In my last post I talked about the dramatic possibility that could happen. Mariano Rivera had a chance to get his 500th save against the crosstown rival Mets in their backyard of Citi Field.

On Sunday night, in front of a national television audience on ESPN, Mo got the job done. The Yankees scored three runs in the first inning with the help of some shoddy fielding by the Mets. However, they had many more chances as the game progressed but Robinson Cano kept hitting into inning ending double plays.

Chien-Ming Wang pitched much better and earned his first win of the season after six straight losses. He got help from Phil Coke and Phil Hughes in the sixth, Hughes also completed the seventh and Brian Bruney started the eighth. Bruney walked two men but was able to get Gary Sheffield on a pop up and he struck out Fernando Martinez for the second out. Girardi then called on Mo for a four out save.

Omir Santos pinch hit and battled Mo tough fouling off three cutters before striking out looking on a back door cutter on the inside corner.

The Yankees ninth was really wild. K-Rod walked a batter and a bloop to short center fell in as the second baseman and shortstop got confused on whose ball it was. K-Rod got two outs but elected to walk Derek Jeter intentionally since Mo was on deck due to a double switch. What a disaster for the hapless Mets as K-Rod ended up walking Mo to force in an insurance run and extend the Yankee lead to 4-2. It was the first RBI of Rivera's career.

In the bottom of the ninth, Rivera got Luis Castillo to ground to second for the first out and then got Jeremy Reed looking for the second out. He only needed one out for the magic 500 and Daniel Murphy fought off a cutter and blooped it over short for a single. However, Alex Cora swung at the first inside cutter and grounded to second to end the game.

For Rivera, it's his 18th save of the season in 19 save opportunities and his ERA now stands at 2.93.

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