“This is not easy, guys,” Mariano Rivera told a pack of reporters yesterday afternoon. And then the Yankees closer smiled and added his punchline:
“Otherwise, you would have been doing it.”
Indeed, those of us in the media pack can barely close out a newspaper column, let alone a major league ballgame. But when we chat with the Yankees’ super-closer during his annual One Bad Week, we’re reminded no professional athlete is infallible.
And maybe a stretch like this — as well as missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008 — can ease the Yankees’ transition from the great Rivera to David Robertson and beyond.
“This happens to everyone,” Rivera said. “I’m not an exception.”
Rivera is coping with the worst stretch of his Hall of Fame career. Never before had he blown three straight save opportunities. That the Yankees recovered to win the last two of those, with Brett Gardner delivering walk-off winners both Friday and Sunday, prevented the team’s 2013 from officially turning into a nightmare.
“I guess [he’s in] a little pitching slump right now,” said Robertson, who closed out last night’s win over the Angels with Rivera resting. “It’s rare to see him blow three in a row, but it happens. It’s a tough game. The Tigers are a really good team. Chicago got him.”
Over a three-year span, Robertson has established himself as one of baseball’s best setup men. Pitchers with worse stuff and lower IQs than his have made good money closing games. He easily has earned the opportunity to be Rivera’s successor next season. The fact he looked shaky during a brief 2012 audition, after Rivera suffered a season-ending right knee injury, should be tossed aside in favor of the far greater sample size he created with his overall numbers.
If it turns out Robertson can’t adjust to the one-inning promotion, the Yankees will need alternatives, and they almost certainly won’t have as high-profile a Plan B as they did when Rafael Soriano stepped in last year.
Yet closers emerge from unexpected places all of the time. Look at the American League-East leading Red Sox, who turned to Koji Uehara (signed for one year and $4.25 million last winter) after their first choices, Joel Hanrahan and Andrew Bailey, went down with injuries.
Look at the Tigers, owners of the best record in the AL, who searched everywhere for a closer — even bringing back the very guy, Jose Valverde, whom they dumped last winter — before settling on setup man Joaquin Benoit.
Really, as beloved and valued as Rivera is, it sure looks as if the 2014 Yankees are going to face larger headaches than who closes games for them. Like this year, they have to be concerned about how many victories they’ll even need to close.
Rivera, not surprisingly, expressed confidence he would work through this funk. He said his pitches had been up due to a release-point issue, and he vowed: “There’s a lot left in the tank. I think the tank is getting full again.”
“We have to enjoy. I always did that,” Rivera said, discussing why he smiled after giving up a game-tying homer to Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera on Friday night. “Not only when the good times happen, but when the tough times happen and you want to hit someone, grab the bat and start chasing the reporters.”
Yup, he’s built up so much goodwill with the local media, he can even joke about assault.
“I don’t think he’s going to lose any sleep over three bad games, especially when we win two of them,” Robertson said of his teammate.
There might never be another Rivera, someone who can dominate his profession for 16 out of 17 years and who is beloved even by the fiercest of opponents. So the Yankees will have to work harder to put out an excellent bullpen. And keep in mind, Robertson can be a free agent after next year.
Yet, the Yankees can win plenty more without the human safety net in their bullpen. For as we have seen once more this past week, even the tightest nets still give way sometimes.
kdavidoff@nypost.com