Of Buck and Jaret

I don't like what Texas manager Showalter did yesterday in taking his best players out of the game in the fourth. But if Yankee manager Joe Torre gives his best pitchers the day off, the Yankees have no right to complain.

BOSTON, Oct. 2 - The Yankees did not pay attention to the play by play of Sunday's game between the Los Angeles Angels and the Texas Rangers. But when they found out that Rangers Manager Buck Showalter had pulled his three best hitters in the third inning, they were not pleased.

"I just think there's a code of honor when so much is on the line," said the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez, who clashed with Showalter when he played for him in Texas. "You hope people do the right thing, but you can't control what people do. It is what it is."

Had the Rangers won, the Yankees would have opened their division series at home. But because the Angels won, 7-4, the Yankees will open in Anaheim. The Angels and the Yankees finished with the same record, 95-67, but the Angels won the tie breaker because they won 6 of the 10 games between the teams.

The Rangers and the Angels were tied, 1-1, in the third inning when Michael Young drew a two-out walk. Showalter removed Young for a pinch-runner. Mark Teixeira followed with a run-scoring single, and Showalter removed him for a pinch-runner, too. Hank Blalock also singled in a run and left for a pinch-runner.

Young, Teixeira and Blalock combined to go 4 for 5 in the game, but their replacements went 0 for 6 as the Angels came back.

"It's surprising," Yankees Manager Joe Torre said. "If his team was in the playoffs, I could understand it a little bit more. It's just surprising he pulled them so soon."

No, Joe. It's not surprising that Showalter, fired by the Yanks after the '95 season (when the Yankees were beaten in the five-game division series on the road), would like nothing better than to make your job as hard as possible this week. It's surprising that you, knowing the importance of yesterday's game, would play all of your veterans in the field, yet start a guy who lately can't pitch. If the game was so important that Showalter should try hard to win, than why start Jaret Wright? And when Wright collapsed, why not try to stop the bleeding with Aaron Small? Instead, Torre decided to turn the game into open audition day to see which of his worst pitchers should make the post season roster.

Bottom line, clinching home field advantage was in the Yankees' own hands, and they blew it. They can't blame Texas for that. I don't look forward to seeing the Rally Monkey in Game Five in Anaheim.

After Saturday's game, Torre indicated that he'd be giving many of his starters the day off and that Mike Mussina wouldn't pitch as planned. I think he woke up and realized the importance of the game and made out his lineup accordingly. But it was too late to change pitching plans at that point.