Bronx, N.Y., September 27, 2002 — The “business” that needs to be taken care of? Well, there’s closing out the regular season. We need to keep all the position players sharp, but need to rest them too. Valuable bench performers must participate too. The starting pitching needs to be set in the rotation through which it will proceed in the playoffs. And the starting pitchers need to try all their pitches, befuddle the opposition, but hopefully face a test or two as well.

Most of all they need innings, but also a little R&R before the second — and critical — season begins. Finally, the rest of the pitching staff and the key performers in the bullpen need some work, need to throw their pitches, facing batters from both sides of the plate, both the pesky slap hitters and the swing-from-the-heels guys.

And so the team that Joe penciled in to start tonight’s game was likely the one that will start Tuesday, though some lefty/righty substitutions could occur, and the starter in left field is not set, not that we know of anyway. And all but Robin Ventura (five innings) and Nick Johnson (seven innings) played nine. Every position player recorded at least one assist or a putout, with Giambi making some fine scoops, Robin making a nice play on Mora in the second and perhaps the play of the game in the fifth on Bordick.

Jeter continues to bring smiles to a Yankee faithful that had been becoming concerned, homering down one line and doubling down the other. And I would love to hear the consternation as the West Coast scouts try to advise our overshifting opponents after witnessing Jason lay claim to left field as a line-drive destination. He sent all three of his hits that way on the way to scoring three runs and knocking in one. Bernie Williams knocked in the crucial first run of the game, and both Ventura and Wilson slapped key doubles. Robin can hardly be blamed that his leadoff double in a one-run game went for naught. The onus for that falls on the shoulders of Raul Mondesi, a rare negative on this night, as he couldn’t hit the ball the other way at what could have been a turning point in the game.

And what can you say about the performance of Andy Pettitte? His dominant outing came in at around 75 pitches over five (a pesky phone call distracted me during the walk and strike out to Conine and Batista in the first), with a dominating 15 to 4 first pitch strike to ball ratio. To say that seven out of 10 outs he coaxed over and above his five punch-outs were weak ground balls underplays his domination. The other three outs did go airborne rather than bouncing along the ground, but two were caught by infielders and the foul fly Mondesi hauled in was only difficult in the sense that he had a long run and caught it right up against the side wall. That Ponson (who pitched great) had shut us down, making runs a precious commodity, added an element of desperation to the second-and-third, no-out situation that confronted Andy in the bottom of the fifth, and it was a test Pettitte passed with flying colors.

The Duke came on to pitch the sixth and seventh like he had been throwing middle relief all his life, although Batista’s drive down the left field line came perilously close to the Camden Yards wall. El duque struck out two, gave up one single and retired six batters on 21 pitches. And the best I can say about Steve Karsay’s outing is that he did get some work in. He started and finished well (strike out, then 6-3), but the single, single, double, sac fly in the middle was a bit alarming. I’m sure Joe will get him in for an inning Sunday.

But most systems tested out very well Friday night, thank you, and perhaps the most critical aspect of this three-day tune-up will be the two-sided concern summed up in the word “injury.” First we don’t want anyone injured going into the playoffs. One look at what the Diamondbacks are trying to overcome right now makes the importance of that aspect abundantly clear.

And while avoiding any further injury, the Yankee team and their fans would be foolish if they weren’t doing all they could (in acts on the one hand, positive wishes on the other) to get a fully healed Mariano Rivera ready for the post. He made his fourth successful appearance in a week since coming off the disabled list, and he threw well again. He has pitched one inning every other day since last Saturday, giving up only one broken-bat base hit (though breaking bats like they’re toothpicks) and tonight it was three up, three down again, this time on 12 pitches. Saturday, if all goes according to plan, he’ll pitch on consecutive days for the first time, then rest up for our big day Tuesday.

And of course there were three significant offensive numbers players are trying to achieve, and in that aspect, we won one, we lost one, and on the other we got closer. Bernie Williams achieved his 100th rbi, and he got it on a single that broke a scoreless tie. Jorge Posada needed two rbi for the same mark, though it is a bigger number for him as he approaches it for the first time in his career. He got one closer on a ninth-inning single on an 0-2 pitch. Alas the number that most everyone watching, listening or in Camden Yards in person were hoping for did not come, as Alfonso Soriano went 0 for 5 in his quest for the 40th homer to go with his 40-plus stolen bases, to become the fourth player to reach that lofty two-tiered plateau.

Baseball history this week and day features both the strange and the sublime. Thirty-three years ago Monday Dodger John Miller hit a home run in his final major league at bat. It was only the second dinger he would bash in his career. The other came on his first major league at bat. And on September 27, 1930, White Sox first baseman Bud Clancy manned his position for an entire game against the St. Louis Browns without ever handling the ball. On the same day in 1967 Philadelphia Phillie Jim Bunning tied a major-league record by losing his fifth 1-0 decision in the same season. But on the other hand, Bob Gibson recorded his 13th shutout of the year in 1968 and Nolan Ryan bagged his 383rd strike out victim of the 1973 season on September 27 (383 — are you kidding me?).

So yes, we have taken care of business, and to great effect. And we need to do it two more times. Oakland squeaked by the Rangers, and can pass us for best record by winning their two remaining games if we lose one. Although pitching-wise we may be the only team in the history of the game that could waste a great starter on a Tampa Bay makeup on Monday whose presence probably wouldn’t be missed come Tuesday, our position players, our manager, and his coaches need the break. Let’s take care of business, yes, a title I chose in honor of the 59th birthday of rocker Randy Bachman, whose Bachman Turner Overdrive recorded a rock classic by that name.

But, in contrast to that song’s lyrics, let’s do it without working overtime. Let’s win home field in Baltimore.

BTW,TYW

YANKEE BASEBALL!!!