NOTES

No Diamondback has been more enthralled with the history and tradition of Yankee Stadium than Mark Grace, but the first baseman learned during Game 3 that there are more inhabitants than the ghosts of the Babe and other Yankee greats.

“We were coming off the field after the fourth inning and found this steroided rat in the corner of the dugout,” Grace said with a smile, holding his hands wide apart to indicate the considerable size. “He wasn’t bothering anyone, just hanging out, but we thought he might be bugged, he was that big. Someone yelled, ‘Arrest that rat,’ and they came with a box and carried him off.”

It isn’t clear whether that was the same rat Luis Gonzalez spotted running along the track behind the plate as he waited in the on-deck circle. How big?

“Big enough to put a saddle on,” Gonzalez said.

*

Torre’s three-year contract expired at midnight, meaning he will manage Games 5, 6 and 7, if the Series goes that far, as a free agent, technically. The Yankees, however, are expected to announce at the end of the Series that Torre has agreed to a three-year extension at about $16 million.

“George [Steinbrenner] and I have basically agreed that we want this thing to keep going, but right now the issue is baseball,” Torre said.