YANKEE NOTES
With Bill Mueller riding the Red Sox’ bench yesterday in Tampa, Derek Jeter had to go 2-for-4 to win his first AL batting title. The Captain went 0-for-3.
“I put myself in a position, it just didn’t happen,” said Jeter, who finished at .324.
With the Red Sox probably monitoring Jeter’s progress, Mueller came into the game for one hitless at-bat, and finished at .326. The Yankees couldn’t complain about Mueller’s not hitting since they used a similar ploy in the last game of the 1998 season, when Bernie Williams won the batting title over Mo Vaughn, then a svelte Red Sox.
All things considered, Jeter said, he was most proud of how this regular season ended, after it began with Jeter’s shoulder being knocked out of place in Toronto. Jeter missed the next 36 games, but finished strong.
* On Saturday, Joe Torre told David Dellucci – who had missed the previous 30 games before yesterday – that he wouldn’t be on the first-round playoff roster. After yesterday’s 3-1 win, however, Torre changed his mind. Now, Dellucci could be included on the first-round roster. Since Torre prefers to go with 10 pitchers, backup infielder Erick Almonte could also be on the roster.
Torre had to reconsider the roster because Dellucci’s ankle looked good. Dellucci pinch-hit and stayed in the game as the DH. He went 0-for-1, but impressed Torre in the sixth inning by scoring from second base. Torre would use Dellucci as a defensive replacement and a pinch-runner.
“I told you I was going to try and make it as tough as I could,” Dellucci said. “I think I’ve succeeded in that.”
If Dellucci and Almonte are on the roster, then Antonio Osuna and Jeff Weaver won’t be.
Drew Henson picked up his first big-league hit, a single to center off the glove of shortstop Jose Morban.
But with Aaron Boone at third, Henson’s Yankee future is uncertain, and he said yesterday that he hopes to find answers to his questions during the offseason. Henson – who was a sixth-round pick of the NFL Houston Texans – said he would be willing to move to the outfield.
* Eddie Layton, who has been the Yankees’ organist for the last 37 years, will retire at the end of the postseason. After Layton played “Take Me Out To The Ballgame” during yesterday’s seventh-inning stretch, the crowd began chanting his first name and several players, including Jeter, applauded from the top step on the dugout.