The Captain Comes Up Small

A lot has been made by the media, Mike Francesca in particular, that Derek Jeter needs to step up, defend A-Rod, and tell the fans to simma'. I haven't taken a particularly strong stance about this until now. Yesterday, Derek Jeter, the Captain, the leader of the team, the man with the 4 rings, looked very small.

The play should have been an innocuous one. The Yankees were already getting crushed; the game was all but over. The Yankees were trailing 9-2 in the 6th when Jay Gibbons hit a harmless pop-up. Alex Rodriguez was settled under it. Derek Jeter was moving to his right and calling for the ball. The ball started to settle in A-Rod's glove and Jeter bumped into him, causing the ball to pop out. Jeter was charged with an error for impeding the play.

Jeter was quoted as saying "he said you got it? I thought he was kidding. I started to run off the field". Jeter did in fact start to run off, which at the time made me think WTF? Why isn't he picking up the ball? He also had an icy glare on his face as he looked back at A-Rod. A run came in and then Fernando Tatis, who only seems to homer against the Yankees, bashed one out to finish the scoring.

Jeter was shocked to learn he had been charged with the error. He sloughed it off to reporters, but then was seen in the hallway campaigning the official scorer to change the ruling. Now we know that A-Rod made comments to Esquire magazine several years ago downplaying Jeter's importance to the Yankees. And we know that A-Rod has a tendency to say too much to the press and to make too many excuses (or excuses that aren't excuses - "I was hurt, but I'm not going to tell you what it was").

All that being said it's time for Jeter to step up. If the Yankees are to not just win the division, but have any chance of making the playoffs, the Yankees need the real A-Rod. Not the robotic, average looking guy that has been here for most of this year. Jeter needs to put his own feelings aside and do what's best for the ball club. If he doesn't the team will suffer and so will his well preserved reputation.