There will be more playoff games at Yankee Stadium, and maybe more World Series games too, because George Steinbrenner will overspend to win back the fans who are angry about Andy Pettitte leaving. But money can't bring back the class and selflessness that defined this championship run and made even Yankee haters watch in admiration.

It will be remembered as the Joe Torre era, and now that era is as good as over. Pettitte's departure is one more reason to believe that Torre will be gone as manager after next season, win or lose.

Players like Pettitte are what made dealing with Steinbrenner tolerable, for both Torre and pitching coach Mel Stottlemyre.

"I'm going to be miserable for at least the next few days," Stottlemyre was saying yesterday from his home in Washington. "I'm happy for Andy and his family, but I'm really going to miss him. I know that Joe will too. It'll be more of a chore for both of us without him. He was so important in a lot of ways. He's such a good person, he'll be missed in the clubhouse more than people realize."

Stottlemyre said yesterday that he fully intends to retire after next season, and indicated that he made his decision to come back largely out of a feeling of obligation to Torre, especially since the manager is going into the final year of his contract.

"Joe was a huge influence on my decision," Stottlemyre said. "I'm back for one more year and that's going to be it. I've told him that. If he continues to go on, he understands it will be without me.

"I don't know if losing Andy will influence Joe's thinking, but it will make his job tougher in the clubhouse. Joe has always been the leader in terms of making sure the chemistry is good. Without a guy like Andy, who was great in the clubhouse, it'll be a little more work for Joe and his staff."

Stottlemyre wasn't about to speak for Torre, but they have grown so close during their time together that you get the feeling they will go out together after next season. This isn't Torre's team anymore; too many of his guys are gone now, and with them the qualities that made the Yankees of 1996 through 2001 the epitome of professionalism, and perhaps champions as well.

There was something special about those teams that fans loved, at least partly because of the home-grown core of players such as Pettitte, Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Bernie Williams, and then Jorge Posada. Steinbrenner may never understand that true Yankee fans want that connection to players who have come up together and act and look like a team - they don't want a conglomeration of All-Stars whose names change every couple of years.

That's at least partly why a lot of Yankee fans screamed about the trading of Nick Johnson. Everyone understood the need for Javier Vazquez, but Johnson had the look and feel of a longtime Yankee, and people hated to see him go.

And that's why it's unfathomable that Steinbrenner stood by and allowed Pettitte to leave without giving him the full George treatment that he's given to so many incoming free agents over the years. Pettitte was a Yankee in the best sense of the word, and one of Torre's favorites.

The Yankees can make it sound as if they were powerless to keep Pettitte from choosing family over money, but don't buy it. Pettitte admitted yesterday that he didn't start thinking seriously about the Astros until the last couple of weeks, and even then only because the Yankees had done nothing to make him feel like a top priority.

There's little doubt he wanted a little love, particularly from the owner, after years of hearing about how Steinbrenner had to be talked out of trading him on at least a couple of occasions.

Stottlemyre got that feeling when he spoke to Pettitte a few weeks ago to tell him he'd decided to return as pitching coach.

"Maybe he didn't feel as wanted as he would have liked," Stottlemyre said yesterday. "I think the trade stuff over the years was something that bothered him. But he knew that Joe and myself were always behind him, and that was important to him."

Whatever Pettitte's feelings about his treatment by the owner, Stottlemyre said he always thought Pettitte would come back. He thought the lure of moving up the list of Yankee pitching greats was enough to make him forget any slights along the way. To hear otherwise was rather stunning.

"I'm going to have to call Andy," Stottlemyre said. "When we talked a few weeks ago we agreed we'd talk, no matter what. Hearing it from him at least might take some of the shock away."

Steinbrenner will see to it that Stottlemyre has plenty of good pitchers to coach, but that's not the point. The magic of those championship years is gone. Soon Torre may be as well.