Rays giddy about another comeback
Tampa Bay Rays' Carlos Pena is swarmed by teammates after hitting the game-winning RBI single in the ninth inning. (April 6, 2012) Credit: AP
This Opening Day began Friday with the Rays and their fans reminiscing about that incredible final night of the 2011 regular season, when Evan Longoria's walk-off home run against the Yankees' Scott Proctor propelled Tampa Bay to an improbable wild-card berth.
Friday ended with the Rays and their fans celebrating another walk-off win. But the reliever the Rays beat this time wasn't Proctor, whose pitch to Longoria probably was his final one as a major-leaguer. The reliever was Mariano Rivera, in what could be his final season as the greatest closer of all time.
If this was Rivera's last Opening Day -- his hints on the matter suggest it will be -- it will not go down as a favorite memory. Handed a one-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, Rivera allowed two runs and recorded only one out as Tampa Bay beat the Yankees, 7-6.
It was a painful ending for the Yankees but a fitting one for the Rays, who last year earned the label of one of baseball's all-time great comeback teams for their late-season and last-day rallies to overtake the Red Sox.
"I've seen the Rays come back before," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said with a weary smile after the 3-hour, 44-minute season lid-lifter.
The Rays started the festivities by raising their 2011 AL wild-card banner. It was a reminder of the differences -- other than about $135 million in payroll -- between the Rays and Yankees.
The Yankees won the AL East in 2011 and won't be throwing any parties about it before their home opener Friday. The Rays measure success differently. Going to the playoffs three times in the last four years is a remarkable run for a team that has Florida's worst ballpark situation after the Marlins opened their shiny new palace in Miami.
No, the Rays have to use smarts and pluck and accept their limitations. They faced CC Sabathia on Friday without injured centerfielder B.J. Upton, so their cleanup hitter was Jeff Keppinger. Yes, former Mets infielder Keppinger, whose six home runs last season were one fewer than Yankees No. 9 hitter Brett Gardner.
Still, the Rays were able to put seven runs on the board against the Yankees' top starter and closer. Five of them, including the game-winner, were driven in by Carlos Peña, who hit a grand slam off Sabathia in the first inning and a long single to the leftfield wall off Rivera with the based loaded in the ninth.
Rivera's downfall came quickly. Desmond Jennings singled to lead off the inning and Ben Zobrist tied the score on the next pitch with a triple to the right-centerfield wall. After a pair of intentional walks, Girardi went to a five-man infield, with Eduardo Nuñez entering the game in place of rightfielder Nick Swisher and stationing himself near second base.
It was an act of desperation; in the end, it had no effect on the outcome. Rivera struck out Sean Rodriguez before Peña sent the sellout crowd of 34,078 home with a booming shot well over Gardner's head.
Rivera spit as he walked off the mound and the Rays celebrated at home plate. The Yankees had seen this before. But not with Rivera as the victim and not on Opening Day. That stings.
"It's bad," Rivera said. "You don't want to start the season this way."
