Facing Mariano Rivera
Page 8
*Teixeria’s only hit against Rivera was an opposite field ground ball single to left field on a three-and-two pitch in the top of the ninth inning with one out and Rivera protecting a 9-8 lead against the Rangers at Yankee Stadium, on August 11, 2005. On the next pitch, Hank Blalock flew out and then Rivera struck out Alfonso Soriano to record his thirty-first save of the 2005 season, and 367 for his career.
*Ventura was batting second for the Chicago White Sox on July 4, 1995, when Rivera pitched eight shutout innings to earn his second big league victory in a 4-1 Yankees win at Comiskey Park, in Chicago. Rivera allowed two hits, both singles to Frank Thomas, walked four and struck out 11 batters.
*Rivera has allowed three game-tying hits in postseason games the Yankees have lost, but only one, by Womack, occurred in a World Series. The three game-tying postseason hits in Yankees’ losses are to Sandy Alomar, Jr. of the Cleveland Indians in Game Four of the 1997 A.L.D.S.; to Tony Womack of the Arizona Diamondbacks in Game Seven of the 2001 World Series; and to Bill Mueller of the Boston Red Sox in Game Four of the 2004 A.L.C.S.
*The Mets fell behind 4-0 in the first inning, and also trailed 5-3 and 6-5, but tied in the ninth inning. Wright hit a long drive that barely eluded Johnny Damon for the clutch hit that drove home Paul Lo Duca with the winning run.
*Youkilis singled through the box, knocking down Rivera, and with two outs in the ninth inning Bay hit a game-tying homer. Then Youkilis hit a walk-off homer in the eleventh off Damaso Marte for a 5-4 Red Sox win at Fenway Park, on April 24, 2009.
Section Two: Outfielders
Brady Anderson
Center field
Playing Career
Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles, and Cleveland Indians from 1988 to 2002
Career Statistics
1,834 games, 1,661 hits, 210 home runs, 761 runs batted in, .256 batting average, .362 on-base percentage, .425 slugging percentage
Brady Anderson facing Mariano Rivera (regular season)
6-for-20, 2 extra-base hits, 1 walk, 1 strikeout, .300 batting average, .333 on-base percentage, .400 slugging percentage
Mo Cred
Anderson hit 50 home runs in 1996 to set the Baltimore Orioles’ single-season record.
I REMEMBER GETTING A hit off Rivera at Camden Yards in [what was to be] my last at-bat against him, and it helped us win a ball game. The next day, two young [Orioles] players, Jay Gibbons and Chris Richard, both also left-handed batters, asked how I was able to hit him, as if I had some secret, which I clearly didn’t. I had to laugh because Mariano saws me off as much as the next guy. To have three left-handed hitters talking about how you hit a right-handed pitcher who just throws fastballs, that’s unheard of.*, **
Brady Anderson
Year Date Result
1996 4/30 Fly out
6/28 Ground out
6/28 Fielder’s choice
7/11 Strikeout (Swinging)
7/13 Double
Postseason 10/9 Ground out
10/12 Strikeout (Swinging)
1997 9/6 Fielder’s choice
1998 5/21 Line out
7/4 Single
9/20 Pop out
1999 4/13 Fly out
4/15 Double
6/27 Ground out
7/2 Ground out
2000 5/7 Single
7/24 Foul out
7/26 Fly out
10/1 Ground out
2001 5/3 Walk
5/4 Fielder’s choice
5/13 Single
9/21 Single
That particular at-bat I had crept up in the box about one foot. I once saw [Roberto] Alomar hit a line drive down the left-field line off Mariano. Robby was one of those hitters, like Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs, whose front foot was ahead of home plate when they took their batting stance. My front foot was behind the plate in my usual stance, but against Mo in that particular at-bat I stood forward in the box and stood away from the plate a bit. The strategy worked fine that at-bat, but if you do that and Mo catches you, then he’ll throw the cutter outside. It was a decision I made for that game and it happened to work.*
An at-bat against Mariano is an at-bat you can’t figure out. It’s strange because you knew what pitch was coming, and you knew it was going to cut in on your hands. You’d tell yourself to see the ball a long time, to pull your hands in, and still, when you’re grounding out weakly to end the game, you just shake your head in disbelief. He never pitched around me; as a closer, he was never in a situation to pitch around me. I knew I was going to get a fastball and he could still jam me in a way that I couldn’t
figure out.
