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Associated PressVeteran Yankee Williams will DH at least until New York starts playing on natural grass.
ST. PETERSBURG - The toughest decision Joe Torre had to make this spring wasn't that difficult.
The Yankees manager decided the defending AL champions will reopen the season tonight against Tampa Bay with Kenny Lofton in centerfield and Bernie Williams as the designated hitter.
Lofton will lead off. Williams, a .305 career hitter who missed most of spring training while recovering from an appendectomy, will hit seventh in a lineup that appears so deep and powerful Torre says he could draw names out of a hat and not make a mistake.
"My sense is this lineup will change from time to time because you do have a lot of different ways you can go without necessarily being wrong," Torre said Monday. "The easy part for me is nobody has really had a problem hitting in the spot I've put them in."
The decision to use Williams at DH was made, in part, because the Yankees play their next two games on artificial turf and Torre would prefer the five-time All-Star not play the field until the team gets on a grass surface.
Williams just wants to be in the lineup after remaining in Tampa while the Yankees and Devil Rays opened the season by splitting two games in Tokyo last week.
"I'm happy as long as I'm playing. It's a great feeling to be out there. I'm going to be ready for either position," Williams said. "Both of us are used to playing every day. Right now, it's just the way it's going to be. It could be beneficial. It could help keep us healthy and fresh."
Lofton started in center and batted ninth for the games in Japan, going 3-for-7 with two walks. He hadn't relished the prospect of being moved to DH.
"Happy or not, I have to do what the manager says," said Lofton, a centerfielder his entire career. "That's where I feel I belong. ... I'm emotional. I like to take hits away from people. I'm not used to sitting around."
Neither is Williams, the Yankees' regular centerfielder since 1992.
Torre, though, isn't surprised by the way Williams has accepted the manager's judgment.
"Bernie's always been a guy that (does) whatever you want him to do. He's never been anything other than that," Torre said.