YANKEES Steinbrenner stirs as art imitates life

May hasn't exactly been the Yankees' best month.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
In the current edition of HBO's "On the Record," broadcaster and baseball aficionado Bob Costas interviews Larry David, the co-creator of the hit sitcom "Seinfeld."
During the interview, the two talk about New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner, whose persona and interaction with George Costanza made for many good chuckles. (Who could ever forget Costanza's father snapping at the Steinbrenner character, demanding to know how he could have traded Jay Buhner for Ken Phelps?)
Anyway, if hitting is timing, HBO has clubbed at least an extra-base hit with the timing of its interview with David, and specifically the discussion of the Steinbrenner character on the show.
"George Steinbrenner is a ready-made comedic character," Costas said to David during the interview.
Raging madman
There's no denying that, especially recently. After several years of staying out of the spotlight -- mostly because things have gone so well for the Yankees -- Steinbrenner has once again turned into a raging, nitpicking madman, criticizing and threatening the people who work for him.
Meanwhile, the rest of the baseball world sits back and chuckles at George being George, at life imitating art.
Hurricane George started to swirl in the off-season, putting the heat on manager Joe Torre and his coaches for having the nerve not to have won a World Series in two years.
Steinbrenner also fired on Derek Jeter, everybody's favorite Yankee, for allegedly staying out past his bedtime.
Several weeks ago, Steinbrenner overruled Torre and had pitcher Jose Contreras report to Tampa, Fla., to work with minor-league pitching instructor Billy Connors, instead of immediately reporting to triple-A Columbus, as Torre had wanted.
Steinbrenner's thinking wasn't completely off-base. However, overruling Torre was rather audacious because Torre's idea also had merit, and Torre has forgotten more baseball than Steinbrenner will ever know.
Bad month
May wasn't the Yankees' month. Nick Johnson and Bernie Williams got hurt.
Hideki Matsui, the Japanese power hitter to whom Steinbrenner gave $21 million, had one home run in the month entering Friday, and Jason Giambi has been mired in a two-month slump.
The Yankees lost eight in a row at home and ceded first place in the American League East to the Boston Red Sox, one of two teams Steinbrenner is obsessed with being better than. The crosstown Mets are the other.
That eighth straight loss came last Monday against the Red Sox. Steinbrenner was at the game. The next day, he started calling meetings of his "baseball people."
He demanded to know what was going on, why his team was losing, as if in 30 years of ownership he hadn't learned that sometimes players get hurt and sometimes teams go into slumps.
Undeserved target
The person who received the brunt of Steinbrenner's bluster was Torre, the man who deserved it least. Under Torre's stewardship, the Yankees have had one of the franchise's best eras, winning four World Series.
Steinbrenner can say his money has given Torre the talent to win -- and that's right -- but plenty of other Yankees skippers managed high-payroll clubs and didn't have Torre's success.
All this Steinbrenner bluster bothers Torre loyalist and Yankees coach Don Zimmer, but Torre himself pretty much lets it roll off his pinstripes.
Torre is one of the most level-headed and secure people in baseball. He knows the job he has done with the Yankees will land him in the Hall of Fame. He believes his legacy is stronger than Steinbrenner's, and he might be right. Four world championships have given Torre tremendous cachet in New York, and even Steinbrenner might not have the guts to fire him.
But would Torre ever get sick of Steinbrenner's antics -- which this year have been reminiscent of the classic Boss years in the 1970s and 1980s -- and walk away from the job that is one of the best and worst in baseball all at the same time?
Probably not.
"I'd rather stay a year too long than leave a year too soon," Torre has said several times this year.
Torre likes managing the Yanks. He's signed through next season, and that $5 million a year salary isn't too shabby.
He'll deal with George Steinbrenner, and, privately, he'll laugh at him as if he were a character on a sitcom.
Oldies but goodies
Interleague play (can you believe this is its seventh season?) returns Tuesday, and that might not be the best news for the Phillies, who entertain the two best teams in the AL West, Seattle and Oakland, this week.
When the concept of interleague play was proposed, the Mariners were mentioned as a team that folks in such National League cities as Philadelphia would like to see. After all, when the idea of interleague play was being kicked around, the Mariners had three must-see superstars in Randy Johnson, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.
All three are gone now, but that doesn't mean the Mariners won't be worth peeking in on. Ichiro Suzuki is a talent worth seeing, Bret Boone is having a strong season, and Ben Davis is a local guy.
And for all you 40-somethings, the Mariners are your team.
Jamie Moyer, the pride of Souderton, entered Friday tied for the AL lead with eight wins. The 40-year-old lefty is one of the most underappreciated pitchers in the game. He is 113-51 since the start of 1996 -- no pitcher with 15 or more starts per season has a better winning percentage since then -- but has yet to make an all-star team. That should change this year.
Moyer, who is scheduled to pitch the series opener Tuesday night, is not the only fabulous 40-year-old on the Mariners' roster.
Designated hitter Edgar Martinez entered Friday all over the AL leader board with a .317 batting average, 12 homers, 44 RBIs, and a .590 slugging percentage. Because the designated hitter will not be used in the NL park, Martinez will be limited to pinch-hitting assignments. That's good news for the Phillies, but bad news for local baseball fans who like to watch great hitters.