Newsday.com Yankees-Red Sox not the same without Torre Ken Davidoff 11:48 PM EDT, April 11, 2008 BOSTON You get used to change, being around professional sports. When familiar faces leave, you forget them, and quickly. But at the Yankees' first visit of the season here to Fenway Park, you could suddenly feel the void left by Joe Torre's departure. Not in the game itself, mind you. Joe Girardi's Rivalry debut went swimmingly, as Chien-Ming Wang pitched a two-hitter to lead the Yankees over the Red Sox, 4-1. You won't find a Yankee fan, official or player waking up today and wishing that Torre never left. This space believes that the Yankees made the right call in dismissing Torre, even if their lowball extension offer will forever be classless. And that Girardi, so far, has displayed every indication that he was the right hire. Consider this a simple observation that Torre possessed certain attributes that couldn't be replaced by anyone. And that this place, with its packed, rabid crowds and a swarm of media, brought out Torre at his best, the October 2004 collapse notwithstanding. In the insanely intense rivalry that Yankees-Red Sox has become, Torre stood as a mammoth force of serenity. Someone who could shield his players from the external chaos and provide a needed level of dignity to a situation that veered too often toward ugliness. Who could answer the questions, with patience and humor, about the countless subplots that surface each day these two clubs share a field. "There's always distractions. Obviously there's more in Yankees-Red Sox and Yankees-Mets," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said before Friday night's game. "One of Torre's strengths is his calm demeanor that he brought to high-pressurized situations." "I think wherever we went, he served as a buffer," said Mike Mussina, Saturday's starting pitcher. "Sure, things are more magnified here." It's easy to forget now, but when Torre and Girardi joined the 1996 Yankees as manager and catcher, respectively, the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry was in virtual hibernation. It picked up when the two clubs faced off in the 1999 American League Championship Series, but when Girardi -- who returned to the Cubs following that '99 campaign -- became Torre's bench coach in 2005, he noticed the serious spike in tensions. "I think it's a little bit more intense now," Girardi said. "And I think it's probably because all of the playoffs that they've been through together. When I was here, there was just one. Some of the other things that have happened in the series over time ... It's as high as I can remember it." There has been so much physicality and angry rhetoric -- Don Zimmer vs. Pedro Martinez in 2003, Alex Rodriguez vs. Jason Varitek in 2004, Joba Chamberlain's suspension just last year -- yet Torre never maliciously added fuel to the fire. He always managed to keep his players properly motivated without working them up into a lather over some false injustice. And even when the situation turned unsightly above the player level, Torre kept his cool. After Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS, which featured both Zimmer's failed attempt to knock down Pedro and Jeff Nelson's and Karim Garcia's tussle with a Red Sox bullpen employee, Yankees president Randy Levine entered the Yankees clubhouse and ripped the Red Sox for producing an atmosphere of "lawlessness." It was a ridiculous accusation, and Torre, embarrassed, quietly apologized to Major League Baseball officials for his superior's actions. Terry Francona, now the veteran manager in The Rivalry, politely shook his head in the negative when asked if Torre's absence would register with him. "Unless Joe Girardi comes out and gets thrown out," the Red Sox skipper said. "Registers, sure. It's not like I'm going to have some sort of sentimental ... we just want to beat them." Yet Francona admits that he greatly admires Torre, particularly for Torre's ability to manage the media zoo that surrounds both Northeast Corridor teams. Perhaps Girardi's fire and in-game savvy will trump Torre's gravitas, his larger-than-life persona that provided cover for his players. We'll have to let the season play out considerably more before we can evaluate such a trade-off. For one night, though, maybe for the first time since the switch occurred, you remembered, vividly, what made Torre such a great fit in a Yankees uniform. -- ___ ___ /| | /\__\ |:| | ___ /:/ _/_ |:| | /\__\ /:/ /\__\ __|:|__| /:/__/ /:/ /:/ _/_ /::::\__\_____ /::\ \ /:/_/:/ /\__\ --

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