Mariano Rivera shredded the Twins last night to seal a thrilling victory. Joe Mauer, one of the greatest batsmen in the game, was the second out. Mauer saw one pitch, an insistent, boring cutter and it destroyed him.
Mariano breaks a lot of bats. And he’s caused a few guys to chuck their bats after missing entirely. But what he did to Mauer, I’ve never seen before. Mauer hit the ball – a dribbler to second base – and still lost his bat into the seats. This wasn’t a guy slipping or getting fooled; Mariano literally knocked the bat out of his hands.
I thought of a good-guy gunslinger shooting the bad guy in the hand, or a fencer twirling the epee out his opponent’s grip. But more powerful than that. Maybe one of these moments captures it best:
[Featured Image: Getty]
Mo was in fine form last night. Really sharp. It is rare to see a guy as controlled as Mauer, who was 3-8 against Mo, lose his bat like that.
Thanks for writing about this, Jon. After Mo v. Mauer resulted in a fair ball and a bat in the stands, I said 'I have never seen THAT before'. Then thought to myself 'Am I just saying that, only I've just forgotten that I actually have seen it?' It was as incredible as I originally thought.
He looked great with eight days rest or whatever it was. I was worried he'd be rusty, but he looked awesome.