Key paragraphs from that piece:
Now these Yanks are seriously looking at their first empty October since 1993, in part, because veterans such as Bobby Abreu, Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi appear diminished while the young Cano seems to have regressed. Will that change? Even Joe Torre said he was worried if Damon and Giambi could shake off myriad injuries to construct familiar excellence.
But there are not a lot of other choices. The Yanks do not have depth like the Mets. Fourth outfielder Endy Chavez was a Subway star for the second straight game. Damion Easley, the Mets' backup second baseman, has one fewer homer (6) than the starting Yankees outfield of Abreu, Damon and Hideki Matsui. Jorge Sosa, recently summoned from Triple-A, has more wins (3) than any Yankees pitcher.
Where does Torre turn? Yesterday, Miguel Cairo took some time to lay down white tape as a barrier that the media could not cross in Shea Stadium's visitors clubhouse. That is the most useful thing he has done for his team this year. He is a righty, but Torre has used three lefty pinch-hitters against Mets southpaws in this series rather than use Cairo. And even with Cano struggling, Cairo is no answer.
The Daily News "Subway Squawker" blog is good stuff; Lisa Swan has a series of solid posts on Joe Torre; here's a great one. If you need proof of how the Torre mystique has fallen, here's some.
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