« Cash's New Deal | Main | The Stein On Cashman »

October 27, 2005

Godzilla: Sorry Joe

From the Record:

He [Yogi Berra] was the first to know, for example, that Hideki Matsui personally apologized to Joe Torre after the Yankees' collapse in the division series. After batting .200 against Anaheim and making the final out in Game 5, the Japanese outfielder told the manager, "I played bad for you. I'm sorry. I hurt the team."

Berra knows this because Torre told him so during a recent golf outing. It was the manager, Lee Mazzilli and Berra on the links for an afternoon, during which Torre confided that George Steinbrenner has been "better" about communicating lately.

Gotta love Yogi - but, should he be the one to tell the media this story? It was between Joe and Hideki - and, if they wanted the public to know, they would have shared it.

Somewhat related - Matsui and A-Rod missed zero games last year - and then ran out of gas in the ALDS. Memo to Torre: Think about this in 2006.

Posted by Steve Lombardi at October 27, 2005 12:39 PM

Comments

Yeah, bury the Matsui consecutive game streak. It doesn't count for squat here anyway. Who cares what the Japanese media says or thinks.

Posted by: Don [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 27, 2005 01:31 PM

Yeah, I agree. I don't think he should have been the one. But, it's out there now, I guess.

Posted by: pokeefe [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 27, 2005 01:56 PM

Rest for Arod & Matsui wasn't the problem. Lack of hitting, and defense was the problem.

Posted by: Raf [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 27, 2005 02:04 PM

With the bench Torre had available to him in 2005, I'm surprised all nine starters didn't play 162. Judicious resting of players is a good idea but, wholly moly, you'd rather have Russ Johnson, Rey Sanchez, and John Flaherty start 35-40 games? Sheesh. Although Torre certainly deserves some of the blame for the constitution of his bench (and bullpen), what were his practical alternatives? This is one area where I hope the re-signed Cashman can wield much more power in 2006. Even Mike Vento, AAAA player that he is, is more useful than Ruben Sierra or, gulp, Tony Womack, as a spare corner outfielder. Let's not even bring up Andy Phillips and Kevin Thompson.

Posted by: JohnnyC [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 27, 2005 02:31 PM