No Mo This Weekend Was The Right Thing To Do

(Courtesy of the AP)

Along with Andy making his final career start in front of his second home fans, the only other source of buzz to this weekend's season-concluding series in Houston was what else Mariano Rivera had in store for a goodbye.  Would he pitch?  Would he play the outfield?  How much would Joe let him pitch if he was going to play the outfield?  Turns out the answer to all those questions was either "no" or "none".  After Joe said he was letting Mo call his own shots for the series, Mo ended up not pitching or playing at all in the final 3 games, citing arm soreness and general fatigue and a desire to respect the game and not play when he wasn't at his best.


I'm sure there were plenty of fans, Yankee and non-Yankee, who were disappointed by that outcome, maybe even upset.  The Houston crowd wasn't happy to see D-Rob in the 9th on Friday night instead of Mo, and that's understandable.  Mo's year-long retirement celebration has been something that fans across baseball have enjoyed being a part of, at the very least as one of those "tell your grandkids about the time you saw the best" situations.  But part of those stories involves the best being at his best and based on his comments to the media, Mo didn't sound like he was even close to that:

“I won’t say I’m hurt, but sore. I was pitching with tremendous soreness in my arm, but at the same time, I was giving everything."

"If it would have been a few years earlier, I would have done it [played center field]. But now my knee isn't cooperating. I’m not going to make a fool of myself out there. I respect the game too much for me to do something that I’m not supposed to do.”

Part of Mo's greatness has always been the professionalism with which he conducted himself and the respect of the game he displayed.  To him, playing center field just for the sake of it would have been disrespectful, especially if he was playing it at less than 100% physically.  Keep in mind that he is 43 years old and was clearly feeling the effects of Joe leaning heavily on him down the stretch while the Yankees were still postseason contenders.

Nobody wants to see Mo out there gimping around the outfield or getting hit around by a bunch of crummy hitters, at least they shouldn't want to see that.  Far better to leave the emotional 9th inning exit from Thursday as the final chapter in his great career.  That's what was best for Mo, best for the fans, and best for baseball.  He recognized that and he made the right decision by electing not to play and not risking a bad final appearance or even serious injury to his arm or knee.  Mo gave everything he had over his 19 years and left everything he still had in him on the Yankee Stadium mound last Thursday night, physically and emotionally.  Keeping that storybook ending in place as the ending to his career was the right decision over having him play hurt just for fun.