CHICAGO – Derek Jeter gave Joe Torre a hug. Mariano Rivera presented the ball. Torre kept the lineup card. Friends called offering congratulations.
Yet Mike Mussina wasn’t pleased with the Yankees manager for what he perceived as a quick hook.
The hug, ball, lineup card and calls were for Torre posting his 2,000th career victory last night when the Yankees won their third straight, topping the White Sox, 10-3, in front of 32,688 at U.S. Cellar Field.
“I thank the Steinbrenner family for allowing me to do this,” said Torre, who has won 1,106 of those games managing the Yankees. “It’s been a great ride and I appreciate it. The players have been the best part.”
Jeter, who with Rivera and Jorge Posada has been on board for every one of Torre’s Yankees victories, knew what 2,000 meant to Torre by looking in his eyes.
“He deserves it, he is a Hall of Fame manager,” Jeter said. “He is the best.”
Although Mussina talked glowingly of Torre’s milestone accomplishment, getting hooked in the seventh inning with the Yankees in the lead after throwing 79 pitches didn’t sit well with the veteran right-hander.
“I wanted to keep pitching,” said Mussina, who gave up a run and four hits in six-plus innings and left with runners on first and third and no outs with the Yankees leading, 1-0. “I turned around and I thought it was Gator [pitching coach Ron Guidry] and it was Joe pointing to the bullpen. I didn’t even know anybody was up in the bullpen. I understand his thinking but it was the seventh inning with 79 pitches. I know I haven’t been pitching that well. Oh well, I have to earn it back I guess.”
Mike Myers gave up a run before Scott Proctor surfaced and kept it 1-1. The sizzling Bobby Abreu doubled home two runs in the eighth and Robinson Cano plated one to make it 4-1. Two White Sox runs in the eighth made it a one-run game and forced Torre to use Rivera for the final five outs. Rivera delivered and posted his seventh save.
The victory sent the Yankees home with 6-4 record on a 10-game road trip that started with a pair of losses in Toronto and speculation that GM Brian Cashman would be boxed before the Bombers returned to The Bronx.
Alex Rodriguez’s ninth-inning grand slam turned a 4-3 lead into a five-run cushion.
“We have looked like a baseball team the last part of the trip,” Mussina said. “We are playing the game the right way with energy.”
When the Yankees left home they were 12½ games behind the Red Sox. Today, they are 10½ out.
“The ball club is getting better,” said Rodriguez, who hit his 22nd homer, second slam of the season and 15th of his career. “We are playing better defense, pitching better and getting timely hits.”
In early May, Torre’s job was on the line. And if George Steinbrenner had an alternative he might have fired Torre. But he didn’t have another choice. The signing of Roger Clemens on May 6 bought Torre some time because Clemens said he wouldn’t have come if Torre wasn’t in the dugout. Now, the Yankees have won six of eight and shown signs they may get off the canvas, and Torre has 2,000 wins.
“I am really happy for Joe, he is the reason we go,” said Posada, who like Jeter was given the night off but appeared late in the game as a pinch hitter. “He is the best I have seen as far as keeping everything on an even keel. He is a lot of fun to play for. He brings out the best in us.”
