TAMPA — This is not nostalgia. This is necessity.
This is not thanks for the memories. This is about making more memories.
This is not Old-Timer’s Day on endless loop. This is asking for at least one more year of vitality.
There was a vintage quality to having Derek Jeter, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera all on the field in the same game last night, considering the 15 combined rings and 121 years on the planet.
But one look at a thinner Yankees roster than usual — anorexic with Curtis Granderson, Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez sidelined — means the lingering pieces of the Core Four “really matter” in Joe Girardi’s words.
The trio actually appears as central to the Yankees’ success as they were many years and hairs ago in 1996.
The retired member of the quartet — Jorge Posada — was back in camp as a special coach, chatting up his pal, Jeter, behind the batting cage and helping with pre-game preparation. Jeter, though, is again going to be the leadoff-hitting shortstop. Pettitte the No. 3 starter. Rivera the closer.
PHOTOS: YANKEES SPRING TRAINING
There is nothing emeritus about these roles.
“We have always felt the same responsibility, that never changes,” Jeter said. “We take it that we have to do our job for the team to be successful.”
Then and now.
Jeter played four innings last night against Philadelphia, his first start at short since fracturing his ankle last October in ALCS Game 1. He handled one grounder and — of course — pronounced himself healthy and on target to start the April 1 opener.
But he is 38, the majors’ oldest starting shortstop by 3 1/2 years over Philadelphia’s Jimmy Rollins, who coincidentally was not present with the Phillies because he was with Team USA filling the starting shortstop role Jeter had held in the previous two tournaments.
Jeter’s responsibility this time was to stay in this camp, prove he has the maneuverability and range to handle shortstop. At his age. After such a devastating injury. Scouts will tell you he still has a little hiccup in his gait. They also will tell you don’t bet against him. Or Pettitte or Rivera.
Such is the reverence the trio engenders. Heck, even Pettitte is awed by his teammates. Last Saturday, in their exhibition debuts, Jeter singled on the first pitch he saw as a DH and Rivera worked a 1-2-3, two-strikeout frame. That moved Pettitte to marvel, “Do you think for a second Rivera didn’t think he would just go out and throw a three-up, three-down inning? Do you think Jeter thought anything else but he would get a hit his first at-bat? They are just different. They are Hall of Famers. And they just don’t doubt themselves.”
The self-assurance and savvy are vital weapons, compensation measures against the ravages of time. Pettitte and Rivera, for example, do not throw as hard as their prime, but they understand themselves and their opponents better.
And this is essential in 2013. No matter what Jeter brings, the Yankees will only go as far as their pitching allows. The staff — the length and talent — is the strength of this team. So the difference of having Pettitte for 25 or more starts and Rivera for at least 50 appearances cannot be overstated.
Pettitte could not control his pitches last night and tired after three innings, but said it was just normal spring progression. At 40, he is the majors’ oldest starter. At 43, Rivera is the majors’ oldest player. But he looked like Rivera — any year — in a nine-pitch, three-groundout, 1-2-3 fifth.
They will all, in fact, be asked to be same as they ever were in what is a 20th-anniversary season of sorts for them.
The first time the trio played together was for Triple-A Columbus in 1994 when first Rivera got promoted from Double-A to join Pettitte and two weeks later Jeter followed. They each debuted in the majors the following year, became staples to championships the season after.
“These guys just don’t go away,” Phil Hughes said.
Nope. Not in body or importance. Rivera has announced his retirement. But that is 162 games — and perhaps another postseason — away. Between now and then, Jeter, Pettitte and Rivera will be required to be something indispensable for the 2013 Yankees:
Themselves.