Tresh Fan – you might like this one:

http://tinyurl.com/5c5o75

Steve,

Re: Abreu and Giambi.

Athletes age at different rates. There are certainly those who can still be consistently competitive and productive into their late 30′s; but many, if not most, are long done by then, even with modern conditioning and medical treatment. You mentioned Bernie Williams and Roy White in an earlier post. Yes, they were both signature Yankees, no-nonsense and reliable, but they were both washed up at 35. Looking over the current roster—Abreu, Damon, Giambi, Jeter, Matsui, Posada—I just wonder which of them might be batting in their 9th inning at this point.

John – thanks. I know how you feel. When Jeter hit into that DP in this game…my first thought was “Gee, is it just me, or, does it seem like Derek has hit into a lot of twin-killings this year?”

But, I know that, in his last 20 games, Jeter has hit .291/.351/.442 – and, that’s not terrible. Yes, it’s about 20-30 points below the OPS that you expect to see from him…but, he’s not stinking like Giambi. So, I gave him a pass – of sorts.

Same thing with A-Rod. He’s batting .329/.407/.608 with 19 RBI in his last 21 games. But, he’s also whiffed 18 times in his last 79 ABs. To me, it seems like Alex is K’ing with runners on as much as Jeter hits into DPs, lately. But, because of his overall OPS, it’s hard to say that Rodriguez has been stinking.

Then again, maybe we should ignore the OPS numbers and say that Jeter and A-Rod have to shoulder some of the blame here too? I dunno. But, if someone wants to say that…I don’t think I can fight too hard against it either.

Steve,

You have hit the nail on the head. Our recent surge was the result of insanely good pitching that overcame an offense that has not really gotten any better. It is unrealistic to believe we can sustain that.

I think that while Giambi and Abreu deserve the criticism, you are being too soft on the Captain. Jeter hit into his 16th DP tonight, passing his total for all but two years in his career and one behind the AL lead. He’d lead the AL if a number of errors in the last month hadn’t spared him more GIDPs. At this pace, he’ll top 25 for the year – a number speedster Jorge Posada never reached.

Yes a month of hitting .285 is better than the month before where he dropped down to .270, but he is a shadow of the hitter he was for the last 12 years. In his two prior sub .300 seasons, he hit for power – 18 & 24 HRs and drove in 114 and 99 runs – numbers he won’t get close to this year.

We have all screamed for year’s for Giambi to swallow his pride and just tap the ball to left field. I am now screaming for Jeter to bunt with a man on first and keep the inning alive.