推 nikon:Moose will make his next start. 09/25 10:55
09/24/2006 7:59 PM ET
Yankees won't risk injury for home field
Torre balances winning with giving starters rest in final week
By Mark Feinsand / MLB.com
ST. PETERSBURG -- A year ago, the Yankees clinched the American League East
title on the second-to-last day of the season.
Joe Torre had two options: start Mike Mussina and play his whole team on
the final day in an attempt to secure home-field advantage in the first
round, or save Mussina for Game 1 and give some of his starters the day
off before the postseason began.
Torre chose the latter, and the Yankees lost the season finale. They opened
the Division Series on the West Coast against the Angels, then returned there
for Game 5 -- which turned out to be their final game of 2005.
"Last year was just about getting in," Mussina said. "It was such a grind,
such an expense of energy just to get there."
This year, Torre's Yankees wrapped up their ninth straight division title
with more than a week left in the season, giving the manager the opportunity
to rest several of his players over the final week of the season.
He insists that he is still doing what he can to win games -- and
home-field along with it -- but he doesn't plan on wearing his team out
with the most important part of the season just over a week away.
"Do I want to get these guys dog-tired going into the playoffs? No, I
don't want to do that," Torre said. "We're going to be playing a quality
team when we throw them out there, and that's the best I can do."
New York plans on throwing its regular rotation over the season's final
week, sending Jaret Wright, Cory Lidle, Chien-Ming Wang, Randy Johnson
and Mussina to the mound to start the week. Wright and Lidle, who are
battling for the No. 4 spot in the rotation, will likely start the final
two games of the year.
"The people we put out there every day and the pitchers we put out there,
we're obviously trying to win," said Torre, whose team was outscored
19-4 in its last two games. "We just have to stop giving up so many runs."
New York enters the week with a 93-62 record, a half-game behind Detroit
(94-62) for the best record in the AL. The Yankees stand three games
ahead of the A's for the No. 3 seed, which would mean beginning the
playoffs on the road.
"It's a big deal; it was a big deal last year and we let it get away,"
Mussina said. "When you clinch this early, you have to find a way to get
motivated and stay after it for another week. We have to win some ballgames
and not let it get away from us."
"We'd certainly like to play at home if there's an option," Torre said.
"Everybody feels the same way."
In all likelihood, Wang, Johnson and Mussina will throw 85-100 pitches in
their final starts, as the team won't want to extend them before the
postseason. Mussina, who was touched for six runs -- two earned -- in
4 2/3 innings on Sunday, hopes his final tuneup leaves him with a good
feeling.
"I want to pitch well, feel good about my stuff and feel like I can throw
my pitches for strikes, so when October rolls around, I have confidence
in my stuff," Mussina said.
The biggest question for the Yankees this week will be at first base,
where Gary Sheffield played Sunday for the third straight day. The Yankees
are hoping that Sheffield can share first-base duties in October with
Jason Giambi, who is nursing a left wrist injury.
For Torre, getting his team rested and ready for next week is the priority,
as is getting all the information he can about Sheffield and the rest of
his roster. If that means missing out on home-field advantage, so be it,
though he's hoping to accomplish that along with his other goals.
"I can't worry about [home field]; we're trying to win, but we're not
going to sacrifice other things like finding out about Sheff," Torre
said. "They're more important for us in the postseason than the number
of wins."
"We want to play the majority of our games at home," Mussina said.
"Hopefully, we can play well enough next week to lock that up."
Mark Feinsand is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to
the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
http://0rz.net/571Vs
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 140.109.23.211