BERNIE Williams lined a dart to right field with Alex Rodriguez on second and Ruben Sierra on first. There was one out in the eighth inning Tuesday and the Yankees already led by the score they would beat the Pirates, 9-0.
The ball traveled far enough that A-Rod played it safe and made sure right fielder Matt Lawton did not make a catch. When Lawton did not, A-Rod only reached third.
There was no sense in trying to score late in a blowout. Williams looked up from first base, peered across the field and was dismayed that Rodriguez was there, shucking his hands in a momentary burst of frustration.
This is where Williams is at this moment in his Yankee career, desperate to produce career RBI 1,152, desperate to impress the decision makers that there is still plenty of game left in his 36-year-old body.
“I’ve come full circle because I’m back mentally to the way it was with the front office when I was a younger player, where I still have to prove I can play every day.”
In his nascent years, Williams would invariably start slow, infuriating George Steinbrenner, who would demand that he be traded for any old Tom, Dick or Larry Walker.
Williams began so poorly in 1994 that Steinbrenner ordered then-GM Gene Michael to deal him for San Francisco’s Darren Lewis. Michael had to lie and say Lewis was unavailable and nobody in the majors wanted Williams.
Williams wants to believe still that he merely had one of his wretched starts this year and is ready now to be his familiar, productive self, if only given a full chance. Over the next few weeks, he is likely to get that opportunity
because Joe Torre does not anticipate Hideki Matsui’s sprained right ankle will be healed that quickly.
So Williams is going to play pretty much every day, making June 2005 perhaps his last stand to prove full-time relevance as a Yankee.
“Obviously I am closer to the end than I was when I signed in 1986,” Williams said. “But I just don’t think 2005 is the end.”
Yesterday Williams went about the business of readying himself for Game 1,857 as a Yankee, sixth most in franchise history, while Steinbrenner and his politician pals were holding a press conference officially unveiling plans for the new Yankee Stadium.
Yankee officials professed their love for The Bronx, conveniently forgetting that a decade ago they were cravenly trying to tie an Olympic bid to a West Side stadium while threatening to flee to New Jersey. Over the past decade, Williams was instrumental in making the Yankees mustsee in The Bronx and four-time champions.
That will earn him a place in the new Monument Park when the Yankees move across the street for, they hope, the 2009 season. Williams recognizes that is the only way he makes it to the new stadium.
But he is still an institution in these parts, the longest-tenured Yankee by four seasons. He just does not want to be razed in 2005, not when he still feels game pulsing his blood.
Williams began yesterday hitting just .240 with three homers and 19 RBIs. He still has his hitting eye (24 walks, 21 strikeouts), but has lost a step or three in center.
Nevertheless he has significantly out-produced Tony Womack, who just might be the AL’s worst regular offensive player. Womack expressed his irritation yesterday at not being in the lineup and no longer being considered for second base.
It is an interesting gripe for a guy who feels as if he has been around for 15 minutes, especially in comparison to Williams’ 15 years.
Williams is obviously not a happy man either, feeling the foot pushing him toward the door. It is just he does not want to leave yet.
Unlike Womack, he is emotionally invested in pinstripes, being a Yankee matters to Williams.
He does not want to be saved by a preservation committee, but by his play. Bernie Williams hopes the Yankees give him a full chance and open their eyes because he still feels he can be a wrecking ball.
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Williams in focus
A closer look at Bernie Williams’ season totals:
Games: 53
At-Bats: 179
Runs scored: 15
Hits: 43
Home runs: 3
RBIs: 19
Walks: 24
Strikeouts: 21
Steals: 1
Average: .240
