Steinbrenner blows off steam with conference call

MINNEAPOLIS — Looking for answers after a historic sweep at the hands of the worst team in baseball, an upset George Steinbrenner held a conference call Friday with New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman and manager Joe Torre.

Torre said it has become an increasingly rare occurrence in recent seasons for The Boss to include him in such discussions, but this was a rare situation.

“It’s happened a number of times, but not in recent times,” Torre said before the Yankees opened a three-game series against the Minnesota Twins. “This was sticking to why we’re having a tough time. All of the same questions I ask myself.

“He was unhappy. If I tried to tell you anything other than that, you’d be questioning if I was telling you the truth, and I’m not going to lie to you.”

New York (27-26) has lost five games in a row, including an embarrassing three-game sweep by the lowly Kansas City Royals, just the third time in the Yankees’ storied history that they’ve been swept in three games by a team with the worst record in the majors, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Steinbrenner participated on the call from Florida, with Torre and Cashman in Minneapolis.

Torre and Cashman characterized the call as a “state-of-the-team” discussion and said no decisions were made at the conclusion.

“I didn’t feel any better because we were talking about all the bad things that have happened,” Torre said.