Joe Torre called a team meeting before the Yankees began a series at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Friday night. The manager felt he needed to rally the troops, circle the wagons, light a fire and, for that matter, invoke every other inspirational cliche he could muster.
It's one thing when Carl Pavano (elbow surgery), Hideki Matsui (broken wrist) and perhaps even Gary Sheffield (dislocated wrist tendon) are lost for much or all of the season because of injuries. It's even comprehensible that Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada could miss a few games with nicks and pains. As for Tanyon Sturtze, Bubba Crosby and starter Shawn Chacon being on the disabled list, that's just life in the mean old major leagues.
But when closer Mariano Rivera, the one indispensable Yankee, can't pitch because of back spasms caused by bending over to tie his shoe -- yes, tying his shoe -- then it's time to worry.
"It's laughable at this point," Torre said on Wednesday. After Rivera's injury on Thursday, he changed his tune. "It's not funny anymore," Torre said. "Mariano couldn't even bend."
So, if he can't bend, how'd you get him here on the plane from Detroit?
"We put him in the overhead luggage rack," Torre said.
Is he feeling any better after a night's sleep?
"I just saw him in the clubhouse trying to touch his toes," Torre said. "I told him, 'Don't even think about it.' "
Okay, so Joe hasn't entirely lost his sense of humor. But what else can he do except keep his team loose? The schedule says New York has 109 more games on the schedule before October, the only month that truly counts for the $180 million Yanks.
As Torre held his meeting here, he gazed out at what remained of his team. What next? Alex Rodriguez, who's usually as bumptious as a puppy, looked miserable and sat with his eyes closed. "Are you all right?" Torre asked.
No, A-Rod was sick, too, with a stomach virus, and couldn't play.
So Torre concocted a lineup that few ever imagined a team owned by George Steinbrenner would send to the field. The New York crew included Melky Cabrera, Andy Phillips, Miguel Cairo and Kelly Stinnett as well as young Robinson Cano and old Bernie Williams, playing on a one-year, $1 million contract so he can be a Yank one more year. The salary of the six players combined? "Well, basically, nothing," said one Yankee. At less than eight figures, that New York cost of living will eat you up.
The Yankees may not know for another couple of weeks whether Sheffield's wrist, which also has a torn ligament, can be rehabbed or will require surgery that might end his year. But General Manager Brian Cashman calls it "a serious injury."
In all his years, how many times has he had a team with this many injuries?
"I don't think ever," said Torre, who has 1,902 career wins and needs only 25 more to pass Casey Stengel for 10th place.
Why, these days you could almost feel sorry for the poor Yankees. That is, if you were completely out of your mind. "Pity them?" said incredulous Orioles Manager Sam Perlozzo. "When we lose Jay Gibbons and Brian Roberts, we're in trouble. When they lose Matsui and Sheffield, they still have a great lineup. And now they'll probably just spend for more players."
They wouldn't do a dastardly thing like that, would they?
"We're probably going to have to go out and get some people," Yankees coach Larry Bowa said. Now is that a fair world?
Actually, the battered and bruised world in which the Yankees now find themselves is exactly the one they deserve -- in one sense. The Yankees have fielded ancient teams in recent years. The trend has merely becoming more extreme each season. The Yankees may merely be paying the inevitable price of an endless win-now strategy.
To illustrate, New York's surprise star this season has been 37-year-old Mike Mussina (7-1), whose 2.42 ERA is third best in baseball. "It's amazing what you can do when you are 100 percent healthy -- at any age," Mussina said.
This may be Mussina's fountain of youth season. But what about all those other Yanks? Like Mussina, Sheffield and Williams are 37. Rivera is 36, Jason Giambi 35 and Posada 34. Johnny Damon is 32 and Jeter also will be this month. The most dramatic, and important, example of Yankee deterioration may be at the team's weakest link -- the top of the rotation.
Randy Johnson, who'll be 43 in September, has spent the whole season pitching so poorly (5.37 ERA) that he suddenly seems to have gotten several years older in the span of one winter. The fastball he once threw 100 mph is now only clocked at 91. At one point recently, the Big Unit called himself "lost." This is an enormous potential crisis for a team that has three make-due starters in its rotation. Chacon, Jaret Wright and Chien Ming Wang lack the kind of overpowering strikeout stuff that usually prospers in October. As Yankees, they barely have more strikeouts than walks -- 191 to 150 -- a humble ratio.
In his last start, Johnson finally showed progress. Was it a mirage or the beginning of the transformation of Johnson into a trickier, less overpowering pitcher? On Saturday afternoon, backed by whatever Yankees are still ambulatory, Johnson will face the Orioles. "I think I can round up nine right-handed batters," Perlozzo said.
"Randy has pounded hitters inside with fastballs and sliders his whole career," said Mussina. "His last [start] was much different. He used [both sides] of the plate more often. You can't throw everything inside [at 91] because when you miss and it's not 96 miles per hour any more, the umpire sometimes has to get out a new ball."
For the rest of this season, the Yankees, like Johnson, may have to experiment with less intimidating methods if they are to reach the post-season again. Or will these Yankees, like those of Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford in the '60s, suddenly "get old fast"?
"These guys are working hard, grinding it out," Torre said. "People ask how it feels not to win the World Series for five years. After a while, you look at the other side, too. You start to realize how lucky you were to do what you did.
"I'll never cry," said Torre, as he sent those household names -- Melky, Andy, Miguel and Kelly -- into battle. "How can I?" With that, one of the greatest of managers walked to the batting cage, wearing a knee brace and limping.
