Mariano Rivera’s farewell tour has resulted in standing ovations at stadiums throughout the league and produced unique, often odd gifts.
The tour finally gets to The Bronx on Sunday, when the Yankees will honor the future Hall of Fame closer prior to their game against the Giants.
“I don’t know what it’s going to be like,” Rivera said following the Yankees’ 6-0 win Saturday.
The band Metallica will be in attendance, according to someone familiar with the situation, and likely will play a live rendition of their song “Enter Sandman,” which Rivera has long used as his entrance theme.
Certainly more gifts are in store for Rivera, who has received all sorts of memorabilia — a sand sculpture in Tampa Bay, a surfboard in Oakland, a rocking chair made of broken bats in Minnesota, a gold record of “Enter Sandman” in Cleveland — on his final trip around the major league circuit.
After nearly a season’s worth of honors, Rivera has an idea of what Andy Pettitte is in store for when he takes the mound Sunday. The lefty announced Friday he will retire following the season, meaning Pettitte will make his final Yankee Stadium appearance Sunday — unless the team somehow makes it to the postseason.
“Those days come,” Rivera said. “His day came. So enjoy [Sunday].”
Rivera said the Yankees continue to have their eyes on October.
“You’re trying to be focused on just winning,” Rivera said.
Still, he acknowledged the retirement of both pitchers was an end of an era.
“It’s the end of us, yes,” Rivera said. “The end of us being together. It happens. You should know this is not forever and your time will come and that time has arrived. You have to embrace it and move on.”
That’s what the Yankees are trying to do, as well.
Pitching coach Larry Rothschild has worked closely with Rivera and Pettitte and said he believes it will be impossible to replace the duo.
“They’re hard to describe,” Rothschild said. “You watch through the years and there’s a realization of what they meant and how much they’ve done.”
In his three years with the Yankees, Rothschild said some of the mystery around the team’s success in the past two decades was erased when he watched Pettitte and Rivera.
“Just to be around them, you’re lucky to have one of those personalities in a clubhouse and we have two right there,” Rothschild said. “It explains all winning. It’s not just ability that they both brought to the table. What they have is irreplaceable. The work ethic and the way they grind things out, that’s never gone away.”
With the Yankees still clinging to life in the wild-card race, Sunday takes on even more importance.
“I don’t know what to expect,” David Robertson said. “It would be a special day anyway with Mo and Andy going out, but we’re in a situation as a team I’ve never been in.
“Normally this time of year, we know where we are. This season has been a struggle. It’s been exciting, but it’s also felt like we’ve been in the playoffs for a month. It wears you out.
“And at the same time, we want to make sure we do everything we can to get those guys into the playoffs one last time.”
A second straight win over the Giants on Saturday kept the Yankees on life support. They hope Sunday’s pregame ceremony inspires another win.
“These are two tremendous Yankees who have meant so much to this organization,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Unfortunately, this game comes to an end, and it’s hard to see guys go. I have always talked about the reality always doesn’t set in until you don’t see them in uniform. I think [Sunday] will be extremely special and I am looking forward to it.”