Mattingly Hopes Rivera Keeps Pitching CHICAGO - Don Mattingly's final season was Mariano Rivera's first. Mattingly retired from the Yankees after an excruciating playoff loss in 1995. He said he hopes Rivera does not retire after Thursday's knee injury in Kansas City. "I'd hate to see him end like this," Mattingly, now the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, said on Friday at Wrigley Field. I'd rather see him come back and pitch than thinking your last view of him is going down on the track. I'd rather see him pitch. Mattingly said he was saddened to see the replay of Rivera's injury, which played on the clubhouse television here Friday morning. Dodger players winced as Rivera crumpled to the ground in pursuit of a fly ball during batting practice. "I've seen him so many days out there shagging," Mattingly said. It was part of his training almost, was to be running around center field there and shagging balls. I was kind of bummed, just seeing his face, really emotional. I felt for him. Yankees fans have always revered Mattingly, whose career fit precisely into the 1982-to-1995 gap between World Series appearances for the franchise. Rivera's career has been defined by postseason triumphs, but both players embodied the same low-key, workmanlike ethos that resonates with fans. "I think Mo and Jeet and Pettitte and Bernie and Posada, all those guys, I think it's just the loyalty there - love and respect for a guy who to me has handled his business always with class and has always been there," Mattingly said. He's not an excuse maker. He goes out and does his job and quietly just continues on. It seems like the fans love that about guys who just go out there and play. Mattingly, who last worked for the Yankees in 2007, could not say how Rivera's loss would impact his old team. But he spoke with a manager's intuition about how his absence changes the game. "I think when you have a guy of Mo's stature, and the way he makes you feel at the end of the game, when you get to the ninth, you know where you're going and you're pretty confident the game is, for the most part, over," Mattingly said. So that changes the mentality of making decisions - where we're going to go, obviously, at that point, but then just the mentality of, like, you're always a little unsure. Even the other side, they feel a little better knowing Mo's not out there. There's no disputing that. But nobody wanted an injury like this to be the reason.