Joe Torre

Five years ago, during Joe Torre's first season as manager of the New York Yankees, one of the popular story angles was how he had never participated in a World Series. Eighteen years as a player. Fourteen years as a manager. No Fall Classics. That, of course, changed in 1996. Torre's first Yankees team not only got to the World Series, it put a championship ring on his finger. Andy Pettitte was a big reason Torre finally got to the World Series. The lefthanded pitcher, then 24 years old and a second-year major-leaguer, won 21 games that season.

This business with Joe Torre is getting kind of bizarre. After 2 days of much-hyped meetings in Tampa, owner George Steinbrenner and the New York Yankees still won't say whether they plan to bring back Torre for a 13th season as their manager. "We hold Joe Torre in the highest regard and, obviously, that's why we're taking the time . . . to determine what's best for us as we move forward and whether he's a part of that or not," general manager Brian Cashman said yesterday outside Legends Field, the team's spring-training home.

His workout was coming to a close and Ramon Martinez decided it was time to show the Boston Red Sox a little something extra. "I let one go a little, but I know I can do better," Martinez said yesterday after agreeing to a minor-league contract with the Red Sox that reunites him with his younger brother, Pedro. Ramon Martinez, 30, gets a $1.5 million signing bonus and a monthly salary of $140,000 in the minors. But if he's added to the major-league roster, which is expected, he gets a two-year contract with a team option for 2001, a deal that could bring him about $24 million over three years.

Randy Johnson was optimistic after a bullpen session yesterday that he would be ready to start Game 3 of the playoffs for the New York Yankees on Friday. Johnson threw 41 pitches under the watchful eye of manager Joe Torre, pitching coach Ron Guidry and bullpen coach Joe Kerrigan. Torre was was confident that the Big Unit would pitch against the Detroit Tigers. Chien-Ming Wang will start tomorrow's opener and Mike Mussina will follow in Game 2 on Wednesday. Johnson was 17-10 with a 5.00 ERA in 33 starts.

One brother died suddenly between games of a day-night doubleheader in June. Another brother awaits a heart donor in a New York hospital, a situation that becomes bleaker by the day. There was a baby daughter born last December, six weeks after Joe Torre took the New York Yankees' managing job. "It's been," Torre's wife, Alice, said in the manager's office yesterday, "an intense year. " There was also the division pennant race, one that looked over when the Yankees swept four games from Baltimore right after the All-Star break and pushed out to a double-digit lead.

Joe Torre said he met with Jonathan Broxton immediately after Game 4 and again yesterday, mainly to reiterate his faith in the young closer. Broxton might have needed the boost, since he now has seen the Phillies score the game-winning runs twice with him on the mound, first in Game 4 of the 2008 National League Championship Series, then again Monday. "This kid, this closing thing, this is something new to him," Torre said. "I did this role last year," said a sullen Broxton, 25, who has logged 50 of the 55 saves to his credit in the past two seasons, and has pitched in 308 major league games.

Joe Torre didn't want umpires to think he was criticizing them behind their backs. So the New York Yankees manager told them in person and was ejected from yesterday's game against Kansas City when he took the lineup card out to home plate before the game. "I told them in my years in the game, that was the worst umpiring I'd ever seen," Torre said after New York's 5-2 win. Torre told crew chief Rich Garcia his thoughts about the controversial play in Friday night's 7-5 loss in 12 innings.

CLEVELAND - There was a crucial playoff game between Boston and Cleveland last night, but the big news in baseball yesterday was manager Joe Torre's parting with the New York Yankees. After making the playoffs in each of his 12 seasons with the Yankees, and winning four World Series, the man who was the AL's longest tenured manager decided to cut ties with the team instead of settling for a pay cut and a one-year contract. Forced to dangle uncomfortably for nine days while Yankees officials mulled his future, Torre, who recently completed a three-year, $19 million contract, was offered the one-year, $5 million deal.

Victor Conte, the founder of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, believes Barry Bonds won't be indicted. Conte spent 4 months in prison after pleading guilty in July 2005 to steroid distribution and money laundering. He denies providing Bonds with performance-enhancing drugs. A grand jury has been investigating whether Bonds committed perjury when he testified he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs. "I don't believe that they have the evidence to indict Barry Bonds," Conte said yesterday in New York while attending a book-release party for "Steroid Nation" by Shaun Assael, for which he was interviewed extensively.

