Yanks Start to Show Age

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From the Daily News:

Yanks Start to Show Age

Run into some spring bumps

BY ANTHONY McCARRON
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

TAMPA - The Yankees are seemingly all 30-something, what with only one regular and two members of their rotation under 30, so even the routine bumps and bruises of spring training can be alarming.

But even though their closer has bursitis in his right elbow, the center fielder has a strained back and the shortstop a painful bone bruise, the Yankees are not panicking. Nor are they considering it a harbinger of what they can expect throughout this season.

"They're incidental injuries," owner George Steinbrenner said in a brief elevator conversation before last night's game against the Indians. "We expect them in spring training. I'm not worried."

Mariano Rivera, the 35-year-old closer, insists he is fine and says he'll prove it tonight in his first spring outing in more than a week. Bernie Williams, the 36-year-old center fielder with back pain, vowed to be ready for the April 3 opener and Derek Jeter, the 30-year-old shortstop with a bruised left foot, said what he always says about injuries: "It's really not a big deal.

"It's not broke, so I'll be fine."

Still, the injuries are to three key cogs and perhaps puts a spotlight on the Yankees' creakiness. The average age of the Yanks' lineup is 33.3 and the average age of the rotation is 35, with 29-year-olds Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano the only starters under 30.

Both Joe Torre and GM Brian Cashman said their team's age doesn't worry them or make them any more vulnerable to injury than a younger team.

"I don't think you necessarily have to have an older team to have these happen in spring training," Torre said. "This is something that could've happened to anybody."

"The age doesn't play into it as much as the words Geno (trainer Gene Monahan) gives me," Cashman said. "If they tell me not to worry, I sleep."

Then perhaps Cashman snoozed well last night. Jeter only got treatment on his foot yesterday and Torre said, "We'll see how he feels (today)" before deciding on when he'll get back into games.

Williams still feels pain and only got treatment yesterday, too. "Hopefully, this won't set me back a lot," Williams said. "It's not supposed to be that bad."

Williams has a history of spring training ailments and had an appendectomy last spring that forced him to miss the Yanks' trip to Japan.

He joked yesterday that "spring training doesn't agree with me, but I'll be ready to start the season.

"I haven't been hitting the ball well this spring," added Williams, who is 3-for-33 (.091) in 11 games. "I've got to start hitting the ball solid. Hopefully, that'll take less than a week."

Rivera, who is entering his 10th full year, could be the most worrisome injury, even if he says he felt better than he expected yesterday after a bullpen session Sunday. This will be his ninth season as a closer and many of them don't last much past Rivera's age (35), with Lee Smith and John Franco being notable exceptions.

"I don't think about those things," Rivera said. "I love the game, I love to pitch. It's not a free thing, I've worked hard. Unfortunately, this year, I haven't pitched (that much). But I ain't going to hold nothing back. I feel good and I will feel good (today).

"If everything goes fine, I'll be right there."