That’s Just What the Captain Does

The beginning of the season seems like only yesterday watching Jeter hit weak ground balls to the infield for easy outs.  Even when he would get a hit, it wasn’t much to write home about.  Jeter wasn’t driving the ball and most hits came from squeakers that managed to get through the infield.

Things certainly have changed since Jeter got back from the DL with that calf injury right before the All Star Break.  Since coming off the DL, Jeter is hitting .319 with a .373 on base percentage.  Numbers aside, Jeter looks like a different player than he did in April when he was hitting .250 with a .300 OBP.  Now, he’s driving the ball for solid line drives and his swing looks like old Jeter.  Although Kevin Long had tweaked Jeter’s swing during spring training, it looks as though Jeter has reverted to his old ways of taking a stride before swinging.  Although the stride isn’t as dramatic as it was at the end of last season, it’s larger than it was during the month of April/May.  The biggest difference with Jeter at bat is his approach.  It seems like he is holding back longer which enables him to get his power behind the swing.  Jeter’s power is still there as his slugging percentage since coming off the DL would indicate, up at .449%.

As with any discussion of Jeter, it’s not just his numbers – it’s the intangibles and last night was a perfect example of how he contributes to the team.  In the 6^th inning, the Yankees were down by a run since AJ had a problem holding the lead.  Jeter came to the plate and hit a triple, driving in two RBI’s so the Yanks could take the lead.  This triple allowed AJ to bounce back for one more inning and get his first win in August since George W Bush was president.

Last week, Jeter came up big in another game for AJ although the end result was the same.  In the first game against the Angels, AJ ran into some trouble and allowed the Angels to take the lead.  Jeter came to bat in the 7^th inning and hit a RBI single which tied the game.  The Yankees eventually scored another run to take the lead before Mariano came in and blew the save. Ultimately the yanks lost that first game, but Jeter came up with another big RBI to bail out Burnett and keep hope alive. 

That’s what the Captain does time and time again.  Whether you love Jeter or hate him, he comes up big!