Mood Music - Joy To The World by Three Dog Night
Alright everyone, time to come clean. Who among us thought that Alex Rodriguez (50% horse, 50% man, 100% dominant force) would come up short of the 30 HR/100 RBI benchmark that he continually sets for himself?
I must admit, I was among you. I didn't think that there was any way that A-Rod could come back from his injuries (and a seeming power outage in 2010) and make it to 30 home runs. I have shamefacedly accepted my lesson, and have paid my penitence (before I was allowed to blog about the Yankees again, I had to sit in an empty room and copy "I will never doubt the Centaur" a thousand times).
Even more encouraging on that front, A-Rod has been rounding into playoff form very nicely. In his past 15 games (14 starts), he has accumulated the following line: .291/.391/.727, 8 HR. I can live with that type of production come playoff time.
If you choose to continue on, we will chit chat about the new and improved Derek Jeter and play a little game that I like to call "Jump or Don't Jump."
You may or may not be aware of this, but Derek Jeter is having something of an "un-Jeterian season." I'm not going to bore you with any of the drivel that has been brought up on this subject a thousand times, but I did find some interesting quotes in this story:
"Don't count Derek Jeter out in the month of September and the postseason. This is a guy that knows how to play this game. The law of averages said this guy's going to hit. He's got 2,900 hits. And he's not 45, you know? There's still good baseball in him.'' -Joe Girardi
"Sometimes you don't like to try to do it in the middle of a season, but you do it and you hope things work out. You may not look good at the beginning, but you've got to continue with it. You try all sorts of things. It's not always the first thing you try that works.'' -Derek Jeter
"We were working on his stride direction. He was crossing over. In Jete's case, he took 200, 300 swings in one session just trying to get it kind of ironed out and get it to where he was feeling good. And then (he) went the next day and did it again. And then he went out and took BP.'' -Kevin Long
"Sometimes it looks like he's doing something in protection of something, even though he's not conscious of doing it,'' -Joe Torre (speculating on a possible injury)
Here's my reaction to each quote, in order: Derek Jeter is going to bat leadoff in the playoffs. I'm glad Jeter shelved his pride and went to Kevin Long. I love Kevin Long. I actually agree with Joe Torre, I think part of the problem has been health, but he does look a lot better now. (Since his trip to "Long Island," Jeter is batting .333 with four doubles and 11 walks.)
Now, for something completely different:
Jump: Ten Reasons Why The Yankees Won't Make It Past The ALDS
Don't Jump: New York Yankees Have Issues, But So Do Other Playoff Teams
The choice is yours!