Blast from past helped mold Mo Friday, September 7, 2007 By TARA SULLIVAN STAFF WRITER 重点: 10年前Rivera没有被季後赛的全垒打击倒, 反而成为一位伟大的救援投手 1. 那时, Mariano Rivera知道他的卡特－快速球(cut-fastball)投得太高且落在好球带 太外面的位置, 但估计自己可以很侥幸地解决打者。这时他已有两年大联盟球员的资 历, 一年主要是设局投手(setup man), 这一年则是相当好的救援投手, 很少有打者让 他因失投而付出代价。然而Rivera不知道那个晚上, 印地安人队的Sandy Alomar Jr.就 等着(也希望)他投到中间偏外角的位置。已经有太多次打击机会他成了Rivera注册商标 卡特球的牺牲品, Alomar觉得他最佳的机会是，能够看到卡特球投得高，当球准备变化 向下掉时球最容易被他逮中。这时球数是0好2坏打者领先，Alomar预备好他的脚步就等 着Rivera投出这样的球。美联季後赛第一轮系列赛的第四场的比分正是平手的局面。而 接下来发生的事，就是一个洋基迷一辈子永远都没办法忘记的事。 2. 2007年的球季在大都会成绩打得起伏伏的Alomar, 回忆起当时的景况说: "他恰好就投 到我一直注意锁定的区域。我就期望他投得那麽高然後往下切，刚好给我机会用球棒 的上端往那个方向送出去。" 然後意外地，Alomar开始绕过垒包，将握拳的手臂举向 天空，球就只差几寸越过了Jacobs Field的右外野的墙外变成一支全垒打。这支全垒 打让两队的战蹟变成2比2平手，也替印安人队为决定性的第五战打下了获胜的基础。 　最後的结果就让想要卫冕世界大赛冠军的洋基队，提早收拾行李回家。 3. 前几天在洋基球场，Rivera坐在他的置物柜前提起了这件事，他说: "那不是个失投 球，但是也不是我想要的结果。那球投得既高且落在外角, 之後我顶多记得的, 就是看 到他挥棒然後球飞过Paul O'Neill，球就刚好越过全垒打墙，一时间我吓得楞住了。" 4. 下个月，就距离1997年10月5日过了10年了，那个晚上所有的洋基人都能感受到Rivera 挫败後所显出的惊愕。那时，没有人可以预料这位年轻的投手在面临这麽大的挫折後, 之後他将会有什麽的反应。他大联盟救援投手的生涯会不会只有一个球季，从此完全 崩溃? 他先前的出场乐Enter Sandman会不会风靡到成为他的专属音乐? 又或是， Rivera还会不会有机会再次主宰着九局的情况? 恰好在Rivera待在洋基的时间都担任总 教练的Torre说: "人总是会往上走或往下跌，没有永远持平的。对我来说，我从来就 不会怀疑他可以走出来，他有很高的自负。那无疑是很有帮助，所以我从来不怀疑他的 能力。" 6. 更重要的是，没有人比得上Rivera的是。从对Alomar犯下让人心碎的错误之後的十年 之间，Rivera已经变成比赛中最具主宰能力的後援投手。他後续的季後赛的成绩是 大联盟历史中最杰出的, 写下了史上季後赛最佳的34次救援成功和0.80的自责失分率。 就终结局数的自信能力而言，可以让人确信的是，Rivera在1997年球季之後已经为更 杰出的棒球选手，同时也变成一个更优秀的人。他的队友Andy Pettitte说: "这让你 了解他有什麽样的内在特质。他具有很大的自信，但是他的情绪却可以保持非常稳定。 他的情绪不会大起大落, 他就是拥有救援投手重要的心理素质。" 7. 在1997年的季後时，Rivera所仰赖的是他童年在巴拿马时所学到的生活教训。那年季 後回到洋基之前，他知道他必须理解对上Alomar时他犯了什麽错。而且他考虑得越多， 就越了解他投出的每一球都有他个别的价值。如果他继续想要仰赖他的卡特球，他最 好知道卡特球的球路如何变化的。而且每一次都要注意! 8. Rivera说:"好好想过以後，我反而谢谢神给我这个机会。或许我学到的就是假如不投 出那颗球所不可能学到的事。假如我们赢到那个系列赛，之後很多其他事情可能就不 　 会发生了。这让我有更棒的投球的敏锐度，我学到要更为积极，但必须冷静并掌控每 一件事。" Rivera从来不会屈服於众人压力，而想办法让自己球路再增加其他球种， 即使整个大联盟都怀疑只有一种有压制性球的他，是不可能在大联盟存活太久。 Pettitte说: "回溯到那个时候，好像很多人都觉得假如他想在大联盟里维持四到五年 以上，他必须学会另外一种球路。但他一直都不需要，而且永远都不需要。" 9. 没有人能保证明年球季Rivera仍然会在洋基当救援投手。就像Torre，今年是他合约 的最後一年。似乎恰好就是用这种方式把这两人的命运连结起来，就像没有任何一个 选手会像Jeter和Rivera一样将成功归诸於就是Torre在洋基担任总教练。假如Rivera 没有办法从那个挫败重新振作起来，他的命运将永远和Alomar连结在一起，而且不会 往什麽好的方向发展。Rivera说: "在那时我是感到困扰但也只是这样而已。" 洋基真的很幸运，Rivera内在里就有着很多成为伟大救援投手的特质。 Mariano Rivera knew the cut-fastball he'd just released was too high and too far outside the strike zone, but figured he'd get away with it. In two years in the major leagues, one as a premier setup man and now as a top-flight closer, very few batters had made him pay for such mistakes. What Rivera didn't know that night, however, was that Sandy Alomar Jr. was looking (and hoping) for something middle-away. Already victimized too many times by Rivera's signature cutter breaking in on his hands, Alomar felt his best hope was to look high but be ready to adjust down. Ahead by a 2-0 count, Alomar planted his feet and waited. The outcome of Game 4 of the American League Division Series hung in the balance. What happened next is something Yankee fans will never forget. "He happened to throw what I was looking for in an area I was focusing on," recounted Alomar, who has spent this season up and down in the Mets organization. "I looked up and he threw it up there and cutting. It gave me a chance to get the head of the bat out that way." And suddenly, Alomar was circling the bases, fisted arms raised to the skies, his home run shot clearing the Jacobs Field right field fence by inches. He'd tied the game at 2, setting up a Cleveland win in