TAMPA – It is about getting on the plane now. That is all that is left for the Yankees. It is about getting on the chartered 737 today shortly after the final Grapefruit League game and heading to Baltimore and the regular season.
Yesterday, Robin Ventura and Rondell White did all they could to secure their seats. Meanwhile, Shane Spencer showed how perilous even these final hours in Florida can be.
Today, Marcus Thames and Juan Rivera will come packed as if they will be heading to their first big-league opener, though all signs are now that the seat will be occupied by White. Randy Choate, Adrian Hernandez and Jay Tessmer will be playing charter musical chairs, with only two getting approved to head north – and that only until Sterling Hitchcock and Ramiro Mendoza are back, probably some time in April.
As a veteran team, the Yankees have essentially been battling boredom these last 10 days, trying hard not to go stir crazy. The core wanted to get on the plane last week, get a season in which there are again great expectations started. The extra time, though, provides both good and bad possibilities. There is time for Spencer to be hit by a pitch on the elbow in apparent retaliation for a hard takeout slide earlier this week against the Phillies (X-rays were negative). And there is time for Ventura and White to prove healthy enough to get into Monday’s starting lineup in Baltimore.
Joe Torre thought it was so important to know about Ventura and especially White that he stayed behind with Don Zimmer and hitting coach Rick Down yesterday while his team played its final road exhibition game in Clearwater.
As Roger Clemens went through his last bullpen session before Opening Day a few hundred feet away, Ventura and White took batting practice on a Legends Field back diamond. The Yanks were pretty convinced already that Ventura, healing from a sprained left ankle, would be ready for the season. But with Torre and Zimmer watching from a golf cart, Ventura put minds at ease by going through a hitting and fielding session with no problems.
“Hopefully, I impressed the golf cart,” the tortoise-like Ventura said. “If I’m walking, all I have to do is lean forward to simulate [running].”
Ventura is expected to play in the final exhibition game against Philadelphia today and so now, surprisingly, is White. When the week began, the fragile outfielder was doubtful to start the season after a strained rib cage all but wiped out his first Yankee spring. But he made such recent progress that Down convinced Torre to cross Dale Mabry Highway yesterday so he could see White in a Triple-A exhibition against Phillie farmhands at the Yankee minor-league complex.
White admitted he had “butterflies” playing before a group sitting on the observation tower that included Torre, Zimmer, GM Brian Cashman and minor-league head Mark Newman. White said “it felt great” to homer to center while being watched by his manager. White was 2-for-4 with a walk and Torre was very pleased to see how hard and fluid he went first to third in the opening inning.
“He looks fine,” Torre said. “Right now, I’m inclined to say, ‘Let’s go.’ “
Initially, the Yanks had no plans to put White in a regular exhibition game, because if he re-injured himself they could not backdate his DL stint fully. But now they figure if he re-injures himself, he will likely need at least 15 days to heal anyway, so they were leaning toward letting White play the finale today at Legends Field, his first Yankee exhibition game being the last for the team in 2002.
If all goes well, the Yanks will submit a 25-man roster to the commissioner’s office that has White’s name, and he will get on the charter.
“I hope to make the trip with the fellas,” White said.
That’s all that is left now. Getting on the plane.