I’ll tell you how unusual and unique this guy is. As I was laying in bed one night before facing the Yankees the next day, I considered if it was humanly possible to swing at a spot not where you thought the ball was, but where you thought the ball would be. As a hitter, you’re trained to hit the ball on the barrel of the bat, but with Mariano, I thought, maybe I should swing a few inches over to the right from where the ball actually is.
[My Orioles’ teammates] Rafael Palmeiro and Roberto Alomar had a bat they called Stumpy. It was a bat [they used] just for Rivera. I used to crack-up laughing when I saw Stumpy. It had a big barrel, but it was a super short bat. It was thirty-two inches long. I used a thirty-four inch, thirty-three ounce bat, and I thought, what the heck, I’m going to try Stumpy. I still couldn’t get the cutter off my hands. Stumpy didn’t work.
You get tired of getting jammed and you’re determined not to get jammed against him. So when I was in the batter’s box he forced me to do different things. If I cheated inside he would throw the cutter outside, and when I’d be looking outside, he’d throw the cutter in. He has a great idea of how to pitch. He’s phenomenal. What he does is hard to describe. Even now when I watch him on television I have a hard time figuring it out.
A lot of guys throw cutters, but this is one pitcher who you cannot scout, you can’t talk to other hitters about him, because until you face him, you don’t know how different his cutter is. His pitch does not have the same spin as other cutters. His cutter has four-seam fastball spin and then it cuts—it cuts late. With Mo, it’s unusual when every single hitter in the line-up knows what pitch is coming and knows he’s not going to walk you; it makes for a different kind of game.
I liked our battles; it was fair competition. I remember we got to Mo and beat him a couple of other times at Yankee Stadium—once scoring three runs in the ninth inning—but all closers are going to blow a few saves if you face a team often enough. I fared pretty well against him. You’re proud of every hit, but if you saw some of those at-bats I had against him, there were some pretty weakly hit balls. I had good numbers against him, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. If you add in the postseason, then I’m 6-for-22 facing Rivera.*, **
For a while, right-handed batters had a better chance against him. But Mo figured that out, and he learned to throw a two-seam fastball that broke in on righties. I remember Cal [Ripken Jr.] coming back to the dugout really pissed off, saying: “Great, now he’s got a two-seamer.”
I recently saw him diffuse Evan Longoria on television. He threw one cutter away just to show it to him. Then he threw three two-seamers in on his hands, making one of the best hitters in baseball look helpless. When I saw that at-bat, I thought, he shouldn’t retire. I hope he doesn’t. He certainly has at least another year, maybe two, in him. I’m hoping he’ll reconsider. He’s one of the unusual athletes in that you want to beat him, but you certainly respect him, and we’ll miss him when he’s gone.***
I’ve admired him for a long time. He’s one of my favorite players to watch, and I hope he pitches a few more years. He’s a pro. There’s a lot to like about him. I like the way he walks onto the mound and the way he leaves the mound. I like his demeanor. I like that he saves his best performances for the postseason. He’s arguably the best postseason pitcher ever.
Garret Anderson
Left field
Playing Career
Anaheim Angels, Atlanta Braves, and Los Angeles Dodgers from 1994 to 2010
Career Statistics
2,228 games, 2,529 hits, 287 home runs, 1,365 runs batted in, .293 batting average, .324 on-base percentage, .461 slugging percentage
Garret Anderson facing Mariano Rivera (regular season)
3-for-19, 0 extra-base hits, 1 run batted in, 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, .158 batting average, .200 on-base percentage, .158 slugging percentage
Mo Cred
Anderson is the Angels’ franchise leader in hits and runs batted in. He was the Most Valuable Player of the 2003 All-Star Game.
