New York Yankees Closer Mariano Rivera Has Blood Clot In Right Calf
New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera has a blood clot in his right calf. This is not wonderful news for the Yanks reliever, who tore a knee ligament last week while shagging fly balls during batting practice.
Rivera is currently on a blood-thinning medication which is supposed to dissolve the clot and. Wednesday he said that is Ok, but he was scared when he received the diagnosis. With the diagnosis, he will need to spend at least a week or two strengthening his knee before he can have surgery to repair his torn anterior cruciate ligament.
The good news about him strengthening the knee now is that will put him in a better position when he begins his rehabilitation program after the operation. He also must stop taking the blood thinners 24 hours before the surgery, he said.
The 42-year-old Rivera, baseball’s career saves leader with an astonishing 608, said he can guarantee that he will work hard and do ”whatever it takes” to return next season. However, if his leg doesn’t come back strong enough, then he will take it as a sign that it’s time to retire.
”If it’s my call, I don’t want to leave the game the way it happened. … My will and my desire is to stay,” Rivera said, adding that he was leaning toward pitching in 2013 even before the injury. ”The traveling, I hate it. And the game, I love it.”
Rivera was injured just last Thursday in Kansas City, tearing his ACL and damaging the meniscus in his right knee, when he stumbled and fell while chasing a fly ball during batting practice. The injury will force him to miss the rest of the season.
The very next day Mo announced that, “I’m coming back. Write it down in big letters. I’m not going out like this.” Then when he was examined on Monday by doctors, Rivera mentioned to the doctor that his right calf was ”sore and painful.” He was diagnosed with a blood clot and spent Monday night in the hospital, beginning treatment right away.
”I was more concerned with the blood clot than the knee. For a minute I was like, what else is going to happen?” Rivera said. ”I was scared because I never hear good things about blood clots. … I take it like, OK, what do we have to do?”
This is some sad news for the Yanks legendary reliever. Mo is the heart and soul of the Yankees and will be sorely missed. However, David Robertson will hopefully take this time to prove he is the future closer that we all expect him to be. Robertson got his first save on Tuesday against the Tampa Bay Rays, and Mo was watching.
‘It’s still tough, though, mentally. These games don’t help me. He did a good job,” Rivera said. ”I was sweating and screaming. It was difficult, but I was screaming at Robby on the TV.”
I’m sure Mo will do what he can to get “Robby” more comfortable in the closer position.
