1. Derek Jeter was picked off second base in a tie game in the sixth inning on Tuesday night with Alex Rodriguez at the plate. In the ninth inning, Jeter failed to get a sacrifice bunt down with Johnny Damon on second base as the go-ahead run and ultimately struck out. These are the kinds of offenses that have gotten Jose Reyes criticized. Jeter, however, escaped the wrath for the most part, probably because of his long history of success in New York. But maybe we should begin asking, with Jeter at 34 now, whether he is a top player any more. We will leave defense out of the discussion, since it is always such a hot-button topic for those true believers who refuse to see anything wrong with the Yankee captain. Let’s just focus on offense and 2008. At this moment, Jeter ranks 11th in the majors in OPS among qualifying shortstops at .732. He has just 12 extra-base his, including two homers, and just three steals. During his career, Jeter gave the Yankees’ historically good production at shortstop. But this version of Jeter has become almost exclusively a singles hitter with much less value on the bases than ever before. Nearly one-third of the way through the year, Jeter has been a far worse offensive shortstop than Reyes. Yet, Reyes is the topic in town. It is good to be a Teflon icon.

2. The Yanks and Mets have both needed their benches this season and this is what we have found: both teams have terrible benches. Endy Chavez will have a fond place with Met fans for his great catch in the ’06 NLCS. But he is nearly an automatic out, and so was Marlon Anderson before he was injured. For the Yanks, Morgan Ensberg is now filling the role of the horrible imported righty-hitting veteran who was supposed to be a big boost vs. lefty pitching previously inhabited by Craig Wilson and Josh Phelps. Shelley Duncan appears to be Shane Spencer without the staying power. There are important items for both Omar Minaya and Brian Cashman to attack this season, but they both need to upgrade their benches after doing such a poor job the first time.

3. Why no one should make predictions ever again, reason No. 6, 522: Before the season, it was understood that the only quality starter in Houston’s rotation was Roy Oswalt. It was, therefore, understood that the Astros could not win with just one quality starter and very well might have an awful year and be looking to trade Oswalt in July as part of a rebuilding program. So two months into the season, Oswalt has been well below his norm. He is 4-4 and his 5.61 ERA is 93rd out of 103 pitchers who qualify for the ERA title. Yet the Astros are seven games over .500, and if the season had ended after Tuesday’s games they would be the wild card. The season, of course, did not end Tuesday. And there is plenty of time for the Astros to play as was generally expected. But it was hard to see how Houston could be good for even two months if Oswalt struggled, and the Astros have been good.