The renewal of spring
Yankees provide extra excitement
TAMPA -- As George Steinbrenner waited for an elevator to take him to his private box, graciously stepping aside to permit a handicapped man to board, a fan mentioned to him what a lovely day it was at Legends Field yesterday afternoon.
"Yeah, and maybe we'll win one for a change," Steinbrenner grumped.
No such luck. Those will be your winless New York Yankees taking the 2 1/2-hour bus ride south to Fort Myers to play the Red Sox tonight for the first time in the 137 days since the world as we know it spun off its axis and the Yankees went home while the Sox went to the World Series.
The Bombers are 0-3-1 in four games this spring after the Cincinnati Reds pushed across three runs in the ninth off Tom Gordon to edge the Yanks, 6-5. Whaddaya mean, it's only spring? That notion went out the window last March, when the Yankees' first visit to Fort Myers was commemorated with its own $6 souvenir pin, tickets were peddled on
"I'm expecting the same thing tomorrow," Yankees manager Joe Torre said of the nuttiness surrounding a practice game.
"Last year I didn't understand it. This year I have to understand it because of what happened last year. People from Boston go to Fort Myers. This gives them a chance to howl, basically."
Sox fans can make as much noise as they want tonight, but Alex Rodriguez won't hear them. The Yankees have a split-squad situation today, so only a handful of regulars will be making the trip to City of Palms Park.
Pitching for the Bombers will be Chien-Ming Wang, a righthander (25 on March 31) from Taiwan who was voted the club's top minor league pitcher. Randy Johnson, the Yankees' answer to Curt Schilling, makes his spring debut tomorrow in Orlando. Wang will be followed to the hill by a group that collectively has won 15 games in the big leagues. A year ago, A-Rod was the center of attention because the Yanks had trumped the Sox in acquiring his services, and he let the Yankees know he had no problem making the trip to Fort Myers. This spring, he has been the focal point because of some insults lobbed his way by a number of Sox players. A-Rod was content to sit out this chance to renew pleasantries. "No interest," he said of talking with any Sox players.
As for what he might hear from Sox fans? "I'm sure it's not going to change," he said. "It's not like last year I got standing ovations."
Jason Giambi, a central figure in baseball's steroid scandal, is likely to be a prime target for hecklers tonight.
"I won't hear anything I haven't heard before, or called myself," said Giambi, who said he is looking forward to seeing old friend Johnny Damon, his former A's teammate who has been very supportive, Giambi said, during his recent travails.
Derek Jeter, the Yankee captain who will not be in the lineup tonight, said the rivalry is about to reach levels not known before.
"Now it's more of a rivalry," Jeter said, "because to have a rivalry you've got to have the other side win, too. Now they have what we want. Now it's truly a rivalry."
The sensitive types among Sox fans may detect a subtle shot there from Jeter, a reminder that since 1918 the leaderboard still reads: Yankees 26, Red Sox 1. But friends of Yankees reliever Tanyon Sturtze, a Worcester native, weren't too worried about rubbing it in last winter.
"It was crazy," he said yesterday. "I became a hard man to reach for a while, a hard man to reach on my phone. My friends and my family, they all say they're changing, now that they've won one. They say they'll be rooting for me. I believe my family. I don't believe my friends."
Sturtze, who began last season on a minor league team in Las Vegas and ended it by being summoned four times out of the pen by Torre during the ALCS, will not soon forget the back-to-back, extra-inning marathons the Sox won at Fenway.
"Those were grinding games," he said. "I remember the team all got back to the hotel at the same time after Game 4, and we ordered room service. It was quarter of five when they delivered it. They woke my wife and I up so we could eat. And we had to be at the park that day at 2:30." The Sox and Yanks have played each other 52 times the last two years. They open the season in New York, go to Boston the next week for the Sox home opener, meet in the first series after the All-Star break, then end the season playing each other.
"It seems like they're the only team we play," said Jeter. "But I don't mind it. I like playing those guys. I have a lot of respect for those guys."
Gordon may have been the AL's best setup man last season but stumbled against the Sox in the ALCS, giving up a huge home run to David Ortiz and putting the tying run on base that Jason Varitek delivered with a sacrifice fly off Mariano Rivera in Game 5.
"Losing isn't easy," said the ex-Sox closer. "I'm the first person who hates it. But you've got to give the Red Sox credit. What they did was phenomenal, winning their last eight games. I think everyone in both clubhouses was thinking, `How could this happen? How did this happen?'
"I think it will be even more intense now. I hear they're getting their rings when we're there. They've got something we want. That will motivate us."
You may have to remind yourself that tonight is only a warmup.
