DETROIT — It still seems odd Mariano Rivera concluded his sublime career in a meaningless regular-season game. Perhaps it can console Yankees fans even by one percent that his legacy lives on even in his absence.
An otherwise vanilla American League Division Series Game 3 Monday, a 6-3 A’s victory over the Tigers at Comerica Park that gave Oakland a 2-1 edge, stood out thanks to a bench-clearing, ninth-inning shouting match prompted by an exchange of naughty words between Oakland closer Grant Balfour and Detroit designated hitter Victor Martinez.
The notoriously trouble-stirring Balfour sparked this interruption of play, which prompted this rebuke from Martinez:
“Not even the greatest closer acts like that. That’s Mariano Rivera.”
For sure, this never would have occurred with the now-retired Rivera. Then again, it wouldn’t have occurred with probably 90 percent of closers out there. As Tigers manager Jim Leyland said, “Everybody knows in the league, including the Oakland team, that Balfour is an energy guy.”
What made the exchange particularly wacky was that it resulted not from an inside pitch, but rather a foul ball that kept Martinez alive at 1-and-2. Martinez looked at Balfour, who didn’t appreciate being eyed.
“When a guy stares you down like that, never pitched inside the whole at-bat, and just gave me the death stare, I told him, ‘What’s your problem staring at me?’ You know,” Balfour said. “Then he wanted to jaw and come out.”
Balfour dropped an expletive within his question to Martinez, which set off the Tigers’ veteran. “I just swung at the pitch and looked at him. Is that illegal?” Martinez asked. “If that’s illegal, somebody from the MLB come and let me know.
“He can stare at me. I don’t care. But don’t be throwing a bad word out to me. I’m not a rookie. I’m not a little kid. Come on. I won’t be intimidated by little stuff like that.”
So Martinez responded with a “[Bleep] you, [bleep]!” and then it was on. Martinez stomped toward the mound and Balfour toward the plate. The benches emptied, then the bullpens. Martinez’s batting helmet popped off. Yet home-plate umpire Gary Darling quickly moved into the middle of the scrum, and maybe ultimately no one wanted to get physical, anyway, given the consequences.
After everyone involved returned to his corner, Martinez swung at the next pitch he saw from Balfour and lined out to A’s right fielder Josh Reddick. Martinez is 4-for-11 with two walks lifetime against Balfour.
“It’s playoff baseball, and the guy was wound up a little bit, came off yelling at Victor and Victor took offense to it,” Leyland said. “And I don’t blame him.”
“Honestly, I know that Balfour is fiery on the mound,” said the A’s Brandon Moss, who delivered the game-winning RBI with a fifth-inning solo homer off the Tigers’ Anibal Sanchez. “He’s yelling a lot and spitting everywhere. It’s who he is. You know, sometimes it can ruffle the feathers of other teams.
“Being a hitter, I can see where it’s frustrating.”
“You’ve got to go out and pitch, you know?” Balfour, an Australian, said. “It’s all fun and games. Makes it a little fun for the crowd, right? They liked it.”
They would have liked it more if the disruption had energized the Tigers to pull off a stunning comeback victory. Instead, Detroit is one loss away from going home for the winter, and right now, the Tigers’ most memorable postseason moment is the foul ball that turned into a near-brawl.
Not really a moment worthy of the Rivera files. Yet in this silent October in the Bronx, Martinez’s invoking of the Yankees’ great reminded us just how respected he remains.