Will Joe Torre’s move to Los Angeles rekindle the old Yankees-Dodgers rivalry ?
Jayson Start at ESPN thinks it will:
It’s the rivalry that brought us Billy versus Lasorda.
It’s the rivalry that brought us Reggie versus Bob Welch.
It’s the rivalry that brought us George Steinbrenner versus The Elevator.
And now, it’s back. After all these years.
New York Yankees-Los Angeles Dodgers.
Once again, it’s must-see baseball theater.
For that, we can thank Joe Torre. Well, we also can thank the people in New York who nudged him out the door. Not to mention the folks in Los Angeles who hired him.
But it’s Torre who almost single-handedly will turn the Dodgers’ next few seasons into a major, never-ending New York story, just as the Yankees’ next few seasons without him now will loom as a huge L.A. story.
As soon as Hank Steinbrenner uttered those magic words about Torre — “Let’s not forget … the great team he was handed” — this battle line was spray-painted. And once the Dodgers decided they had themselves a manager, this rivalry was back.
To some extent, I think Stark is correct. Girardi is going to be performing under the shadow of Torre from the moment the first pitch is thrown in April; and, if he doesn’t deliver, the New York press is going to be all over him. At the same time, if Torre can manage to bring the Dodgers out of the many years of mediocrity, then Hank Steinbrenner is going to be eating his words.
But that’s really a Steinbrenner-Torre rivalry, maybe a Torre-Girardi one. A real rivalry between the Yankees and Dodgers ? Unless they meet in inter-league play, though, it won’t become a serious rivalry until the possibility of a New York-Los Angeles World Series becomes something for the baseball press to talk about.
