"I wasn't wild," Rivera said, with a smile. "For the first one, I'll take it. I'm OK with that."And now some from his pitching coach and manager:
...
“At my age, I definitely have an idea of what I have to do, what I need,” Rivera said. “Spring training is to come here and get ready. In my case, I don’t have to come in and impress anybody. I just have to make sure that I’m ready for the season, so that’s what I try to do.”
...
"After you throw nine, 10, 11 innings, what is there to do?" Rivera said. "If you're ready, you're ready."...
"Throwing in the postseason all those years puts a lot of stress on your shoulder and your body," Rivera said. "I want to recuperate as long as I can, and make sure that when I come to Spring Training, I do what I have to do to be ready for the whole season."
What Girardi is talking about regarding last year was how Mo was coming off of that minor surgery and how it effected his spring. It obviously didn't hurt him during the regular season, but it's still good to know that Rivera is coming into 2010 healthy and ready to go.“His delivery is so good, so clean, the command always seems to be there,” the pitching coach said. "He’s as low-maintenance as they get."
...
...
“All he needs is eight innings to be ready, so why throw him more?” Eiland said. “This is a program that works for him, so why do too much too soon and overdo it?”
"The abbreviated springs have worked for him," Girardi said. "We don't feel it's necessary for him to get in games and get stretched out for two innings. We just don't feel that's necessary. He gets plenty of work during the season, so we'll keep it down here to a minimum."
...
"The ball looked good coming out of his hand. Last year at times, he couldn't extend early on in camp, and he had none of those issues. It's great to see."
