YANKEE NOTES
OAKLAND – Joe Torre will have to check on Roger Clemens’ left hamstring before he finalizes the Yankees’ pitching rotation for the ALCS against the Mariners that starts tomorrow night at Yankee Stadium.
Clemens, who took a shot off his right hamstring late in the season, was nursing a hamstring problem yesterday in the left leg closer to the back of the knee than the belly of the muscle. Clemens said he wasn’t bothered by any leg problems Saturday night in Game 4 when the A’s punished him and forced the Yankees to fly 3,000 miles for last night’s 7-5 clincher against the A’s.
Cigar in hand and head drenched in champagne, Torre said he would wait until today to name his Game 1 starter. Prior to last night’s win, Torre said Denny Neagle and David Cone were in the mix. And even though Orlando “El Duque” Hernandez warmed up for two innings and faced two batters, it was his throw day and he could be a candidate even though it would be on three-days’ rest.
“I haven’t heard anything yet,” Neagle said when last night’s celebration had settled. “But Joe came over to me a little while ago and said, ‘You are in there now.’ I don’t know if it’s Game 1 or Game 2 but I will be ready. I know I didn’t finish the way I wanted to, but this is why they got me.”
If it’s Neagle, Torre can use El Duque in Game 2 with his normal four days of rest if you don’t count last night’s cameo. If Clemens’ leg problem, which isn’t believed to be serious, doesn’t turn into something big, the Rocket can go in Game 3 Friday night at Safeco Field. That leaves Game 4 for Andy Pettitte.
Cone is an option for Game 1 but it was obvious that ever since he dislocated his left shoulder on Sept. 5, he has been bothered by the injury.
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Bernie Williams blamed Eric Chavez’ ill-time quotes on him being 22.
“That’s youth talking,” Williams said. “We heard it and we talked about it, about him saying our time coming to an end. How ironic was it that he made the last out of the game.”
Mike Stanton said the Yankees weren’t looking for a bulletin-board quote, but if Chavez wanted to provide it, they weren’t going to ignore it.
“He said one word: had,” Stanton said of Chavez saying “It’s time for some other people to have some glory here. But they have had a great run. They have done a phenomenal job but it’s time.”
With the Yankees advancing to the ALCS, there is a chance pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre could return to uniform. Stottlemyre has been away after undergoing a stem-cell transplant in his battle against bone cancer.
“I would like to think so,” Torre said. “Obviously, that’s all up to his doctors. But I know he is champing at the bit.”
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Torre isn’t jumping on the Bash Clemens Bandwagon because Clemens’ postseasons haven’t been as sterling as his regular-season work that has won him five Cy Young awards. Clemens is 3-5 in post-season games and his teams are 4-10 in his post-season starts.
“It’s really tough, I watched [Roberto] Clemente, Gil Hodges and [Willie] Stargell struggle in the postseason and come back the next time around and be heroes. There is so much pressure, that you are the one that is letting everyone down and you are the one who is supposed to do this. But when you spend the season hitting against every pitcher on every team and now you have the cream of the crop at the end of the year. All of a sudden, hitters are expanding their zones knowing they aren’t going to get pitches to hit. And sometimes they get a little overanxious. We are human.
“That’s the only explanation I can give. In Roger’s case, he may over-try because he cares a lot and knows what is expected of him.”