Mariano Rivera was absent from a Yankees workout yesterday for the second straight day with the club’s blessing, The Post learned.
“It’s nothing physical, it was for personal reasons, and he will be here [for tonight’s game],” GM Brian Cashman said.
Before Wednesday’s workout at Yankee Stadium, Rivera threw 25 to 30 pitches off a mound and then left town to attend to a family matter that was nowhere near as serious as in 2004, when a relative was electrocuted in Panama.
Five years ago, Rivera traveled to Panama between the ALDS win over the Twins and the start of the ALCS against the Red Sox.
Wednesday’s mound session kept Rivera from having four days of inactivity going into tonight’s Game 1 of the ALCS against the Angels at the Stadium.
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To the surprise of nobody, Yankees manager Joe Girardi announced yesterday that A.J. Burnett will start Game 2 and Andy Pettitte will go in Game 3 in Anaheim.
Since Girardi liked the battery of Burnett and Jose Molina in Game 2 of the ALDS, Molina is the favorite to catch Burnett. Girardi could keep Posada’s switch-hitting bat in the lineup against lefty Joe Saunders as the DH.
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Girardi’s pitching staff will include 11 hurlers, but the Yankees did make a roster change yesterday. They added pinch-running specialist Freddy Guzman and dropped left-handed hitting infielder/outfielder Eric Hinske.
Adding Guzman give Girardi a pinch-runner if the speedy Brett Gardner starts a game or goes in for defense in the late innings.
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Yankees worked out for about 30 minutes yesterday at the Stadium and then were forced inside by the rain.
“We’ve got to play in it, so we might as well work out in it,” Derek Jeter said.
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Girardi said his limit to bring a pitcher back after a rain delay is 45 minutes.
“Once you get over 45 minutes, you kind of get in danger,” he said. “Unless you have him throw every 10 minutes, 10 or 12 pitches (on indoor mound). But then you have to limit the amount of pitches he throws.”