Saturday, Mariano Rivera collected his 601st save.
Why Won’t Girardi Let Posada Catch Rivera?
You know what would have been really neat? If longtime teammate Jorge Posada had been behind the plate when it happened.
No, that's not an original thought. Probably every Yankees fan in Yankeeland would like to see Posada behind the plate with Rivera on the mound during the big moments.
And there’s another big moment coming soon. Maybe today, maybe later this week. But soon, because it’s just a short matter of time before Rivera collects his 602nd save to garner the all-time record. Maybe Posada will take his old place behind the plate then?
Don’t count on it. As David Waldstein writes (via The New York Times):
In Saturday’s 7-6 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays, Girardi used Russell Martin, who did not start the game, to catch Rivera in the ninth inning. Martin went in for Eric Chavez, who had pinch-hit for starting catcher Austin Romine in the top of the ninth.
With that, Girardi was asked if he would consider similarly using Posada, who made his major league debut with the Yankees in 1995, the same year as Rivera.
"You think about it," Girardi said. "You know, we’ve got a one-run game there and Jorgie’s only caught six innings this year. So, we’ll see."
See, there's just this slight problem with the standings. Girardi wants to win the American League East. We like to say it doesn't matter who finishes in first place, but what we mean is that it doesn't matter as much as we wish it mattered. It does matter to Girardi and his bosses and his players. All of them want to finish ahead of the Red Sox.
Of course, the Yankees are going to finish ahead of the Red Sox. For sure. Almost.
They’re 4-1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox. The Yankees have 12 games left, the Red Sox 11. It’s exceptionally unlikely the standings will change ... but they might. And I suspect that Girardi is mostly going to play to win until that might, however small, goes away.
Obviously, Girardi doesn't believe Posada is still a real catcher. Russell Martin and Francisco Cervelli have caught more innings for the Yankees than Posada. This is no surprise. But so have Gustavo Molina and Austin Romine. Jesus Montero has caught exactly as many innings as Posada, though he's been on the 25-man roster for roughly two weeks.
Essentially, Posada is the Yankees’ sixth-string catcher. And you don’t use your sixth-string catcher in a close game unless you a) have no choice, or b) don’t care who wins.
It’s September, so Girardi has a choice. It’s still the middle of September, so Girardi cares who wins.
Who knows? Maybe when Rivera’s next save opportunity arrives, the Yankees will be ahead by three runs and the worst catcher in the world couldn’t screw it up. Or maybe when Rivera’s next save opportunity arrives, the Yankees will be six games ahead of the Red Sox with seven to play.
You gotta hope it works out, because you want Jorge Posada to be the first Yankee who hugs Mariano Rivera when that record gets busted. But I’ll not fault Joe Girardi for valuing winning over sentiment.
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