Is Mariano Rivera still on the team? The Yankees have lost two of the last three games in walk-off fashion, without finding a way to bring in the best relief pitcher in the history of the game.
Tonight, tied 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Joe Torre sat and watched as Scott Proctor walked three batters, including the walk-off walk to Ramon Hernandez. Meanwhile, Mariano Rivera, the guy who is the BEST EVER in one to two innings stints was left as much a spectator as you and me.
On Saturday, the Yankees used seven pitchers in a 13 inning affair in San Francisco. Guess which future Hall of Fame relief pitcher was not used...You got it; Mariano Rivera. Incidentally, Scott Proctor lost that game as well.
The easy thing to do is to blame Scott Proctor for these losses. After all, he did stink in both appearances. However, this is really Joe Torre's fault. Mariano Rivera has not pitched since Friday. Unless he is nursing an undisclosed injury, he was well rested and clearly the Yankees' best option to pitch the ninth inning tonight. Torre did not use his best man, simply because it was not a "save" situation. Torre completely misallocates his resources, because he is a slave to a silly stat.
So fire Joe Torre and call Don Mattingly and Joe Girardi up for interviews. Make both of them repeat the following sentence a thousand times...
(When on the road) PRESERVING A TIE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PRESERVING A LEAD.
Hire the candidate that repeats the phrase with more conviction.
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