Tragedy Envelops Yankees Again

There was outfielder Darryl Strawberry’s colon cancer during the 1998 playoffs, Manager Joe Torre’s prostate cancer last spring training, the death of Maury Brosius, father of third baseman Scott Brosius, because of colon cancer in September, and now this.

Ambrosio Sojo, father of Yankee utility player Luis Sojo, died Thursday of an aortic aneurysm--a burst blood vessel--throwing Sojo’s status for the World Series in jeopardy.

The elder Sojo fell ill during Game 1 of the American League championship series, underwent emergency surgery and was believed to be improving when he took a dramatic turn for the worse in New Jersey on Thursday.

Sojo left the team to attend to funeral arrangements, with plans to return his father’s body to his native Venezuela. Torre had planned to use Sojo as a late-inning defensive replacement for struggling second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, but now he’s not sure Sojo will be included on the series roster.

“We don’t have to submit the roster until game time [tonight], so we’ll wait as long as we can,” Torre said. “If he says he can be here Sunday, we’d be willing to bite the bullet for a day. If he’s talking about Tuesday or Wednesday, it may be a different scenario.”

If that’s the case, the Yankees may be forced to drop reserve catcher Clay Bellinger from the roster and add utility infielder D’Angelo Jimenez, a 21-year-old from the Dominican Republic who has played in only seven big league games.

“Luis is very important to this club,” designated hitter Chili Davis said. “He’s probably the only guy in here who can sit for two weeks, get asked to do something and do an amazing job. He’s a talented player, and defense comes naturally to him. We hope he gets things settled so he can come back and play, because he’s worked his butt off all year to get here.”

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This World Series will feature five Cy Young Award winners, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz for the Braves and Roger Clemens and David Cone for the Yankees.

“That’s amazing,” Cone said. “Plus, you have the two best pitchers of my generation, Maddux and Clemens, in the series. It makes this a great matchup. There is no doubt the two best teams in baseball are here.”

Whereas the Braves will stick with their playoff roster from the previous round--including a staff of only nine pitchers--Torre has made several changes from the American League championship series, replacing outfielder Shane Spencer with utility player Jim Leyritz and replacing reliever Hideki Irabu with Jason Grimsley.

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Atlanta closer John Rocker made himself a target in New York by calling Met fans “stupid,” and “less than human” among other things during the National League championship series.

The Yankees also play in the Big Apple, meaning the emotional Rocker remains on New Yorkers’ most-wanted list.

“I have no idea what’s going to happen [when the World Series shifts to Yankee Stadium], that’s up to John Rocker,” Atlanta Manager Bobby Cox said. “But he doesn’t hate the Yankee fans--he hates Met fans. I think he loves the Yankee fans.”

Not according to Rocker. The first-year closer has often expressed his hatred for everything “New York.”

Cox doesn’t expect anything close to the ugly incidents that occurred at Shea Stadium.

“I think they’ll have fun with it, like with the signs” Cox said. “I don’t think it will be anything serious. John is calming down a little bit.

“He’s still not going to lose his enthusiasm for the game itself. He’s still going to come flying in [from the bullpen] and all that, but I think he’s learned something from all of this. He has to deal with being more of a people person. And not only in baseball, but after baseball. You have to learn to get along with people.”