NEW YORK -- Looking out from the deepest hole in which he has been as manager of the Yankees, Joe Torre said Saturday morning that he was dismayed to see his team's fire doused earlier this month.

"I was disappointed after the [April 15-17] sweep in Baltimore. We let the games get away from us. We didn't fight," Torre said.

"There was too much frustration. Too much, 'We can't do this.' Just the body language. You find yourself crying to the umpires ... just doing a lot of things you have no control over. And if you're trying to find reasons why things aren't going right, you're looking in the wrong place."

Torre's message, delievered in his usual benign way, was clear: Look in the mirror.

The Yankees took a 9-14 record into Saturday afternoon's game at Yankee Stadium. It marked only the second time that Torre's Bombers found themselves five games south of .500, but never this deep into a season. The Yankees were 5-10 on April 17, 1997.

They have never been six under in Torre's tenure, which began in 1996 and has generally featured fast starts. This month snapped a string of 13 consecutive winning Aprils.

"Right now, my goal is .500," Torre said. "As a Yankees manager, that's not a very lofty goal. But that's the first stop. We can't worry about where we are; our goal is to get ourselves straightened out."

Baseball results do not always reflect baseball performance -- or desire. Thus, Torre had seen more verve from his guys the previous two nights, even as they were scoring only one run in losses to the Angels and Blue Jays.

"The last couple of days, we've been all right. We clawed, scratched, bit back," Torre said.

Everything but win -- Jarrod Washburn, then Roy Halladay, took care of that. The Yankees do not expect too many back-to-back losses when their own pitchers allow only five total runs.

"Right now, it's the hitting," the manager said of the woe du jour. "We have not been able to generate anything on a consistent basis.

"But as far as what the expectations are, they haven't changed. They're expected to win, and expect it of themselves. They don't quit believing; it's still the first month of the season."

As for complacency overcoming a team that gets a lot of notoriety for its MLB-record payroll -- not a prayer, said Torre.

"I don't get the feeling anybody's in that clubhouse saying, 'Well, I get paid either way. I don't have to worry about this.' That stuff we have no patience for at all," Torre said. "I don't think other guys in the clubhouse would let it happen, anyway."

Wang unveiled: Naturally, there was a lot of curiosity surrounding right-hander Chien-Ming Wang, who made his Major League debut in Saturday's rain-delayed start against the Blue Jays.

One thing of which everyone seemed certain: the 23-year-old right-hander from Taiwan might get hit and chased, but he wouldn't get rattled.

Spring Training watchers recall his composure while starting one of the Yankees' most conspicuous Grapefruit League games, the March 7 visit to Ft. Myers and the Red Sox. Wang hurled three shutout innings against Boston, no doubt earning the marker Jaret Wright's shoulder injury has redeemed.

Why would Wang be jittery against the Red Sox, anyway? As a member of Taiwan's Junior and Olympic National Teams, he probably had a chance to feel more intense heat against Red Chinese.

Ready, get set, Mo: Mariano Rivera was back in the bullpen, waiting for the phone to ring, after being beaten down for a couple of days by a viral infection.

Torre wanted a chance to use Rivera, because it would mean a ninth-inning lead. But the manager had to hope for a multiple-run lead, a little margin of error for his closer, who hadn't pitched since April 21.

Furthermore, between infections and a dearth of save opportunities, Rivera had, amazingly, worked only two innings in 2 1/2 weeks, since April 13.

Rundown drill: Also over is the Yankees' 10-month winning streak, since their last losing month of May 2003. ... Hideki Matsui is on track to play in his 1,600th consecutive Japan-to-Majors game Sunday. ... John Flaherty was back behind the plate for the first time in six days. Jorge Posada and his bat (3-for-23 on the homestand) got a rest.

Coming up: Carl Pavano, the lone consistent bright spot in the Yankees' rotation, closes out the homestand on Sunday, taking on the Blue Jays and former New York souuthpaw Ted Lilly. While a modest target for May Day, Pavano will try to become the Yanks' first three-game winner.