Last night as Manny Acosta started letting men on base, I asked the Baseball Gods for one thing: Please, let Mariano Rivera come up to bat. Apparently, the Yankees offensive sacrifice over the last two weeks appeased them and I got what I asked for.

He took a great cut but unfortunately his liner went straight to a fielder. But still, I got what I asked for and the world got a great Mariano quote out of it:

My pitching coach told me not to swing … But I had to take a swing. I apologize to my manager and pitching coach.

You can watch it on MLB.com, and below are the of screengrabs I took of the unfolding event. There are a lot, so make sure you follow along after the jump.