BERNIE Williams was at the bat rack and there wasn’t one rear end remaining in one Yankee Stadium seat. Surer even than the passage of time has become the standing ovation for a 37-year-old icon, this one coming as Williams came to the plate with Melky Cabrera on second and Kevin Thompson on first in the seventh.
It’s become almost as automatic as seemed umpire Bill Miller’s strike on Brad Halsey’s 3-0 pitch to Williams, one that was clearly low and maybe outside, and despite the batter’s protest, still couldn’t mute the rising crescendo that peaked with Williams nubbing the 3-1 down the first-base line.
Trust us, the race to stand up and cheer Williams again on his way back to the dugout was far more accelerated than first baseman Dan Johnson’s against Williams to the bag. Never mind how badly Alex Rodriguez would have been booed for coming up with two on and advancing the runners with something that was barely a backrub for a worm, the fans never mind anything Williams does anymore.
After 14 years, Yankees fans can’t seem to get enough of him, for as long as it lasts. And how long that lasts depends upon how long he does as a sincere threat in the lineup to make up for a fraction of Gary Sheffield’s production.
Feeling the love, two or three games a week is nice work if you can get it, or we should say earn it, after all Williams has done for the franchise. But Sheffield won’t be back until September, if then. And remembering how a lot of these same fans were booing Williams a year ago when he was showing he could no longer play every day, well, let’s just hope this doesn’t ruin a beautiful relationship.
Williams is hitting .223 left-handed, but .357 from the right side, so duuhhhh, Joe Torre won’t go to Cooperstown on the basis of yesterday’s decision to give his right fielder yesterday off against right-hander Kirk Saarloos.
“Day game following night game plus I want Bernie to hit right-handed against [Barry] Zito [today],” the manager said before the game.
Made sense then. Made even more when Kevin Thompson, making his second major-league start, lined his first homer into the left-field stands in the fifth. It all would have made perfect sense if either Johnny Damon or Derek Jeter had followed Williams’ pinch-hitting appearance with hits, or if Thompson, with the bases loaded in the eighth, had not tapped into a force play.
Next time, we’ll expect Torre to pull Craig Wilson out of his sleeve, and failing that, maybe Roberto Clemente. The priority, Brian Cashman has said, is pitching, but failing that, Plan B must be a bat bigger than Williams’ and rehabbing Bubba Crosby’s.
The Yankees lead the majors in runs scored, despite all this time missed by Sheffield and Hideki Matsui. But when Pat Gillick couldn’t get the pitching help he needed at the 1993 trade deadline, he took an already potent offense one step further with Rickey Henderson and Toronto won again.
“It’s a feel thing,” said Torre, asked for his game plan on using Williams. “It’s looking at body language.
“For a time I was writing his name in every day as I’ve been doing for 10 years and had to catch myself.
“I’m always sensitive to Bernie’s sensitivity. He could have played today without a problem, but we don’t have a lot on the bench. At least Bernie gives us the ability to make a move.
“Even if he’s not playing, he’s still involved in my decisions.”
Indeed, if more of Williams provides the Yankees less, one of Torre’s biggest daily decisions will be when not to play him. Life’s ultimate revenge is aging gracefully, which Williams, happy to come back for whatever playing time he could get, has done. Hope the business of winning games doesn’t spoil the big sendoff.