For one final game at Yankee Stadium, this was Mariano Rivera Day

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/">http://www.cbssports.com</a><br /><img alt="Rivera (USATSI)" src="http://sports.cbsimg.net/u/photos/baseball/mlb/img23862803.jpg" /><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16.796875px;">Mariano Rivera leaves the mound in the 9th inning to the cheers of the New York Yankees fans. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px;">(USATSI)</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.796875px;"><br /></span><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">NEW YORK -- Standing on the Yankee Stadium mound for one final time, <a class="playerLink" href="http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/players/playerpage/8019/mariano-rivera" style="color: #6e8dcf; text-decoration: none;">Mariano Rivera</a>was in tears.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">He wasn't alone.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">They said Sunday was Mariano Rivera Day in the Bronx, but in a lot of ways this was. Sunday was planned, ceremonies and speeches and Metallica.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><aside style="background-color: white; color: #444444; float: left; font-family: Ubuntu, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 20px 20px 20px 0px; width: 220px;"><header style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #cc0000; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 500; margin-bottom: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; width: 220px;">END OF AN ERA</header><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/23862300/watch-mariano-rivera-takes-the-yankee-stadium-mound-for-last-time" style="color: #6e8dcf; text-decoration: none;">Watch: Rivera takes Yankee Stadium mound for last time</a></aside><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">Thursday night was pure emotion.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">There was a buzz in the crowd that felt like October. The flashbulbs popped, as if it was the World Series.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">And Mariano Rivera pitched for the <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/teams/page/NYY/new-york-yankees" style="color: #6e8dcf; text-decoration: none;">Yankees</a>, for the final time in the home pinstripes.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">It was a meaningless game for the Yankees, who were eliminated from the playoff race Wednesday. It was the only meaningless home game of Rivera's 19-year career.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">Still, it was a night that many will never forget.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">Rivera faced four <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/teams/page/TB/tampa-bay-rays" style="color: #6e8dcf; text-decoration: none;">Rays</a> batters and retired all of them. He entered to a thunderous ovation in the eighth inning, with the Yankees using a tape of the late Bob Sheppard for his introduction.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">He left with two out in the ninth to an even bigger ovation. Yankees manager Joe Girardi sent<a class="playerLink" href="http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/players/playerpage/7758/derek-jeter" style="color: #6e8dcf; text-decoration: none;">Derek Jeter</a> and <a class="playerLink" href="http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/players/playerpage/7976/andy-pettitte" style="color: #6e8dcf; text-decoration: none;">Andy Pettitte</a> to the mound to make the change, and Rivera was in tears as he hugged Pettitte for quite a while.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">"I mean, he was really crying," Pettitte said. "He was weeping. I felt like he didn't want to let go, so I just kept on hugging him."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">"Thank God they came out there," Rivera said. "I was so glad. I needed them there."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">This was a game like no other for Rivera, his 1,115th major-league appearance, but perhaps the first where we saw his emotions on the mound. And maybe the first where he even felt emotions on the mound.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><aside style="background-color: white; color: #444444; float: left; font-family: Ubuntu, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.4em; margin: 20px 20px 20px 0px; width: 220px;"><header style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 0, 0); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #cc0000; font-size: 12px; font-weight: 500; margin-bottom: 10px; text-transform: uppercase; width: 220px;">SPECIAL MO-MENT</header><a href="http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/eye-on-baseball/23863447/watch-mariano-rivera-and-the-coolest-pitching-change-ever-seen" style="color: #6e8dcf; text-decoration: none;">Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte come out for pitching change</a></aside><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;"></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">"A totally different feeling," Rivera said.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">He felt it most after the eighth inning ended. Instead of staying in the dugout, as he normally would, he walked up the stairs to the Yankee clubhouse, to the trainers room, just trying to stay under control.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">"Everything started hitting me, flashbacks, to the minor leagues and the big leagues, to this moment," he said. "I was bombarded with emotions and feelings I can't describe.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">"I knew it was the last time."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">Two outs into the ninth, Girardi sent Pettitte and Jeter to the mound (after clearing it with the umpiring crew). Rivera departed, walking off the mound with the fans roaring, with his teammates and also the Rays players cheering. The fans demanded a curtain call, and Rivera obliged.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">Soon it was done, the game (a 4-0 Yankee loss to the Rays), the Yankees' home season and the home portion of Rivera's great career.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">When it was over, Rivera remained in the Yankee dugout. After all the other players had left for the clubhouse, he went back to the mound and gathered some dirt, before leaving for the final time.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">Later, Girardi would nearly break down crying himself, in his postgame press conference, as he tried to talk about his former teammate.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">"He made my job fun," Girardi said. "He made my job easy. But probably more than that, he made all our lives better, and we'll miss that."</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">The Yankees will play three games this weekend in Houston. Rivera may even play center field in one of those games.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 0.6em;">But there won't be a night like Thursday.</div></div>

For one final game at Yankee Stadium this was Mariano Rivera Day For one final game at Yankee Stadium, this was Mariano Rivera Day

http://www.cbssports.com Mariano Rivera leaves the mound in the 9th inning to the cheers of the New York Yankees fans.  (USATSI) NEW YORK --...

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