BEING safe at home takes on a deeper meaning today.
The Fourth of July has always been a special place around the Yankee kingdom, after all, birthday boy George Steinbrenner is a real Yankee Doodle Dandy, but today’s game against the Indians will be significant for so many reasons.
There will be a sense of patriotism and a sense of vigilance at Yankee Stadium and throughout New York and the country that most Americans have never experienced before on this holiday.
“With everything that’s gone on since Sept. 11 and the recent vigilance that’s taken place, hopefully we stay vigilant. With the jets flying overhead tomorrow, it’s going to make you realize there is something different about [this 4th of July],” Joe Torre said last night before the Yankees took on Cleveland.
“I think when the red, white and blue is worn and it’s flying, it certainly takes on more meaning, especially when our service men and women are at war.”
Torre turns 62 in a couple of weeks. He is old enough to remember America at war.
“When we’ve been at war in the past and I was just a toddler at the time when you talked about the second World War, and you’ve got Korea and Vietnam, you were safe at home. This is a little different war now,” Torre said. “I think people are a little more uneasy despite of being asked to be as normal as possible.”
Torre added, “This gives you a sense of appreciation for what we did have and what we strive to have again.”
That’s why today’s game is so important. Not to the Yankees, but to all of us. Getting together on the Fourth of July never will be taken for granted again. We’ve learned that every day is a gift.
Indians manager Charlie Manuel said he wants this day to be special.
“I want to see a big crowd, I want to see us have a good game and I want the people to be able to enjoy the Fourth of July holiday,” he said.
“In the last couple of years, I’ve had health problems,” Manuel added, “and you never realize how important things are to you until you can’t do them. I think we’ve all realized what life is all about.”
There’s also baseball to worry about and that’s still the beauty of this game. The real world is crazy but fans can get lost in a pennant race. The Yankees are in a race. They are tied with the Red Sox in the loss column and own just a three-game advantage over the A’s in the wild-card chase.
“Right now you are just trying to put as much in the bank as you can,” Torre said. Getting to the playoffs is all that matters, it doesn’t matter if you come in the wild-card door.
Every win makes the road to the playoffs that much easier.
“I go back to ’97 when Baltimore jumped out and I got my hand slapped by George for saying, ‘Let’s shoot for the wild-card’ early in the season,” Torre said.
“All I was trying to do was say something reasonable to the players as opposed to watching the scoreboard and hoping Baltimore loses every day. Let’s win as many games as we can and that will get us to the postseason and then we worry about Baltimore.
“That’s basically the way you have to think. Win as many games as you can. It just keeps you from worrying about something you have no control over. It keeps you on the field.”
Torre knows what The Boss wants for his birthday. The manager smiled and said, “He wants us to kick the [bleep] out of somebody, shut somebody out.”
No matter what, that will never change.