I DIDN’T HAVE A lot of success off him, but I liked facing him because, from a hitting standpoint, you knew what you were getting. I knew he was going to throw me a cutter inside. He’s destroyed so many left-handers’ bats over the years, so I backed off the plate. You can’t cover the whole plate; you have to pick a spot. I picked the inside corner, and if he throws it there, that’s your best chance to have success. I would give him the outside part of the plate. If he could hit the outside corner I’d tip my hat to him.
The three hits I had off him were probably broken bat singles. The only hit I remember was a topper down the first base line that jumped over the first baseman’s head. All those hits were probably before he was the Mariano we know now, before he learned to throw the cutter. When he came up as a starter, he got hit around pretty good, because he didn’t have that pitch yet. Once he started throwing the cutter, it was a 180-degree difference.
Garret Anderson
Year Date Result
1996 5/17 Double play
1997 4/8 Single
8/21 Fielder’s choice
1998 7/30 Single
8/25 Ground out
8/26 Ground out (1 RBI)
1999 6/18 Walk
2000 4/4 Ground out
8/13 Ground out
8/18 Strikeout (Swinging)
2001 8/4 Pop out
2002 (Postseason) 10/1 Line out
2003 7/31 Fly out
2005 7/30 Ground out
7/31 Double
Postseason 10/4 Fly out
2006 8/27 Line out
2007 7/7 Pop out
8/20 Single
8/22 Strikeout (Swinging)
2008 8/1 Strikeout (Swinging)
2010 6/27 Fly out
His approach to pitching is very simple; he has a devastating pitch and he uses that to his advantage. You knew he was throwing a cutter, but you didn’t know how quick the cutter moved until you were standing [in the batter’s box]. His ball is very hard to track. You can’t track it the same as you can a normal fastball, it almost disappears on its way there and then it’s on you. I faced guys who threw harder, but their ball doesn’t get there as quick as his ball. You see the ball moving but you don’t realize how much it’s really moving. It’s an illusion to some degree. You almost had to guess where the ball would end up. I would bring my hands in and try to get the bat on the ball. I didn’t try to do too much. I wasn’t trying to drive the ball; all I was trying to do was make contact. The cutter isn’t designed to make you swing and miss; he wants you to hit that pitch, because he knows it’s moving so much you’re not going to get good wood on it.
I remember watching the 2001 World Series at a friend’s house. I was dumbfounded that Arizona could come back and win the seventh game [beating Rivera]. That’s when he was on top of his game. My friend didn’t know about Mariano. He said, “What’s the big deal? Relievers blow games.”
I said, “You don’t understand, that doesn’t happen to this guy.”
I can’t put into words how great he is. A lot of little things had to happen for the Diamondbacks to win the game—a throwing error on a bunt—it was a freak game.
Yankee Stadium was my favorite place to play. I’m sorry they tore it down. I loved playing against the Yankees in that stadium. Those fans got to their feet for all their players. When Mariano Rivera was coming into a game they blasted the music, they made sure you knew he was coming in. I loved their fans, how they stood up and made a lot of noise for their stars.
My last season in Anaheim in 2008 I bought a No. 42 jersey and asked Mariano to autograph it for me. There’s a handful of guys I got signed jerseys from, guys I respected for how they approach the game. Mariano is someone I respected as a professional and a great player, nothing more than that.
Frank Catalanotto
Left field
Playing Career
Detroit Tigers, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and New York Mets from 1997 to 2010
Career Statistics
1,265 games, 1,113 hits, 84 home runs, 457 runs batted in, .291 batting average, .357 on-base percentage, .445 slugging percentage
Frank Catalanotto facing Mariano Rivera (regular season)
3-for-11, 0 extra-base hits, 1 run batted in, 1 strikeout, .273 batting average, .250 on-base percentage, .273 slugging percentage
Mo Cred
Catalanotto set the Toronto Blue Jays franchise record for most hits in a game, going 6-for-6 against the Chicago White Sox, on May 1, 2004.
