MINNEAPOLIS – While Joe Torre would like to know Darryl Strawberry can help him in left field if the need arises, Torre says there are other options to get Strawberry at-bats in order to keep him sharp whenever he returns.
“He will fit in,” Torre said of Strawberry, who likely won’t join the Yankees until the rosters increase from 25 on Sept. 1. “He could play a little left field and he could spell [Chili Davis at DH]. Thursday, for example, you are going to rest Chili against a right-handed pitcher, it would have been [Strawberry] instead of [Jim] Leyritz [at DH].”
With the 39-year-old Davis struggling at the plate, if Strawberry was swinging the bat better at Columbus (Triple-A), the Yankees might have made the move already. Davis started last night hitting a season-low .279 and had hit three homers since July 7. However, in 15 games for the Clippers, Strawberry was hitting just .273 (.15-for-55) with one homer and nine RBIs.
“There is no timetable,” GM Brian Cashman says. “It could be any day between now and the end of the season. I talked to [Columbus manager] Trey Hillman and he says Darryl is running well. Trey said he just missed hitting a homer down the right-field line Thursday night.”
Torre blames himself for Davis’ swoon.
“We played him a lot,” Torre said. “Probably, we would have been better served by giving him some time off early but he was hitting so well, we continued to play him. I think he will benefit from having a day off here and there.”
Torre doesn’t believe he hasn’t gotten everything he is going to get from Davis, who was hitting .299 on July 24.
“I think it’s something he will make a comeback on,” Torre explained. “He is not as quick [with the bat] as he used to be, but he makes up for that by making adjustments.” *Torre hadn’t discussed the issue with pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre but since David Cone came through Thursday’s seven-inning outing in good shape, Torre isn’t likely to skip Cone a start. Cone is slated to pitch Tuesday against the Rangers.
“He felt great [yesterday],” Torre said. “He threw 120 pitches, which is five or six more than we want. Tomorrow he throws [in the bullpen] and we will see what that looks like but he was his normal self [Thursday]. His numbers were back up with his velocity.” *Don Zimmer missed his second straight game while recuperating from having a cyst taken off his lower back Thursday. Zimmer told Torre he may rejoin the club in Texas but that’s not a certainty. *Roger Clemens (11-5, 4.60) draws LHP Eric Milton (4-10. 5.03) tonight and Orlando Hernandez (13-7, 4.34) faces RHP Joe Mays (5-5, 3.82) tomorrow.