decisive Game 5, sending the defending World Champion Yankees packing for the Bronx. "It wasn't a mistake pitch but it wasn't what I wanted either," Rivera said recently, his legs propped up as he sat on a chair tucked away in his corner locker stall at Yankee Stadium. "It went up and away from him. That much I remember, seeing him swing and barely clearing the fence over Paul O'Neill. I was shocked." Come next month, 10 years will have passed since Oct. 5, 1997, the night the Yankee universe felt the shock of his failure. What no one could know then was how the young pitcher would respond. Would his career as a closer collapse after just one season? Would Enter Sandman exit before ever catching on as a signature song? Or could Rivera return to rule the ninth inning once again? "Guys go one way or the other, there's no halfway," said manager Joe Torre, whose Yankee tenure parallels Rivera's. "To me, I never had a doubt he would be fine. He's got great self esteem. That really helps, no question. I never doubted his ability." More importantly, neither did Rivera. Over the 10-year span since the devastating mistake to Alomar, Rivera has become the game's most dominant relief pitcher. His ensuing postseason performance is the best in major league history, his 34 saves and 0.80 ERA in the playoffs both all- time records. Anchored by a peaceful inner confidence, Rivera is convinced he emerged from the 1997 season a better baseball player. And a better man. "It tells you what kind of makeup he's got, which is amazing," teammate Andy Pettitte said. "He has a lot of confidence but he's as grounded as can be. He's not on an emotional roller coaster. He has the right emotional temperament to be a closer." Rivera leaned on the lessons of his childhood in Panama during the post-1997 season. Before returning to the Yankees, he knew he had to figure out what had gone wrong against Alomar. And the more he considered it, the more he realized the singular value of every pitch he threw. If he was going to rely purely on his cutter, he better know where it is going. Every time. "I think about it and I thank God for that," Rivera said. "Maybe what I learned I wouldn't have learned if I make that pitch. A lot of other things wouldn't have happened if we would have won that series. It made me stronger in my baseball sense. I learned to be more aggressive but calm and in control of everything." Rivera never succumbed to the pressure to add another pitch to his arsenal, despite league-wide suspicion he wouldn't last with just one. "Back then, I was probably like a lot of other people thinking if he was going to keep going out there for four or five more years he's going to have to come up with another pitch," Pettitte said. "He's not going to have to. He's never going to have to." There's no guarantee Rivera still will be doing what he does for the Yankees next season. Like Torre, he is in the final year of his contract. It seems fitting for the two men to be connected this way, as no player this side of Derek Jeter is as identified with Torre's run of success as Rivera. Had Rivera not been able to rebound the way he did, he forever might have been connected to Alomar instead. And not in a good way. "I was bothered at the moment but that was it," Rivera said. Lucky for the Yankees, Rivera had much more in store. E-mail: [email protected] --

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