TAMPA – As Billy Joel once crooned in his classic hit about the
Big Apple, "now I need a little give and take, the New York Times, the Daily News, and Newsday, too."

Throw in the Newark Star Ledger, the New York Post, the Bergen
Record, ESPN Radio, the Associated Press, a handful of television crews and the St. Petersburg Times. All were in a New York state of mind Tuesday, staking out Legends Field and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner's house all day for a sign of news about manager Joe Torre's fate, just looking for a little give and take with any Yankees official.

But none was forthcoming, not from 9 a.m. until around 3 p.m.
outside Legends, where about two dozen members of the media waited patiently, believing a meeting with Steinbrenner and his sons Hank and Hal, who have taken over the daily operation of the club, as well as general manager Brian Cashman and Steinbrenner's son-in-law Felix Lopez, was taking place.

Reporters and cameramen eventually fanned out, checking Tampa restaurants for any sign of the meeting, and wound up across the street from Steinbrenner's home late in the afternoon, again watching for any activity.

Finally, at 4:02, the gates to the home swung open and a Suburban pulled out quickly with Hal at the wheel, then closed again. Just over a half-hour later, the gates re-opened and three cars exited hurriedly, one driven by Lopez, one by Steinbrenner's driver and the third by Hank.

No news about Torre, no news period, other than the Tampa police officer who drove past to tell the media that the meeting inside was over.

In the end, the waiting game Tuesday felt like another quintessentially New York production, Seinfeld – a show about nothing.

-- DAVE SCHEIBER, Times Staff Writer

(Pictured: George Steinbrenner's house in Tampa. AP photo. Click to enlarge.)