Don,

How many times do I have to say this–I never said pitch Rivera for 2 innings. I said pitch him in the 9th. I never said pitch him in the 10th.

And Rivera should not have pitched in the 9th yesterday. He should have been in the game in the 8th, to face Ortiz and the rest of the Red Sox lineup. Then, you call in Vizcaino to pitch the 9th.

To do it any other way means you are putting the save statistic ahead of the team’s chances of winning the game.

LMAO. Lee, you’re a certified Torre hater. Congratulations.

However, tonight’s game proved my point. Had the infirm idea of using Mariano on the road, in a tie game, been granted, and he pitched two
innings, it is unlikely the Yankees win this game. So get over it.

No, the players were the ones who small sample size shitted 4 times. Any old stupid manager could have done what Torre has done. How do we know that? It’s simple. Torre has always any old stupid manager.

Show me exactly where I said to use him for 2 innings. I never said that. I said use him in the 10th, when the heart of the opponents lineup, featuring an all time great in Frank Thomas, was at the plate. I never said use him in the 11th.

And the Yankees lose games all of the time by not having Rivera on the mound when the game was on the line. The last time it happened was September 13, 2007.

Any Yankees fan who (1) couldn’t figure out that the game was on the line in the 9th inning last night and (2) really doesn’t think Rivera should be in the game when it is on the line deserves to have seen them lose.

And, if the same situation happens tonight, the Yankees deserve to lose again.

Mostly, that is nonsense. This is a team that has won four (4) WS and been in post season every year under Torre. To say they have lost x-number-of-games for not bringing Mariano into a tie game on the road is silly.

It also ignores the games that Rivera saved that he would not have been available to pitch in had he been brought into tie games on the road. Especially since you seem so comfortable in using him for two innings in a tie game on the road.

If the game was still tied after Rivera pitched the 10th, you take him out and bring in someone else.

The Yankees have lost more games in the past 11 years because Rivera’s ass was sitting on the bench when the game was on the line than even the worst show up in the 9th inning pitcher would cost the team.

Mariano had no business in that game, a tie game on the road. And the same complaints [complainers] would be heard if the game went to the bottom of the 10th still tied, why did Torre take Mariano out, couldn’t he go two innings.

And how is the Boston series “more important”? We’re 5 1/2 games back of Boston and Detroit’s 3 1/2 games behind us, with only 17 games left to play. I thought every game counted the same in the standings.

Why would Mo not be available tonight? Are there Mo Rules in addition to the Joba Rules? Torre has never used Mo 3 games in a row? And, as far as the Yankees’ bottom of the line-up coming up, didn’t Torre have Posada and Jason Giambi available to pinch-hit? Among others?

I was talking about the Yankees’ bottom of the lineup. There was not a great chance they would go ahead, and Rivera was not going to pitch two innings.

If they had gone into the tenth, still not ahead, Torre would be forced to use someone else. The Yankees would still have lost and Rivera would be unavailable tonight.

9th inning–the Blue Jays had 3, 4, 5 coming up.

That is not the bottom of the lineup.