An hour before yesterday’s first pitch, 15 minutes earlier than normal, a security guard ushered the media out of the Yankee clubhouse – as per Joe Torre orders.

Torre closed the blue clubhouse door so he could privately address his struggling team.

Before the Yanks again withered, 5-2 to the Blue Jays, Torre tried to focus his club with a respectful and positive private talk.

“It’s not calling them into the principal’s office,” Torre said afterward. “That’s not what this is all about.”

The players appreciated Torre’s words, but they know the words mean nothing unless the teams scores more. Instead, the Yankees lost their seventh game in their past nine.

“You can have all the meetings you want, you still have to win,” Derek Jeter said.

Torre feels that too much of his team’s attention is on its injuries, which seems to accrue daily. Roger Clemens, Jorge Posada and Jeter have all been nicked this week, while Bernie Williams, Nick Johnson and Steve Karsay are on the DL.

With all the bumps and bruises, the Yankees are getting beaten. They are trying to do too much, but ending up doing too little, Torre said.

“It’s a tough enough game to play when you pay attention to what you do and take a little bite at a time,” Torre said. “When you start trying to get outside yourself, it starts playing into the opposition’s hands. It is mainly a reminder type thing.”

Torre isn’t a yeller, so when he meets with his team it is with a calm purpose and a briefcase of examples. Friday night, Yankee pitchers walked four leadoff men, which lead to runs.

“That contributes to beating yourself,” Torre said.

At the plate, the Yankees, uncharacteristically, have been first-pitch swinging.

“We are not as selective,” Torre said. “We look like we’ve been trying too hard.”

Yesterday, Juan Rivera, representing the tying run, made the final out of the loss, flying out to right on the first pitch he saw.

Why are they doing this? Torre thinks it has a lot to do with the injuries. Guys look at the lineup card and don’t see “B. Williams,” which results in hitters trying to pick up the slack.

“I sense because we have so many guys missing, guys may be trying to do too much,” Torre said. “It sounds simple.”

Torre put it to his team diplomatically yesterday. It didn’t work, but the message was heard.

“We’ve done this before,” Torre said. “We just have to let them know to ride it out.”