Frank Catalanotto
Year Date Result
1999 7/6 Sacrifice fly (1 RBI)
7/8 Single
2000 4/17 Ground out
4/19 Ground out
2001 8/20 Fielder’s choice
8/23 Single
2003 7/13 Ground out
2004 7/22 Ground out
7/26 Foul out
2005 4/30 Strikeout (Looking)
8/25 Ground out
2006 7/20 Single
FACING MARIANO RIVERA was a nightmare for me. It seemed like every at-bat was the same. Mariano would always feed me the cutter inside. It had such [a] late break. All left-handed hitters are worried about that cutter inside. It’s a psychological thing. You have to pick one side of the plate [because] there is no way you can cover both sides of the plate against him. I looked inside. If he painted the outside corner, I tipped my hat to him.
I took a different approach against Mariano [beginning] in 2002, when I was playing on the Texas Rangers with Rafael Palmeiro. Rafael hit Mariano very well.*
Rafi told me to move way up in the batter’s box. I thought he was crazy. By moving closer, I’m making a 95-miles-per-hour pitch look like 100 [m.p.h.]. He said, “No, because he’s got such great late break, you want to hit the ball before it breaks, so move up as far as possible.”
That [advice] helped me. By making that adjustment, I got the bat on the ball better the next few times I faced him.
In 2004, I smartened up and ordered a shorter bat to use just for [at-bats against] Mariano Rivera. I normally used a thirty-three inch, thirty-one ounce bat. I had the clubhouse manager order me a bat that was thirty inches long and thirty ounces. The most solid ball I ever hit off Rivera was using that short bat in a game in Toronto when [Blue Jays outfielder] Vernon Wells hit a big walk-off home run.**
By moving up in the [batter’s] box and swinging the shorter bat, I was hoping to get some good wood on the ball. Sure enough, in the two or three at-bats against Mariano after I got that bat, I didn’t crush the ball, but I hit it well enough.
Bubba Carpenter
Outfield
Playing Career
Colorado Rockies in 2000
Career Statistics
15 games, 6 hits, 3 home runs, 5 runs batted in, .222 batting average, .323 on-base percentage, .556 slugging percentage
Mo Cred
Carpenter was Rivera’s minor league teammate with Albany-Colonie and Columbus in 1994 and ’95.
WHEN I PLAYED with Mariano he was a starter. When it came to getaway day we wanted Mariano to pitch, because he got on the mound and he got after it. He either got outs quick, or he got hit quick. He didn’t mess around. He got after it. He wasn’t the Mo that you see now. When he was a starter he didn’t have that cutter. As soon as he learned that cut fastball, the rest is history.
His numbers weren’t r
eally good [in the minor leagues]. But even when he was bad, he looked good being bad. His body language, his demeanor, everything about him was professional. You could just tell that one of these days he was going to be what he ended up being. He had that look. The way he carried himself, his attitude on the mound, everything about him was the Mariano that we see now.
You could just tell [he was going to be a major league player]. There are two people I played with that I say that about: Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera. Jeter could go 0-for-4 and make two errors and he looked really good doing it. You walk away saying: “Wow, Jeter’s a good player.”
I could go 0-for-4 and make two errors and you’d say: “Bubba Carpenter, he’s not good.”
It’s the same with Mariano. He could give up five runs in five innings and look good doing it. There’s something about him, the way he carries himself, it just says professionalism. He didn’t get on the mound and fist pump or anything like that. You knew he had confidence.
Thinking back, Mariano was a top ten prospect in Columbus, but he wasn’t one of the top prospects. Some of those guys get labeled a top prospect and you don’t see it. But Mariano you could just tell. I was big on what’s inside of guys. I call it the ABCs: attitude, balls and character. You look at Mariano and that’s him. You just talk to him about pitching and you knew that everything about him exudes success.
In the minor leagues, showing up to the field day to day for work, you just knew at some point he was going to be the man. Whether you knew he was going to be a Hall of Famer, I don’t know about that, but you could tell he was going to be successful. He was destined to be really good. How good, I couldn’t have told you back in the day. But you see certain players and you just know, and that was the case with Mo, you just knew.