Matt Harvey's All-Star debut in front of his home fans provided all the theater the Mets and Major League Baseball had hoped it would Tuesday night. But eight innings later, it was overshadowed by the arrival of Mariano Rivera.
Rivera, the 43-year-old Yankees closer playing in his 13th and final All-Star Game, was called upon in the bottom of the eighth inning to help preserve the American League's 3-0 lead over the National League in front of a record Citi Field crowd of 45,186.
As Rivera trotted in from the bullpen and began taking his warm-ups, his teammates remained in the dugout instead of taking the field, waving their caps and cheering along with the fans. Rivera, who usually comes on in the ninth, stood alone on the mound and saluted both dugouts and everyone in the stands.
"When I got to the mound, I see both sides, both teams in the dugout, and it was amazing," he said. "It almost made me cry, too. I was close. It was amazing, a scene that I will never forget."
Rivera rewarded his teammates with a 1-2-3 inning. Even Mets fans stood and cheered when he was done. It was his ninth appearance in an All-Star Game, and he has never allowed an earned run.
Joe Nathan of the Texas Rangers closed out the game in the ninth as the frustrated N.L. hitters went down without much fuss.
It was A.L. Manager Jim Leyland who arranged to have Rivera enter in the eighth rather than risk saving him for his usual role in the bottom of the ninth. Leyland's fear was that if the N.L. rallied in the bottom of the eighth, took the lead and closed out the game in the top of the ninth, Rivera would never get in."This was one of the toughest games I ever had to manage," said Leyland, who had choked up at one point describing how the event unfolded, "because you have all these different scenarios that might happen. But this was really about trying to manipulate it so that we got Mariano in at the right time."
The right time came in the bottom of the eighth inning, after Neil Diamond had sung "Sweet Caroline." The music suddenly changed to Metallica's "Enter Sandman," Rivera's theme song for the ninth innings at Yankee Stadium, and out he came from the bullpen.
But as Rivera approached the mound, his A.L. teammates remained in the dugout. As Rivera waved his cap to them and the fans, one by one his teammates hopped over the railing and stood in front of the dugout, clapping along with the fans.
Rivera seemed to wait for his teammates to take the field, but they held fast. So Rivera turned to catcher Salvador Perez of the Kansas City Royals, and began throwing warm-up pitches. In the nearly 1,200 times Rivera has warmed up in a game, he had never experienced such a sensation of being on the field alone with the entire baseball world looking on admiringly.
"That's not baseball," he said, laughing afterward. "You're supposed to know your team is behind you. It felt so weird. Basically, I was there alone with my catcher and I didn't know how to act.
"At that moment I didn't know what to do, just keep throwing the ball, I guess, because it felt so weird. But at the same time, I definitely appreciate that, what they did for me."
If warming up felt strange, pitching did not. After the players jumped onto the field, Rivera needed just 16 pitches to work set the side down in order.
As Rivera headed off the field, he received congratulations from Perez and Prince Fielder and then he blew kisses toward the crowd.
Before the game, Leyland spoke first to the players and told them he wanted a lead going into the late innings. Then veteran outfielder Torii Hunter of the Tigers gave a pep talk, which was followed by a brief speech from Rivera.
"He told us to enjoy every moment while we are here," Minnesota Twins closer Glen Perkins said. "Then he told us how honored he is to play with us. I mean, come on. The guy is so humble. I think 10 years from now, I'll look back and say, I'm proud I was a part of that."
The salute to Rivera stood in stark contrast to how the game began. On just the third pitch of the 84th All-Star Game, the first at Citi Field, Harvey, who gave up a leadoff double to Mike Trout, drilled Robinson Cano in the right leg just above the knee with a 96-mile-per-hour fastball.
Cano stayed in the game as Miguel Cabrera struck out, but then was taken out, walking slowly to the dugout. As he walked off the field, Cano passed in front of the mound. He and Harvey had a brief but civil exchange — a far cry from the bitterness that ensued after another famous hit-by-pitch incident, between Roger Clemens of the Yankees and the Mets' Mike Piazza in a regular-season game in 2000.
"He said, 'My bad,' " Cano explained. "I said, 'No problem.'"
X-rays taken at Citi Field were negative, and Cano said he sustained a contusion. He said he did not think it was very serious but was not definitive about playing Friday against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park.
"Hopefully, yeah," he said.
On a warm night in which the N.L. batters managed only three hits — one by the Mets' David Wright — Harvey's bruising pitch was one of their hardest hits of the night.
The Yankees, already reeling from a series of injuries, were now facing the possibility that their best player had been taken down by the Mets captivating 24-year-old ace in what is essentially an exhibition event.
Harvey's second inning was smoother. He started off David Ortiz with two breaking balls and then got him to pop up on a fastball. Then he struck out the Orioles' Adam Jones on a fastball that registered 98 m.p.h., and got Minnesota's Joe Mauer to line out to left field.
For a while it seemed as if Harvey would dominate the show. But even here at Citi Field, it turned into a night for Rivera, who said he just wanted to pitch.
"The rest of it was a plus," he said. "It was indescribable."
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