Remembering Mariano Rivera's Only Post-Season Blown Save
Rivera has 88 appearances in the post-season with only one blown save. When he walks to the mound in the World Series, it is usually (in the immortal words of Bill Paxton) "game over man, game over." But his one blown save is remembered in Phoenix, since it coincided with what is easily the greatest moment in Arizona pro sports history.
Michael Miller:
Yup, that was a one great game in a very climactic Worlds Series. A cliff hanger, as they say. Baseball at its very best!
Kudos to the Yankees on #27. For the moment all is right in the world. This is the way things are 'supposed' to be.
November 5, 2009, 10:54 amJess:
Ah, memories... except when reality intrudes.
November 5, 2009, 11:49 amTorre is a master at strategy, but not at logistics - he forgot (!) that Rivera's cutter yields "bloops", and mistakenly played in. Had the Yanks been at normal depth, the inning would have been over...
David K:
That blown save was probably the most deflated I felt in ~40 years as a fan. He blew it and the Diamondbacks earned it but that was a heckuva way to go down. It was odd not to see Steinbrenner there but I'm glad that he had at least one more chance to see the Yanks on top, even from long distance.
November 5, 2009, 12:25 pmDave:
Maybe that was his only World Series blown save, but it certainly wasn't his only "post-season" blown save. Rivera had two consecutive blown saves against Boston in the 2004 ALCS.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/2004_ALCS
That eventually led to the first Sox championship in 500 years. The following year's Fenway opener happened to be against the Yankees. When NY's lineup was announced there was a HUGE round of applause for Mariano. He laughed and tipped his hat.
Trust me - Sox fans fondly remember some Rivera blown post-season saves as well.
November 5, 2009, 4:09 pmZach:
I remember reading on the Wiki that, after the 2001 loss, that Rivera said he was glad he blew the save. Had he not blown the save, his teammate and friend, Enrique Wilson, would have been on American Airlines 587 back home to the Dominican Republic. That flight was the one that went down in a New York City neighborhood after takeoff, killing everyone on board.
November 5, 2009, 6:37 pmKelly:
Ah, the memories...Now I've got to go dig out my video of that series...
November 6, 2009, 7:04 amEd Stearns:
I just watched the end of the game, first time since 2001. Had 500 bones on my DBacks, what a way to pull it out. They credit Gonzo with that sad little and wonderful single, Womack's tying double that took guys from 1st and 2nd to one in - tied - and runners on 2nd and 3rd forcing Rivera to HBP Counsel, er I mean accidentally hit Counsel to open the double-play was the biggest hit of that inning. For his sake I wish he would have just cleared the wall and got the glory, as history remembers, Womack's HUGE hit was just a lost memory. That was what tied the game, forcing possible extras and more importantly, moved the runners, opening up the sac-fly walk-off for Gonzo. I mean, Gonzo had the best year of his life, so props, 57 HR's, but after Womack's hit/RBI that just blew it wide open. Downside is that if the DBacks failed to score, R Johnson was sitting and we had Kim to blow yet another game and give the Yanks the series. I just watched that and relived it, what a treat and oh, nice single Gonzo but Womack, you're an underrated beast!!!
July 27, 2015, 12:17 am