BOSTON – Derek Jeter was in mid-sentence on the subject of coping amid so many roster flips and flops when he was tapped on the shoulder. He wheeled around to see Terrence Long.
“Welcome, welcome,” Jeter said with a handshake and hug to an old adversary, and suddenly new teammate.
It was not yet 4 p.m. yesterday and the complexion of the Yankees was different again. Long, who a short time ago was unemployed having played himself out of the majors, was not only in the Yankees clubhouse, he was in the lineup, playing left field and batting eighth against the Red Sox.
That Joe Torre’s other choices to start against Curt Schilling were Melky Cabrera, Miguel Cairo and Kevin Reese explains who the Yankees are right now. Scanning the strange faces speckled throughout the clubhouse, Jeter said, “it is like spring training. You have to see who is on the list to make the road trips.” Except this was not Dunedin or Winter Haven or Sarasota. This was the visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park. This was The Rivalry. It was May, not March. The Red Sox were in first place and the hobbled second-place Yankees were trying to keep up.
“We will find out both how good we are and how tough we are,” Jeter said.
Jeter is an optimist by genetics, but also by his baseball DNA. He was a Yankees rookie in 1996, when the feeling in spring training around the club was that the one teammate who could not be lost for any sustained period was David Cone. Of course, the Yanks lost Cone to a shoulder aneurysm for four months.
There was a point, a decade ago in late May, at which the Yankees had nine players on the DL and at least another three who probably should have been there, but recognized the need to play on because of the conditions. The Yanks were down three starters. They at times played a sixth-string second baseman.
But what didn’t kill them did, indeed, made them stronger.
The adversity united those Yankees.
They were strengthened by what should have weakened them because they invested in each other. They diffused pressure by sharing it rather than believing that any one player had to carry the load for so many missing comrades.
The mutual respect was so galvanized during this period that no Yankee wanted to let another down, which intensified the daily energy, effort and focus.
Slowly most of the players, Cone included, returned and the Yankees were a deeper team in both talent and resolve.
“You will not appreciate something unless you go through the valley,” said Mariano Rivera, another optimist/four-time champion Yankee. “When you are in the valley fighting with your teammates that makes you strong. Then when you are on top, you remember the valley.” It is very inspirational. But now we have to find out if these Yankees can play with inspiration, if they can weather all the injuries and renovations, if they can be made better by toughing this out.
Over the weekend they showed plenty of pluck during three onerun games against the Mets. Still, they lost two of them.
In the 10 years since 1996, the Yanks have incorporated a lot of high-priced mercenaries who forced their way here for the chance at titles and greater pay. It seems harder for that group to share the stress. Alex Rodriguez, for example, plays as if each at-bat is a mandate on his ability, his Yankee-ness, his clutch blood. Is Randy Johnson a guy who really gives a hoot about the common good? How about Gary Sheffield?
Jeter and Rivera insist that they are constantly taking the temperature of their team, hunting for signs of self-pity or overcompensation.
They said they had not seen any. Bernie Williams, though, said, “it is inevitable,” human nature being what it is. He explained the key was to surmount those instincts, find strength in the group.
We will see if these 2006 Yankees can do that, whether they can prosper on what sure looked yesterday like a Long road.