Brave Rivera returns to day job

America at Large: October has come to be what Mariano Rivera considers his time of the year, writes George KimballAmerica at Large

The numbers say the 34-year-old reliever from Panama has been the most dominant post-season performer on baseball's most dominant post-season team.

Between play-off and World Series appearances, the New York Yankees' closer has allowed just eight earned runs in 113 innings and, going into Tuesday night's American League Championship Series against the Boston Red Sox, he had had 33 opportunities to save games, and had saved 30 of them.

How he would perform while wracked with encompassing grief was another matter entirely. The questions surrounding Rivera's availability and mental state were significant factors in the Las Vegas odds-makers having installed the Red Sox as 8 to 5 favourites.

Last Saturday, even as the Yankees were nailing down their berth in the league finals by eliminating the Twins in Minneapolis, tragedy struck when two of Rivera's relations were electrocuted in a freak accident at his home in Puerto Caimito.

Victor Avila and his 14-year-old son Victor Jnr, had arrived that day to perform their weekly duties, which including cleaning the swimming pool at Rivera's estate. Unbeknownst to them, another relative had placed an electric fence around the pool to discourage the family dogs from jumping in. A recent storm had blown part of the cable into the pool, and when Victor Jnr dived in to retrieve it, he was immediately electrocuted. Victor Snr was killed when he leapt into the pool to save his son.

The Avilas were first cousins of Rivera's wife Clara. They were not blood relatives, but in a sense they were even closer than that. Puerto Caimito is a small, closely-knit village, and by all accounts Victor Avila, a year older than the pitcher, was like a brother to Rivera. The two often fished together during the off-season. Victor Jnr had grown up as part of the Rivera household, and had been a playmate of Mariano's children from the time he was born.

The heartbreaking news was delivered to Rivera in the visiting team's clubhouse at the Metrodome last weekend. Some of his team-mates learned of the horrible accident even before he did, making for a decidedly muted celebration.

Clara Rivera had travelled with the team to Minneapolis, and for over an hour after Saturday's news the two of them sat sobbing, behind closed doors, in manager Joe Torre's office, as they tried to make sense of the tragedy.

The upshot of the meeting was that Torre told his closer: "Do what you have to do. We'll support you all the way." So on Sunday the Riveras flew back to Panama to share the grief that had enveloped Puerto Caimito. They assisted with the funeral arrangements, and on Tuesday they sat in a church called Dios de la Profesia, which Rivera had founded and helped pay for, as their loved ones were laid to rest.

Once the Avilas had been buried, Rivera, still in tears, made his way to the airport, where a private jet stood waiting on the runway. The flight to New Jersey's Teterboro Airport took five hours. Game One of the ALCS was already under way when the plane touched down. A limousine and a police escort were waiting to whisk him over the George Washington Bridge and to the Bronx.

"The most difficult part of my day was leaving my family, knowing that they are still in pain," Rivera would say later. "I was thinking, just tears coming out of my eyes. It was tough. It wasn't easy, those five hours on the plane."

During the pre-game introductions, 56,135 fans had stood and applauded Rivera's likeness on the scoreboard. At 8:49 p.m., with the game in the second inning, television cut away from the action to show him walking from the limo and toward the Yankee clubhouse in the catacombs beneath the ancient stadium.

Rivera took his time dressing - Torre would say later he wanted to give the pitcher "time to hide" while he composed himself - and, one by one, his team-mates managed to slip up the runway connecting the dugout to the clubhouse and greet him with comforting hugs between innings.

An hour after his arrival, now in full uniform, Rivera walked out of the dug-out and trudged toward the New York bullpen beyond the left field fence.

Once again the fans arose and gave him an ovation. They could only imagine the grief-stricken pitcher's state of mind, but they were doubtlessly relieved that on this night his services would apparently not be required.

The Yankees had racked Boston's Curt Schilling for eight runs, while their own starting pitcher, Mike Mussina, had been, literally, perfect, retiring the first 19 Boston batters without allowing a run.

Then the floodgates opened. The Red Sox exploded for seven runs in the seventh and eighth innings to cut the score to 8-7. The tying run was on third base at 11:07 when pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre summoned Rivera from the bullpen. His fourth ovation of the night occurred as Rivera trotted in toward the mound, accompanied by his theme music - Metallica's Enter Sandman. His heart might have been heavy, but it was time to go back to work.

Rivera got out of the inning, requiring just four pitches to retire Boston's Kevin Millar on an infield pop-up. Encouraged, the Bronx Bombers produced three insurance runs in the bottom of the inning, and in the ninth, Rivera started a double play to end the game.

"He is," said Torre, "a special man."

"I came here to pitch," said Rivera after notching his 31st October save. "I would have been disappointed if I hadn't. Life goes on, and I have to return to my job."