Derek Jeter is not just the Yankees’ captain, he is their catalyst. As he goes, they go. And with the single biggest barometer of their lineup red-hot for the past two weeks, the Bombers have been red-hot as well.
He came into last night’s game with Baltimore riding the crest of a career-high eight-game RBI streak. It was no coincidence the Yanks were 7-1 in that span, having pulled a game ahead of Boston in the AL East.
“I’ve always said time and time again when we have trouble scoring runs, usually it’s because I’m not on base,” Jeter said before last night’s game. “That’s how it’s been for the entire time I’ve been here.
“Yeah, we have great guys, great hitters year after year that can do a lot of things, but when we’re struggling, when we’re scuffling, it’s because the people at the top of the order aren’t getting on.”
Struggling and scuffling don’t begin to describe the hitting woes that Jeter suffered through for most of this young season. He’s suffered through a career-worst 0-for-32 slump and hit .190 through his first 41 games. Still, Joe Torre was not concerned.
“He’s a good hitter,” Torre understated. “The reason I wasn’t worried is I knew physically he was OK, so it was just going to be a matter of time . . . as long as he didn’t start beating himself up. There were days you knew he was over-trying, had trouble staying calm at the plate and being patient. That’s what slumps will do to you.”
But Baltimore has always been the place slumping Yankees go to get well, and Jeter is no different. He got clutch hits in the Bombers’ sweep at Camden Yards last week, and hasn’t looked back.
“If I have to go back, a couple base hits in Baltimore with two strikes – a blooper down the right field line and a soft liner down the left field line – those were important,” Torre said. And now Jeter has gone 17-for-40 in his last eight games.
To be exact, he’s 21-for-his-last-79, and 17-for-his-last 37 to raise his average from .187 to .233 and morph what had been uncharacteristic jeers at the Stadium back to cheers.
“You play 162 games for a reason,” Jeter said. “It’s not over after six weeks, it’s not over after two months. It’s over after six months. I’m finding holes. I’m staying back a little better.”
A little? He was nearly flawless in carrying the Yankees to an 8-7 victory over Baltimore Tuesday night, going 4-for-5 with home runs in the sixth and eighth innings, for the fifth multi-homer game of his career. The first shot was to dead center, and after his blast to left-center, he took a well-deserved curtain call.
“He’s got a great effect on the lineup because he’s at the top hitting first or second,” Torre said. “He seems to make things happen. I think guys feed off him, feed off his energy.
“Plus the physical part, when he’s on base he becomes a distraction. It makes it tougher to go through the middle of that order as a pitcher without putting pressure on yourself.”
Jeter is on such a roll, he has three hits in four of his previous six games, leading Yogi Berra to quip “he could hit with a bat with a hole in it.”