs.

Secondly, Joe Torre deserves some blame too. Why would he keep bringing Rivera in to face the Red Sox when they have his number? Arguably. Rivera is the best closer in baseball, and has been for 9 years, but not against the Sox. So where do we put the blame? On Rivera and Joe Torre. Not on the starting pitching staff.

Wilbur Wilke's Daily Sports Blog
View Previous Articles

You Heard It Here First...

Nobody Asked Me But...