Wild Celebration Was Cathartic for Stressed-Out Team

The New York Yankees seemed rather subdued after clinching the division series with a 4-0 victory over Texas late Friday night, gathering around the mound for hugs and handshakes but hardly falling all over themselves after surviving a 3-hour 16-minute rain delay and sweeping the Rangers.

Once they got into the clubhouse, though, the Yankees let loose, spraying champagne and beer over one another’s heads and dousing one another with shaving cream during a raucous celebration that lasted well over an hour.

To many reporters, it seemed a bit excessive, considering Yankee outfielder Darryl Strawberry, a treasured friend and teammate, was in a New York hospital preparing for Saturday’s surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his colon.

And this was only the end of Round One for a team that is considered one of the best in baseball history and is fully expected to go three rounds and win the World Series.

But it became clear, after talking with several players, that the celebration was a form of release from the stress and tension of the past few days, when they were both shocked and emotionally burdened by the news of Strawberry.

“He wouldn’t want us to tone it down,” Yankee designated hitter Chili Davis said. “We’re celebrating for ourselves, and we’re celebrating for Darryl because we’ve had a good year and deserve to.

“I’ve been thinking about him ever since he went in for tests [early last week]. That’s something that stays on your mind. We want him to get healthy real quick.”

At one point, outfielder Tim Raines stood on a table in the middle of the clubhouse with his teammates and television cameras surrounding him and proposed a toast to Strawberry. “Everyone knows we want to win it for Darryl,” Raines said.

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Ranger Manager Johnny Oates came away from the division series with an even greater appreciation for the Yankees, but it wasn’t so much because he was awed by their sheer talent.

“Certainly, they have a few main stars on their ballclub, but I look at them as just a bunch of Joes,” Oates said. “That’s not derogatory, it’s a compliment, because you used to have guys like Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris.

“What they’ve done is even more amazing because they don’t have a Maris or a Mantle. You step back and you realize how hard winning really is. It was hard for us to win 88 games, and they won 114, 26 more than we did. That’s mind-boggling.”

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Davis had two stints with the Angels, playing in Anaheim from 1988-90 and 1993-96. After his first departure, he signed with Minnesota as a free agent and helped the Twins win the 1991 World Series.

After his second departure and a 1997 season in Kansas City, Davis again found himself in the middle of a clubhouse celebration Friday night, his uniform drenched in champagne and his bald head covered in shaving cream.

“Every time I leave the Angels, look what happens,” Davis said, laughing. “It just seems to happen that way, doesn’t it?”

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So, how do baseball players kill time during a 3-hour 16-minute rain delay?

“We played cards, watched the movie ‘Dumb and Dumber,’ ” pitcher David Cone said. “Anything we could do to stay loose.”

Said right fielder Paul O’Neill: “We took batting practice [in the indoor cages], stretched . . . and we went through all the cookies. But it was worth it.”