...says Mike Lupica of the NY Daily News:
In New York, we thought it was Derek Jeter's time to finally win the MVP. We thought maybe the award would be for his whole time at Yankee Stadium. It doesn't work that way. He lost to Justin Morneau yesterday, lost out on an MVP he should have won. He did not get robbed. No.2 of the Yankees just finished a close second. This is a surprise, not an outrage.
This year, somebody beats out the star Yankee. David Ortiz couldn't do it one year ago, even though Ortiz deserved the award more than Alex Rodriguez did. Now Morneau beats out Jeter. It is funny how these things work out, because Jeter deserved the MVP this year a lot more than A-Rod did last year.
Jeter still hasn't won the MVP. Mo Rivera has never won a Cy Young Award. It doesn't change who either one of them is, or has been, at the Stadium. Doesn't change how lucky we are around here to watch them play baseball.
I would have voted for Jeter. I grade higher for shortstops and for catchers, which is why I wonder why more people didn't go for Morneau's teammate, Joe Mauer. I thought in a close year, with everything that happened around him, Jeter was a greater Yankee than he had ever been, that this really was his time. Everybody around here did. We see everything he does, every day. We know why he has become this kind of star, why he has become the Yankee kids most want to be the way Mickey Mantle was.
Oh, sure. If they sold sports apparel in Mantle's day the way they do now, we would have seen kids all over town wearing No. 7 jerseys the way we see Jeter's No. 2. He is the biggest sports star of his time in this city. It is no small thing.
Read the rest here.