The postseason and saves never get old for Yankee closer Mariano Rivera. He went into Game 1 of the ALCS Friday night against Texas with 559 saves in the regular season and a record 41 in the postseason.
View full sizeMariano Rivera, here pitching against the Indians in 2009, is considered one of, if not the best postseason closer in history.Arlington, Texas -- Mariano Rivera has 559 regular-season saves, the most in American League history. He has a record 41 more in the postseason.
He is the man who slams the door; who adds the period to the last sentence in the final chapter.
Rivera earned his first save for the Yankees in 1996 when he was 26 years old. He recorded his first postseason save in 1997.
This month Rivera, 40, saved the first two games in the Yankees' three-game sweep of the Twins in the AL Division Series. He has been at it for 14 years, and he will be waiting for a chance to do it again against Texas in the AL Championship Series that opened Friday night at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
"Everytime it's like brand new . . . brand new," said Rivera. "Even though I've been here a few times, you go out there and you feel the butterflies. You feel the excitement. It's tremendous . . . a tremendous feeling."
Texas closer Neftali Feliz saved 40 games this year. He is 22, a baby. Rivera came to the same job later in life, but he has given no indication he is ready to go anywhere.
"I have no idea what it feels like to save 40 games when you're 22," said Rivera. "I never did it. But he attacks the hitters. That's what all closers have to do -- attack."
Rivera finished the regular season at 3-3 with 33 saves and a 1.80 ERA. He struck out 45, walked 11 and allowed 39 hits in 60 innings. The opposition hit .183 against him.
This is the Yankees' 15th postseason appearance in the past 16 years. Rivera has been here for all of them.
"It never gets old," said Rivera. "When you have an opportunity to get here, it never gets old. A lot of great players have never had this opportunity.
"I take every shot in the playoffs like it's the first one. I don't know when I will be doing this again. . . . I will never take it for granted."
Texas, in advancing to the ALCS for the first time in franchise history, needed five games to defeat Tampa Bay in the Division Series. In Game 5, they scored three runs from second base without the benefit of a hit.
How do you stop such aggressive baserunning?
"That's easy," said Rivera with a smile. "You just don't let them on base. Sounds easy, huh?"
No, it doesn't. Except, perhaps, if your name is Mariano Rivera.
Language barrier: Texas shortstop Elvis Andrus learned English in an unusual way.
"I listened to country and western songs," said Andrus, a native of Venezuela. "It was a lot easier to learn than listening to hip hop." Good scouting report: MVP candidate Josh Hamilton hit .111 with one RBI in the division series for the Rangers. He missed most of September with broken ribs, and it showed against the Rays.
Second baseman Ian Kinsler, speaking during Thursday's ALCS workout day, said he wasn't worried about Hamilton.
"He's so talented, it can be at any moment when he breaks out," said Kinsler. "There's really no one worried about him, thinking that's he's stuck some place. He's a positive person and he's going to keep working."
Friday night, in the first inning of Game 1, Hamilton hit a three-run homer off CC Sabathia to give Texas a 3-0 lead. Deer season: If you've been watching the Rangers this season, you might wonder what's going on when one of them puts his hands on either side of his batting helmet after a good play on the bases or sticks his arm in the air in like he's just finished shooting a hook shot after a big hit.
It's all about antlers and horns.
"When Mark DeRosa was here, he brought up the whole deer thing," said Kinsler. "He started calling fast guys deers. . . . Then Nelson Cruz started throwing the deer antlers thing around. Nelson is a funny guy and we just kind of grabbed onto it in spring training and it went from there.
And the claw?
"It's been around for a while," said Kinsler. "Esteban German started doing it. People like to watch him play the game. When he does something like that, everyone jumps on board."