ARLINGTON – Having changed his appointment with Dr. William J. Catalona in St. Louis to today instead of tomorrow, Joe Torre is expected to travel to Kansas City tonight ahead of the Yankees. Yet, when Torre will return as the manager isn’t known.
While it was speculated he would manage tomorrow night, some people within the organization believe Torre could use the first three games of the series against the Royals to judge where his body is at in regard to stamina as he observes during the weekend and return Monday for the final game of the four-game series.
Remember, Torre hasn’t asked his body to respond to late hours and irregular eating patterns since undergoing successful prostate cancer surgery March 18.
As he has done since taking over for Torre, interim manager Don Zimmer didn’t ask his boss when he was coming back yesterday.
“Mainly, I don’t ask the man because he knows himself better than anybody in the world?” Zimmer said. “And it would be a shame at this stage to come back too early. And I am sure when he comes back, he will be ready. Whether it’s Friday or Saturday, I don’t know.”
One thing Zimmer does know is that his bothersome right knee is giving him trouble again and has Zimmer thinking about calling an end to a 51-year baseball career. Zimmer was awaiting the results of an MRI taken yesterday morning as game-time approached last night.
“I don’t know what it is,” said Zimmer, who was showing improvement last week after receiving an injection. “The last two flights we had, I could hardly walk off the airplane.”
Zimmer, who had arthroscopic surgery on March 6, vowed to retire late in spring training if the knee didn’t improve. He repeated that threat early in the season. Now, with the hinge barking again, he isn’t backing down about going home for good when Torre returns.
“My thinking hasn’t changed which means I don’t know what I am going to do,” Zimmer said. “I did say a while back that if it did stay the same, I have to leave. A week ago, I thought there was improvement every day for four or five days and now I am back to the same thing again. So, I have to wait and see what this [doctor] says.”
