Wake Up With Mariano Rivera Getting A Rare At-Bat For The Yankees

This is one of the four plate appearances that Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer ever had. I do have a few questions about this particular one. Why on earth do you send him up there to hit? It doesn't make sense to me. Him sitting in the dugout talking to Melky Cabrera, he looked like a little leaguer getting ready to take his first hacks, which is what he basically was. I mean imagine if they had pulled an oblique and been out 6-8 weeks. Ohhhh boy the fans woulda been pleased with that. And Mo just swinging away? I mean he can't get yelled at, he's the GOAT closer ever, no one is gonna say shit to him. He actually made decent contact too, lined it to center. He had that big smile on his face the entire way to first. Just confusing why they'd even risk injury to him just to get him an at-bat. I get he was going to pitch the ninth, but still, don't play with fire. This was also before he tore up his ACL shagging fly balls in the outfield in 2012, shoulda just kept him in bubblewrap.