ST. PETERSBURG – Derek Jeter was joking Friday afternoon about his luck, another sign he has kept his unique brand of dry humor throughout his offensive dry spell.
It wasn’t that Jeter was simply clueless during a seven-week stretch in which he began the season with a .189 average. There were also some bad breaks, according to the Yankee captain.
“If you watch Web Gems [on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight], I was the recipient of most of them,” Jeter said.
The days of Jeter constantly being robbed of base hits seem to be over. In a three-game span from Wednesday through Friday, the shortstop’s average surged 32 points – to .221. He went 9-for-14 with five runs and four RBIs in those games, and Joe Torre sees a different sort of body language at the plate.
“Jeter, he looks very comfortable up there,” Torre said after Friday’s 7-5 victory over Tampa Bay. “Comfortable and yet he’s got an edge to him.
“He’s saying, ‘I know you’re going to challenge me.’ He’s up to it right now.”
Jeter admits he is more comfortable, simply because he’s picking up pitches better. Torre thinks Jeter’s approach and mechanics are better, as he sees his player reverting to his inside-out, opposite-field approach.
When Jeter flied out into foul territory down the right-field line on Friday in his first at-bat, the Yankee skipper saw it as a harbinger of good things to come.
Jeter followed with a sharp single through the hole, a double into the left-field corner that he legged out and a solo homer to right-center in his next four at-bats.
“Right now, the last few days, I think he sleeps a little better,” Torre said.
Has Jeter made any widespread changes? What’s the secret?
“Really, I’m not even thinking much,” Jeter said. “It’s just trying to get a good pitch. That’s about it. You can’t really aim for an alley. You can’t guide it. All you can do is hit the ball hard.
“I’m fortunate the last few days to find some holes as well. I’ve been swinging at good pitches and fortunately they haven’t been getting caught.”
Jeter’s role is different from other All-Stars, Torre was saying on Friday afternoon, because he isn’t relied on to put up numbers. However, since he either bats leadoff or second, Jeter is expected to make things happen by getting on base. His on-base percentage is up to .281. He has 11 hits in his last 22 at-bats.
“It’s obviously a lot better than the flip side of it,” Jeter said. “You just want it to last. It’s been a good few days, but you want it to continue.
“If you’re confident, hits will come. I feel comfortable. That’s all you want to do. I have confidence all the time.
“But when you’re comfortable, you’re seeing the ball a lot better.”
Torre believes Jeter turned it around with three soft base hits in Baltimore a few nights ago, with the theory being that the shortstop finally saw evidence that his luck was changing. Torre felt “that probably did more for him than anything else.”
Could it be true? Well, a few weeks ago, Jeter theorized that Alex Rodriguez turned his season around with a ninth-inning single in Boston and a first-inning bunt single in Chicago. A-Rod really hasn’t cooled off since.
“Those are all little things,” Jeter said at the time. “It may not be a big home run or something like that, but they help relax you.”
At this moment, Jeter seems relaxed and locked in. Hence, the Yankees can breathe a little sigh of relief.