Torre not ready to name starter
NEW YORK -- So who's pitching the most important game of the year for the Yankees tonight? Manager Joe Torre wasn't saying last night.
"We have not decided that," said Torre, whose best option is Kevin Brown, who was rocked in Game 3. "Obviously, there are a number of people we can choose from and it may be piecemeal or whatever."
Brown, who broke his left hand in a fit of pique against a clubhouse wall in September, has pitched in World Series with the Padres and Marlins.
But he lasted only two innings and gave up four runs in Game 3 Saturday, a 19-8 Yankees win.
The only other option is righthander Javier Vazquez, who posted four decent innings of relief that day, albeit with massive run support.
"We're going to take some phone numbers and make some calls later," said Torre. "Mel [Stottlemyre] and I are going to talk about it after I finish all of this stuff."
Numbers game
Despite their happy talk about getting some home cooking again, the Yankees' record in postseason sixth games is so-so: they are now 15-10 overall, 8-7 at home, and 0-4 in their last four -- the 2001 World Series at Arizona, last year's ALCS here with the Red Sox and World Series with the Marlins, and last night's 4-2 loss.
Their seventh-game history isn't cork-popping, either -- 6-7, with a 2-3 record at home.
The Stadium losses came in the 1926 Series (to the Cardinals), the 1955 Series (to the Dodgers), and the 1957 Series (to the Braves).
The loss to the Cardinals, when Grover Cleveland Alexander came out of the bullpen for the save after winning on the previous day, was the only time that New York has lost the last two games of a series in the Stadium.
Glad to be home
After three games of what captain Derek Jeter called "arena baseball" in the Fens, the Yankees were delighted to be back in the House That Ruth Built, with its spacious and familiar dimensions. "We're more inclined to fall into the habits of having the type of at-bats that we need to have," said Torre (who conceded that "in Boston, that wall is so appealing") "It's a great ballpark, there's no question. It certainly adds different things to the results of the game." . . . The Yankees, who were 81-5 during the season when they led after seven innings, were 0-2 in the last two Fenway outings. Their late collapses during the series show up graphically in the composite linescores. After five games, New York had outscored Boston, 16-8, in the first three innings and 16-3 in the middle three, but had been outscored, 13-8, in the next three, plus 3-0 in extra innings.
Under construction
Though New York has been getting unusually strong efforts from its starters not named Brown -- six-plus and six innings from Mike Mussina, seven and seven-plus innings from Jon Lieber, five innings from Orlando Hernandez -- the problem has been in the "Bridge to Mo," the setup men for Mariano Rivera. Specifically Tom Gordon, the embedded Town Teamer who had a 7.20 earned run average (five innings, seven hits, four runs) in his five appearances. In Game 1, he gave up a leadoff single to Bill Mueller in the eighth, and David Ortiz's two-run triple. In Game 2, he gave up a double to Jason Varitek, the first man he faced. In Game 5, Gordon gave up the leadoff homer to Ortiz in the eighth, then walked Kevin Millar and gave up a single to Trot Nixon. He didn't pitch last night. Not that he's been tossing and turning over it. "I've been able to go home and sleep very well," Flash reported . . . First baseman John Olerud, who bruised his left instep with his bat in Game 3, is finished for the series. Olerud, who missed the last three games, underwent further tests yesterday. "Not that it may be something different," said Torre, "but it may be something more." . . . It may or may not have been a coincidence, but the man who threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Lieber took the mound last night was Tommy John, the former Yankee hurler whose reconstructive elbow surgery was named after him. Lieber had the same surgery two summers ago . . . The New York tabloids took the Yankees' Blue Monday loss hard. "THIS SOX!" wailed the Post on its front page. "CURSES!" groaned the Daily News.