Joe Torre as the next Phillies manager? Don't bet your copy of The Bronx Zoo on it. But last night, the hot rumor before Game 4 of the American League championship series was that the Phillies were planning to ask the Yankees for permission to talk to Torre as a possible successor to Jim Fregosi. Asked about that talk last night, Phillies general manager Lee Thomas said he hadn't asked the Yankees if he could talk to Torre - yet. But while Thomas wouldn't rule that out, he conceded that actually getting Torre to leave the first-place Yankees was the longest of long shots.

ARLINGTON, Texas - Joe Torre, Mr. Integrity, could not believe his ears. The first thing Ron Kulpa asked when he entered the umpires room after Game 3 of the World Series was, "I missed it? Did I miss it?" That wasn't the unbelievable thing Torre heard. Of course, Kulpa would wonder if he blew a tough call that went against the Rangers, and, yes, he did blow it. Kulpa believed first baseman Mike Napoli's tag of Matt Holliday came after Holliday hit the bag in the fourth inning Saturday night.

Even their futility is futile OK, we've been leaning on the Pirates pretty hard the last week at H&I, and we promise to stop for a while after today (if only because the regular season is over). With Sunday's loss, Pittsburgh tied for the second-most road losses by any major-league team since 1900, according to STATS L.L.C. The Pirates finished 17-64 on the road, for a winning percentage slightly under .210. The 1916 Philadelphia A's also lost 64 on the road, but they won just 13 games away from home, playing a 154-game schedule.

ANAHEIM - George Steinbrenner, known as a tyrannical "Boss" who fired managers on a whim, terrorized underlings, accepted nothing less than winning the World Series and spent lavishly to achieve his goals, was remembered differently on the eve of the 81st All-Star Game by those who knew him best. Steinbrenner died yesterday morning in Tampa, Fla., after suffering a heart attack at his home. He turned 80 on July 4 and had been in failing health for some time. Current Yankees manager Joe Girardi recalled his first encounter with the owner when he was a catcher for the team.

On his first day as Dodgers interim manager, hitting coach Don Mattingly said yesterday that the team has made overtures about him eventually becoming Joe Torre's permanent replacement. With Torre en route to Taiwan to manage a Dodgers split squad for three exhibition games, Mattingly is in charge of the team in Glendale, Ariz., and will work at least five games as manager. Mattingly interviewed for Cleveland's managerial opening this offseason. He then turned down an interview request from Washington.

The buzz haircut, the square-set jaw, and the taut physique that must be the envy of many current ballplayers give Yankees manager Joe Girardi a no-nonsense appearance. In the case of the polished, 45-year-old alum of Northwestern, where he earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering, the look is not deceiving. Put it this way: What manager would walk over to the club owner's box and tell him to get off the umpire's back? Girardi did. The incident occurred during a game at Miami in August 2006.

NEW YORK - When you're a Yankee, going to the World Series never gets old. But, when you're a Yankee, getting there means nothing if you don't win. Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez, the biggest names the Yankees ever bought, know this. "We talked about it 2 nights ago," Teixeira said yesterday. We just feel like we're very blessed we're here. Getting a chance to do this. With the Yankees. "The greatest thing about being a Yankee is the expectations. As a team, we expect greatness.

Joe Torre said he met with Jonathan Broxton immediately after Game 4 and again yesterday, mainly to reiterate his faith in the young closer. Broxton might have needed the boost, since he now has seen the Phillies score the game-winning runs twice with him on the mound, first in Game 4 of the 2008 National League Championship Series, then again Monday. "This kid, this closing thing, this is something new to him," Torre said. "I did this role last year," said a sullen Broxton, 25, who has logged 50 of the 55 saves to his credit in the past two seasons, and has pitched in 308 major league games.

After Hiroki Kuroda, the Dodgers' Game 3 starter, got blasted by the Phillies - giving up six runs, not lasting through the second inning - Los Angeles manager Joe Torre was asked before yesterday's game how Kuroda came out of the game physically. "He was fine," Torre said. "That's a good question. I checked it during and then after the game. He came in today, and we talked. . . . Absolutely no physical problem. It was just one of those things that happened. " Torre added, "The thing that was a little bit unusual, though . . . his bullpen session was really good [Sunday]

When Jim Fregosi managed the Phillies, if the team faced a big deficit early, his tendency was to basically stop managing. He wouldn't empty out his bullpen or start mixing and matching with his bench in an attempt to stage an improbable rally, reasoning that could lessen his chances the following day. "Sometimes you just have to take your butt-whipping and come back and try to get them tomorrow," he'd explain with a philosophical shrug. This isn't to suggest that Dodgers manager Joe Torre ever stopped believing during last night's 11-0 loss to the Phillies.