Torre Might Be Getting Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired
I never thought I would say this, but I have been checking ESPN.com five times a day waiting for the announcement that Joe Torre has quit as manager of the Yankees. As the losses to the Devil Rays piled up this week, I even resorted to checking other sports sites, like cbssportsline.com and cnnsi.com to see if maybe they had beaten ESPN to the scoop.

There is no way to know whether George Steinbrenner is thinking of making the move first, but I sincerely doubt it. The old Steinbrenner would shake things up the moment something went wrong, but the old Steinbrenner was not dealing with Joe Torre. He was dealing with Stump Merrill, and Billy Martin, and Yogi Berra, and Dallas Green, and (you know the joke) Billy Martin and Billy Martin and Billy Martin.

The season is young, the Yankees are still talented, but Torre is probably getting sick and tired of hearing Steinbrenner’s statements through his press agent that he expects “Joe Torre and his staff” to get things together. The $200 million Yankees are expected to win the World Series, so even if they turn it around and wind up winning it all – which they won’t – what will be so different about 2005 that didn’t happen in 2000, 1999, 1998 and 1996? Is it worth it for Torre to trudge through this?

If the 1992 New York Mets were the “Worst Team Money Could Buy,” the 2005 Yankees are the “Oldest, Most Sluggish, Worst Pitching Team Money Could Buy.” Maybe the title is not as flashy, but they don’t deserve to be called anything flashy. Last year’s Yankees could fall behind 6-0 and end up winning 14-12, masking the reality that outslugging you was the only way they could consistently beat you.

And that was the beginning of the end for Torre. Torre is a National League guy. He played and managed in the National League his entire career, and he managed the 1996 Yankees like he was in the National League, bunting, encouraging hitters to move runners up and running like the Yankees never ran before. In interleague games, Torre has said he loves the added strategy of making double switches, figuring out when he should pinch-hit for his pitcher, and all the other fun stuff that makes National League ball different than American League ball.

When people think of these struggling Yankees right now, they think of guys like Jason Giambi and Kevin Brown. Everyone knows Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield are going to play well, and that Randy Johnson is going to consistently start pitching like himself real soon. That is not what concerns Torre. What concerns Torre is that players he needs to rely on – like Giambi, Brown and Tom Gordon – have lost it. The Yankees do not bother to grab early leads anymore, and when they do, the bullpen screws everything up. These are not your Joe Torre Yankees.

The Torre era officially began in late 1996 with a simple principle – the starting pitcher just needs to pitch six innings, and if he leaves with the lead, the game is over. Mariano Rivera, Jeff Nelson, Graeme Lloyd - mostly Rivera - for the seventh and eighth, and John Wetteland in the ninth. Since then, it has not been that easy, but pretty close. Not now.

So because he cannot play little ball, and because he cannot rely on his bullpen, and because he is sick and tired of winning the World Series being a case of meeting expectations rather than exceeding them, I am going to continue checking ESPN.com for that breaking news headline on the top right hand corner of the screen.

“Torre Quits.”