The Yankees have lost, and lost badly, and that means one thing for sure. George Steinbrenner, the principal owner and motivational guru, has a new slogan to embolden his men.
On the inside of the front door of the Yankee clubhouse and in the players lounge, a sign now hangs that carries a reminder of the Yankees' loss to the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series.
Move over, Joe DiMaggio. The new rallying cry comes from Thomas Fuller, a British physician who lived from 1654 to 1734. In white lettering on a backdrop of Yankee blue is a quotation from Gnomologia, circa 1732:
"All things are difficult before they are easy."
The same could apply to Steinbrenner's executives, who must change a team that won 101 games into a team more suited to winning a pennant. The Yankees lost Game 7 of the ALCS on Wednesday, 10-3, after winning the first three games of the series.
Steinbrenner will soon gather his top officials in Tampa, Florida, for organizational meetings. General Manager Brian Cashman said that he had not been told a date for the meetings but that the off-season emphasis would be on pitching.
Steinbrenner has told associates that he wants the staff to be younger, although he could easily be enticed by big-name veteran free agents like Pedro Martinez, David Wells or Al Leiter, who has a mutual option for $10 million on his Mets contract.
The return of Roger Clemens is unlikely; Clemens will probably stay in Houston if he keeps pitching. Clemens' agent, Randy Hendricks, said in an e-mail message, "He has not said anything, but I am confident it would only be Houston if he played again."
The best of the younger free-agent group is probably Carl Pavano, a right-hander for the Florida Marlins who was a contender for the National League Cy Young award this year. Pavano's agent, Scott Shapiro, has said he believes both New York teams are strong possibilities.
A few players dropped by Yankee Stadium on Friday to clean out their lockers, including closer Mariano Rivera, who blew saves in Games 4 and 5 at Fenway Park.
Rivera's main off-season residence is Tampa, but he said he thought he would soon go to his home in Panama, where two relatives died in an electrical accident in his pool on Oct. 10. For Rivera, the deaths put a somber backdrop to the playoff loss.
"We're here fighting for a game," Rivera said. "When somebody else loses their life, you put that in perspective. It's tough. But you know what? Life continues. We didn't want to lose, but it happens. There's always a first time, I guess. You have to move on."
In Game 4 of the series with the Red Sox, Rivera worked a scoreless eighth inning but walked the leadoff man in the ninth. A stolen base and a single tied the score, and the Red Sox won in 12 innings.
In Game 5, the blown save was hardly his fault. Rivera came in for Tom Gordon, inheriting runners at the corners with no outs in a one-run game in the eighth. A sacrifice fly tied the score, and Boston won in 14 innings.
Rivera seemed bothered by the leadoff walk in the moments after Game 4, but he said yesterday that he would not dwell on details.
"If we don't win one game out of four games, we don't deserve to win," Rivera said. "We lose one game, hey, we got three games to go. We went 12 innings; we don't go nine innings. It wasn't for us. It wasn't for us at all."
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