Now that was a Sandman’s Entrance we won’t soon forget.
This All-Star Game was largely about the Mets, who showed this week just how wonderful Citi Field will be if and when it has some relevant games. But one borough over from where he usually works, Mariano Rivera added another meaningful, memorable chapter last night to his marvelous farewell campaign.
Pitching one inning earlier than usual in order to ensure that he got in the game, Rivera enjoyed a wonderful introduction and then threw a perfect eighth inning to preserve what wound up as a 3-0 American League blanking of the National League. Perhaps a tad undeservedly for the night, but overwhelmingly for his brilliant career, the Yankees closer won the game’s Most Valuable Player honors.
“Amazing,” Rivera said afterwards, his family surrounding him in the ballpark’s interview room. “I can’t describe it. I have no words for it.”
Which made sense, because this was a night for sounds and images to dominate.
Rivera jogged in from the visitors’ bullpen to the usual “Enter Sandman” by Metallica — but the rest of the field remained empty. It was American League manager Jim Leyland’s idea, his Tigers outfielder Torii Hunter revealed, for everyone else to stay in the dugout.
So as Rivera reached the mound, the fans rose, and so did both rosters. An immense standing ovation followed as Rivera occupied the mound all by his lonesome.
Rivera, in appreciation, blew kisses, crossed his heart and doffed his cap to both dugouts, then did a 360 while tipping his cap. Simple and sublime, the perfect fit for the man who does his job in such a manner.
“It almost made me cry, too,” Rivera said. “I was close. It was amazing. A scene that I will never forget.”
Maybe White Sox pitcher Chris Sale, who picked up the win with two shutout innings, deserved MVP honors more. Even if he had won it, though, this still would go down in history on Mo’s All-Star Game.
Before the game, Hunter urged his fellow veteran to address the AL players. Explained Hunter: “It wasn’t planned for him to say anything. We all got up and said ‘Speech, speech!’ We forced him to get up and say something and what he said was kind of powerful.”
“What I said was that I was honored and it was a privilege for me to play with them,” Rivera said. “…I told them, just make sure they enjoy, because it goes quick.”
With a three-run lead, Leyland didn’t want to run the risk of having other relievers give up four runs in the eighth and then see the AL lose in the top of the ninth, thereby eliminating Rivera’s bottom of the ninth. If he was overly cautious, his appreciation of Rivera neutralizes that. Joked Leyland, “I wanted to make sure I got out of here alive tonight.”
It’s a humorous side note that the All-Star Game never has been Rivera’s greatest joy, to put it mildly. While this marked his 13th selection, he missed four games (1999, 2001, 2010 and 2011) — the first to deal with a personal matter and the next three to rest minor injuries that didn’t require trips to the disabled list.
This year, though, we knew he would show up. Because he has been so very graceful about his final season. Because it marked another milestone in his return from last year’s traumatic right knee injury. And because Citi Field is so darn close to his Westchester home.
Really, Rivera’s intermittent apathy about this event suits his personality. He isn’t one for bells, whistles or parties. He just likes to do his job and get his team to the postseason. Granted, the All-Star Game winner does get its league home-field advantage for the World Series, but the right-hander has preferred to save his bullets for the games that actually count in the standings.
At the break, it’s fair to wonder whether World Series home-field advantage will even be pertinent to Rivera and his injury-plagued Yankees team. So just as Rivera expressed his good fortune at being teammates with the AL guys, Yankees fans should feel far luckier to have Rivera for all these years. And they should enjoy this final second half with him, no matter how it ends.
Last night, the entire baseball community showed just how much Rivera has meant to this game. If this was his last appearance on the national stage, then he couldn’t have exited — or entered — any better.
ken.davidoff@nypost.com