The struggling Yankees bullpen met as a group before last night's game, apparently at the behest of closer Mariano Rivera.
Manager Joe Girardi, who lent his office at Camden Yards to the pitchers, deferred comment to Rivera."He's always a great leader," Girardi said.
Asked about the session, Rivera at first played coy. Then he acknowledged the meeting, saying only, "That's our thing."
The group met for at least 25 minutes before batting practice began.
"Just talking," Edwar Ramirez said. "Nothing bad. It was good."
With the recent series in Baltimore especially rough on the pen, and last night possibly being the last time Joba will make a relief appearance, yesterday was as good a time as any for Mo to hold this meeting.
He probably spoke about the group needing to step up and do the job they're here to do. That kinda stuff.
Not only has Mo been a Hall Of Famer on the field, but off the field as well. He's helped many pitchers here during his career as a Yankee, and he's really seemed to embrace the role of bullpen mentor. I think he will be a very good coach one day.
2 Comments:
Just out of curiosity, wasn't Rivera been a big part of the problem with the yankee bullpen last year?
Shouldn't this be the focus of the coaching staff and front office. Rivera is doing great this year. As a matter of fact he's probably the most dominant pitcher of the first third of the season on this side of Cliff Lee, but its a third of the way into the season and he's already on pace to throw 70 innings, which judging from the playoffs he clearly couldn't handle last year.
Wouldn't it be nice if the organization would take responsibility and try and find somebody to take some pressure off the guy, or maybe use Joba to do that instead of just grasping at straws for another starter.
I think what hurt Mo a lot last season was his lack of use early in the year. He wasn't able to save many games, and the times he was brought in his seemed rusty.
As far as finding a guy to take the load off of him this year, that's going to be tough. Maybe down the stretch with guys like Mark Melancon and J.B. Cox in the pen they will be able to do that.
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