Yankees 4, Devil Rays 1
Familiar Faces Return, One in Unfamiliar Spot
from nytimes.com
By TYLER KEPNER
Published: September 23, 2006
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Sept. 22 — Gary Sheffield, who cultivates an image of
toughness, admitted he was nervous. Mariano Rivera, a gentle soul, did not.
Both returned to the Yankees on Friday in a 4-1 victory over the Tampa Bay
Devil Rays, with encouraging results.
“Not nervous — I was anxious,” Rivera said. “I couldn’t wait to pitch.”
Back on the mound after missing three weeks to rest his arm, Rivera put two
runners on in the ninth inning but recovered to strike out the last two
batters and earn his 34th save. Sheffield played for the first time since May
29 and handled every chance in his debut at first base.
With a glove borrowed from the backup Craig Wilson, Sheffield scooped a throw
from Derek Jeter for the second out of the third inning. Jeter, normally so
serious on the field, could not contain his smile.
“You just laugh, because he was nervous,” said Jeter, who went 1 for 4 to
reach 200 hits for the fifth time in his career. “He said going into the day
he couldn’t remember being that nervous. You try to joke around with him,
loosen him up a little bit.”
Sheffield grounded out three times and played six innings on defense. He was
in the dugout for the ninth inning, when Rivera saved Chien-Ming Wang’s 18th
victory.
Wang (18-6) worked seven innings, allowing a leadoff homer to Rocco Baldelli
and just five other hits. He has the same record as the favorite for the
American League Cy Young Award, Minnesota’s Johan Santana, and shares the
major league lead in victories.
The Yankees have come to expect solid starts by Wang, and there was far more
intrigue for Rivera’s return. He had not pitched since Aug. 31, when a
magnetic resonance imaging exam showed a muscle strain near his right elbow.
Rivera came back throwing strikes, at speeds up to 94 miles an hour on the
Tropicana Field radar gun. He broke the bat of the first hitter he faced,
Carl Crawford, but the shattered barrel smashed into Jorge Posada’s helmet.
Posada, the Yankees’ catcher, bolted toward the dugout and down the steps.
It scared the entire team, Manager Joe Torre said, but Posada quickly
recovered to guide Rivera through the ninth.
Rivera needed him. He struck out Greg Norton, but hit Ty Wigginton and threw
too high with his first pitch to Dioner Navarro. Posada went to the mound for
a quick talk, reminding Rivera to finish his pitches, which would bring them
down in the zone.
“At the beginning, I was, how can I put it — tentative,” Rivera said. “
But after I hit Ty, it got better.”
The Yankees had shut down Rivera because he felt tightness in his arm after
games. When asked how he felt after this one, Rivera said the tightness was
gone.
“It felt good,” he said. “Everything is out of there, yes.”
Those were encouraging words for the Yankees, who are still not free of
injury problems. Jason Giambi had his third cortisone shot for his sore left
wrist on Thursday and had another magnetic resonance imaging exam.
“With all that testing, I’m more concerned about my radioactivity now,”
Giambi said. “I’m going to start glowing in the dark.”
Giambi clarified the results of the M.R.I., saying that the doctor, Melvin
Rosenwasser, could not tell if a ligament was actually torn.
“He said, ‘I can’t see it, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there,’ ”
Giambi said, adding that arthroscopic surgery could be the only way to find
out.
Giambi has not homered since Aug. 20, but Torre said leaving Giambi off the
playoff roster would be a long shot.
Still, with Giambi’s status uncertain, the Yankees are glad to have
Sheffield back. He has never played first base at any level but is taking to
it quickly. To stay ready, Sheffield said, he expects every throw to be bad
and keeps his glove low.
Nervous or not, he is using his toughness to embrace the challenge.
“These are my World Series,” Sheffield said. “We’ve got nine games, and I
’ve got to treat it as such. When the playoffs come, I have to be ready.”
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