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Williams becomes manager for a day in Yankees' finale

Oct 1, 2006 - 2:34 PM Toronto (86-75) at NY Yankees (97-64) 1:05 pm EDT

BRONX, New York (Ticker) -- Manager Joe Torre will continue an end-of-season tradition to keep his team loose prior to the playoffs.

Veteran outfielder Bernie Williams will serve as acting manager for one game Sunday when the New York Yankees wrap up the regular season against the Toronto Blue Jays.

In recent years, Torre has allowed one of his veterans to fill out the lineup card, make pitching changes and plan game strategy. The 38-year-old Williams is hitting .279 with 12 homers and 61 RBI in his 16th season with the Yankees.

New York's Derek Jeter went 3-for-3 and moved within one point of Minnesota's Joe Mauer in the American League batting race in Saturday's 6-5 loss the Blue Jays.

The team captain, Jeter is hitting .345 and moved ahead of Hall of Famer Yogi Berra for seventh place in franchise history with 2,149 hits.

Jaret Wright (11-7, 4.39 ERA) is getting a final opportunity to become the team's fourth starter in the postseason. He is 2-0 with a 2.92 ERA in his last four starts, including Tuesday's victory over the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

Toronto calls upon Dustin McGowan (1-2, 7.66), who makes his third start of the year before heading to the Arizona Fall League. He yielded two runs and two hits in just two innings of Tuesday's loss to the Detroit Tigers.

Lyle Overbay and Alex Rios drove in two runs apiece for the Blue Jays, who have won six more games than last year and will finish in second place in the American League East Division.