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By David Lennon
(C) 2001, NEWSDAY
OAKLAND, Calif. -- Coming back from a 2-0 deficit to beat the Oakland Athletics in this Division Series will be difficult and will take some tough decisions, too.
New York Yankees Manager Joe Torre wasn't ready Friday to divulge his starting lineup against Oakland left-hander Barry Zito in Saturday's Game 3, and that likely means Paul O'Neill won't be included.
Torre rarely has wavered in supporting his core group of players, and O'Neill has been an integral part of the Yankees' soul since the manager first showed up on the scene in 1996. Five years and four World Series titles later, O'Neill is now the weakest link in the Yankees' last line of defense. Torre may have hedged about his lineup, but O'Neill has no illusions heading into Game 3.
"Are you kidding?" O'Neill said after Friday's workout at Network Associates Coliseum. "I'm not playing (Saturday). I'm not 100 percent sure, but I'd expect we'd stack the lineup with right-handers. We're here to win games; it's not about hurting anybody's feelings when you need to win. It's not a matter of me doing it or someone else doing it. I'm sure Zito has a lot to do with it. Spencer has got to be in there."
O'Neill is 0-for-8 in the first two games of this series, and his limited exposure to Zito (1-for-5, two strikeouts) doesn't provide any compelling argument for Game 3. Torre said he will judge both O'Neill and David Justice based on their recent at-bats, and only Justice has shown any indication of helping the Yankees stave off elimination.
Justice went 1-for-4 in Thursday night's 2-0 loss but had some good at-bats and smacked a shot back at Tim Hudson that easily could have been a line-drive single. Hudson turned it into a double play. Justice also is 3-for-6 against Zito, all singles. The evidence suggests that Justice will start at designated hitter and Spencer in right field, even though Spencer has never faced Zito. Torre apparently wanted to sleep on the decision Friday night. Or at least wait to announce it.
"Paul is feeling for it right now, there's no question," Torre said of O'Neill's hitting woes. "And David, even though he's given signs of coming out of it from time to time, he's never been able to sustain it. But that's what I'm wrestling with right now. There's no question that I do have a loyalty to people and players. But my first loyalty is to the team, so I really have to evaluate, chew it up, swallow it and figure out which lineup ... gives us the best chance to win (Saturday)."
Distributed by the Los Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service