They’re Left Out in a Crucial Game

OAKLAND —  Clubhouses are closed to the media before postseason games, so there’s no telling whether New York Yankee outfielder Paul O’Neill, upon seeing Saturday’s lineup card without his name, tossed a batting helmet across the room in anger, as he does after so many of his outs. Publicly, O’Neill took his benching like a pro.

He was hitless in eight at-bats in the first two games against the Oakland A’s, and David Justicehad one hit in eight at-bats. O’Neill and Justice hit left-handed, and with lefty Barry Zito starting for Oakland in Game 3, Yankee Manager Joe Torre opted for right-handed Shane Spencer in right field and Randy Velarde at designated hitter.

“We’re trying to score as many runs as we can right now, and I’m not swinging the bat well, so it was pretty obvious,” O’Neill said of the move. “We’re here to win a game. This is not the time of year to question why any decision is made.”

This was no easy decision for Torre, who has a fierce loyalty to his veterans. O’Neill has been an integral part of New York’s four World Series titles in the past five years, batting .284 with nine homers and 36 runs batted in in 72 postseason games, and Justice hit two huge home runs to help the Yankees defeat Seattle in last year’s AL championship series.

“I think they both understand,” Torre said. “I never want a player to be pleased about sitting on the bench, and these two guys have been such a big part of [our success].... But I think we needed a change for the sake of change, and hopefully it works for us.”

The fact that O’Neill, 38, is expected to retire after this season, and that Saturday could have been his last game, didn’t make the decision any easier.

“Paul is sort of the glue for this club,” Torre said. “He’s been such a stabilizing influence on our team. I trust him a great deal. Several pitchers on other teams have mentioned over the years that he’s probably the toughest out they’ve ever had to get because he works every at-bat.”

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Torre also moved second baseman Alfonso Soriano from the ninth spot to the two hole, hoping his speed could spark a team that had gone 76 consecutive innings against the A’s without a lead. Derek Jeter was moved from second to third.

“[Soriano] gives us the speed, and the first four guys in the lineup give us the ability to go from first to third, maybe steal a base and get something going,” Torre said. “That was my thinking.”

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Oakland Manager Art Howe was inducted into his high school Hall of Fame Saturday, but he had to miss the ceremony at Shaler High in the Pittsburgh area for an important engagement: Game 3 of the division series against the Yankees.

“I had this on my schedule since mid-summer, and I had mixed emotions about it,” said Howe, a high school football/baseball star whose baseball team won a state championship in Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field his junior year. “As neat as it is to be inducted, I was hoping I wouldn’t be able to make it.”

TODAY

YANKEES’

ORLANDO HERNANDEZ

(4-7, 4.85 ERA)

vs.

ATHLETICS’ CORY LIDLE (13-6, 3.59 ERA) Network Associates Coliseum, 1 p.m.

TV-Channel 11

Update-Hernandez sat out almost three months of the season because of a toe injury, but if he can find his form, he’s just the pitcher the Yankees would want on the mound for a game like this. The right-hander is one of baseball’s best big-game pitchers, going 8-1 with a 2.20 earned-run average in the postseason, including a seven-inning shutout of Cleveland in Game 4 of the 1998 AL championship series, leading the Yankees to a 4-0 victory that evened that series, 2-2. Lidle, the Oakland right-hander, went 12-2 with a 2.74 ERA over his final 15 starts, but he will be making his first postseason appearance.