“Usually when we have trouble scoring runs, I’m not on base, and it has been that way this year.”DEREK JETER
DEREK Jeter was off to a better start at this time last season, and he was on the DL with a separated shoulder.
Right now Jeter is struggling so that the Red Sox are actually defending him as if he were a pitcher, aligning their outfielders at Williamsport depths and stationing right fielder Kevin Millar near the line. And Jeter is honoring that decision by channeling Al Leiter at the plate.
Jeter has no hits in his last 21 at-bats, the worst stretch of his career, and has become a symbol of an offense with big reputations, bigger paychecks and small results in 2004. Jeter cautions “don’t write the story of the season today, we have a long way to go.” But how do you ignore what has occurred to date?
George Steinbrenner hasn’t. He has berated his executives all weekend with calls. Joe Torre hasn’t. He met briefly with his club after yesterday’s 3-2, 12-inning loss to Boston to tell players it is time to get mad. And the 55,195 who attended yesterday haven’t. They are noticing in April that these Yanks have no October about them.
Extra innings in The Bronx against the Red Sox did not bring Yankee joy this time. Tim Wakefield never entered the game and Aaron Boone remained 3,000 miles away recuperating a damaged knee. Boston continued to show no hangover from that ALCS Game 7 loss. The Red Sox are 5-1 against the Yanks, all accomplished without Nomar Garciaparra or Trot Nixon in the lineup. They won a Bronson Arroyo-Kevin Brown matchup for the second time in a week. And they won yesterday despite going a staggering 0-for-25 with men on base, including 0-for-19 with runners in scoring position.
The Yanks lost despite Alex Rodriguez’ best game as a Yank, as he made a spectacular play to rob a two-run double, homered, legged out an infield hit to set up the tying run and walked twice. A-Rod’s homer was the only hit for six innings against Arroyo, Boston’s sixth starter. The Yanks strung three hits for a run in the seventh, and that was the last of four hits they would get in 12 innings.
The Yanks are 8-10 on merit. The rotation and defensive worries of spring have become reality. The offensive malaise, though, is shocking. There are problems throughout the order, with Bernie Williams looking faded, limited second base production and A-Rod – even with this fine game – having fewer RBIs (5) than the six produced Friday night by Houston’s Mike Lamb, who had been in the Yankee third base mix before Rodriguez was obtained.
But even Jeter admits that throughout his career, due to hitting near the top of the order, how he goes, so goes the team. “Usually when we have trouble scoring runs, I’m not on base, and it has been that way this year.” Jeter is hitting just .174, has a .262 on-base percentage and no homers, and the Yanks have scored three or fewer runs in 11 of 18 games.
Jeter derives his power by driving inside pitches to right, and the Red Sox have frustrated him by working mostly away and getting him to hit meekly into their alignment. He insisted he is not bothered by the configuration, not hurt (he injured both hands last weekend at Fenway) and is not feeling extra pressure as captain or because A-Rod is around.
“I’m not thinking anything different,” said Jeter. “I’m just not getting any results.”
However, when Torre was asked about Jeter’s struggles, the manager cited a team-wide problem, saying, “Right now they’re pressing, and damn right they’ve lost their confidence. It is hard to keep your mental edge when you are going through something like this.”
But Jeter has been emblematic of the cool success that has enabled the Yanks to extend Boston’s Cursed misery. So now, when he is more Rey Ordonez than ray of light, he is going to receive more blame for why the new Murderers’ Row has not surfaced and why this $185 million experiment in star gathering has shown no October in its play this April.
