Torre throws changeup at lineup

When you've got four championship rings, you tend to take slumps in stride. That's why Yankees manager Joe Torre never panics. You won't find a more even-keeled guy when it comes to losses and bad stretches.

So to see a lineup made over from top to bottom for last night's game at Fenway Park left everyone, players included, doing a double-take.

It was assumed Derek Jeter leading off and Alex Rodriguez hitting second would be etched in stone. But last night's lineup had some interesting twists -- mainly the speedy Tony Womack elevated from ninth to first, Jeter dropping to second, A-Rod to fifth, and Bernie Williams to ninth.

Torre said the main reason for the shakeup was that the team looked flat the last couple of games (New York came in with losses in four of its last five). Torre said he consulted with hitting coach Don Mattingly and bench coach Joe Girardi on Tuesday's off-day.

"I'm not saying something like this is the answer," said Torre, whose team was hitting .262 prior to last night's game. "If I had to guess I'd say the way we started is the way we're going to play [it] most of the season. We just seemed a little bit flat. Usually when you're flat like that you want to get as much speed as you can up there. That was the intention and we'll see what happens."

Torre wanted A-Rod in the fifth hole because, `I needed someone to protect [Hideki] Matsui." Torre didn't mess with the 3-4 hitters, saying both Gary Sheffield and Matsui are hitting the ball well.

Rodriguez has had more problems in the field than at the plate. He came into last night's game 5 for his last 13 after going 1 for 4 Monday. But he'd made two costly errors in the last two losses against the Red Sox. Rodriguez hadn't batted fifth for almost eight years, but one reason for the switch was to take some pressure off the superstar.

Torre said he has felt badly for Rodriguez, who was booed mercilessly at Fenway on Opening Day and heard more as he came up in the second inning last night. Torre said Rodriguez's expectations for himself are through the roof.

"Alex expects so much of himself for someone as talented as he is to perform to his standards. He's never going to be satisfied. That's just the way he's made."

Torre thought Williams would be better suited to hit ninth than Tino Martinez because Williams has more speed and the No. 9 spot is often considered a second leadoff spot. Martinez batted eighth.

"Bernie has hit eighth a number of times, but ninth . . . I didn't feel I needed to talk to him about it because he's hit eighth so often. I'm sure he understands what I'm doing."

Torre said he had no concern about how his players would react to the changes because he said he's never had a player tell him where he prefers to hit.

"I'm going to do what I think is right without prejudice and so we can put something together that we can generate some offense," Torre said. "I'm not going to bat somebody here because he doesn't like it. I've never had to do that here and I'm lucky."

Torre blames the many off-days in part for his team's slow start.

"We started out well, won the first two games. We were in position to win the third and we didn't do it. Aside from that it's been a little sporadic. I'm waiting for us to play on a regular basis. It takes a little time to develop a personality."