New York Post
Derek Jeter rubs the helmet of Bobby Abreu as the two of them scored on a double by Hideki Matsui in the fourth inning.
September 19, 2007 -- Name: Derek Jeter. Rank: Captain. Serial number: Six-game hitting streak including 10 hits in his last 19 at bats, counting a three-run homer that bashed the Red Sox for his career umpteenth time, producing the Yankees’ biggest win of the season.
Jeter has a right knee almost as cranky as Mike Mussina was before remarkably reinventing himself two starts ago. All you get out of the shortstop, even as he climbs to third on the all-time list of hits for the all-time franchise, is the need to win the next game.
Last night, the Red Sox were 1-1 with the Jays, the Tigers 4-4 with the Indians, and the Yankees 0-0 against somebody named Jon Leicester when Jeter singled to left to lead off the fourth, starting a six-run inning that made him correct again about the only score mattering being the Yankees score.
With Jeter getting three hits, being on base four times, with Mussina pitching suddenly brilliantly, the Yanks beat the Orioles, 12-0, to reduce the magic number to make the playoffs to seven. If the Yankees go just 6-5, the Tigers must do 10-0 to force a playoff, math Jeter leaves to others like Joe Torre.
Detroit is running out of time faster than the Yankees are in their chase of the Red Sox. The manager soon will ponder the probability that a 13th consecutive postseason berth will be wrapped up by mid-next week with the division title still hanging.
Mike Mussina follows through in the first inning.
Torre knows how George Steinbrenner feels about finishing second. The manager also heard the fans cheering the Red Sox loss on the scoreboard while practically ignoring Detroit’s defeat.
Would he dare get Jeter and Hideki Matsui, who also has a bad knee, multiple days off? Not take the Yankees’ best shot at a title they proudly have owned since 1998 in order to line up Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens on proper rest for the first three games of the treacherous best-of-five?
“That’s probably the most difficult question to answer,” Torre said. “[Resting] a pitcher you are going to use in the first game, I think, would take priority over anything else.
“I haven’t thought that far ahead, but to me the postseason is the most important thing. You win the division, you play home more often, and that certainly is more comfortable. But if your team can’t win on the road you aren’t good enough to begin with.”
In the 12 Octobers since 1995, four wild cards have won the World Series, including three straight from 2002-04. One of those was the Red Sox, beating the Yankees in Games 6 and 7 at Yankee Stadium. During the parade, if anyone remembered the Yankees won the division, nobody cared.
Torre and his players have been smart to talk up catching the Red Sox. With two playoff spots available, why prioritize only one? Once one is achieved, though, there is no sense in going after the perceived better seeding, when there is little evidence of its benefit. The sooner the Yankees can pack it in on the regular season and pack Jeter’s knee in ice for a day or two, the better off they will be.
“His leg affected how he was swinging and he got in bad habits, jumping at the ball a little bit,” Torre said. “Either he’s now able to keep the weight on it, or he can deal with it better.
“But that stuff, like Matsui’s leg, doesn’t go away.”
It doesn’t look like Jeter needs rest right now. When a 6-for-36 slump prompted Torre to give Jeter a rest 10 days ago in Kansas City, the 0-for-9 in the two following games didn’t speak directly to any rejuvenating effects.
Yet by the end of the week he was igniting the Yankees again, just like it was the postseason. That’s when Jeter has been at his best. And the Yankees’ priority is fast becoming trying to assure that again he will be.
jay.greenberg@nypost.com
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