FOR four innings, it was so quiet at the Stadium you could almost hear the scores in St. Petersburg and Chicago changing on the scoreboard.
Time has hung heavy on the Yankees’ hands waiting for Cleveland, which has won 12-of-15 and 23-of-29, to lose. Derek Jeter is not embarrassed to admit he sneaks peaks.
“In Toronto, the scoreboard is the whole left-field wall, so it’s pretty hard to miss,” he said. “Sure I look.
“Here, it’s right in front of me. And sometimes when I turn around to check the outfield, I check that scoreboard, too.”
Anyone involved in a race this close who insists otherwise is lying. Or, too busy pitching or catching. The bat that remained on Jeter’s shoulder as Sunday’s game in Toronto ended with the tying run at second is evidence he is human, which also means he must be curious. Not as curious as this sudden talk-radio groundswell for Mr. Clutch having always been overrated, but curious nonetheless.
“With our last three games in Boston, if we win out, we can’t lose,” said the captain. His theory is that, vested as his interest in the Red Sox and Indians might be, no playoff spot is going to be won staring, muttering, or cursing runs onto any out-of-town scoreboard.
If they could be, the Yankees, who have the best in the business at those things, Randy Johnson, would be a lock. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. The surest way to make the playoffs is to keep winning, 13 out of the remaining 13, if that’s what it’s going to take.
So Jeter helped give 51,521 something to do besides wait for Boston and Cleveland to lose. After Bubba Crosby beat out a bleeder to lead off the fifth, the captain followed with his second hit, a hard single to right, and scored the tying run on Gary Sheffield’s ground out.
Jeter was on deck when Crosby won the game, 3-2, but after joining the mob at the plate, saw no reason to hang around to hear the Red Sox lost and the Indians won before considering the night fulfilled.
The Yankees can’t wait for anyone to cool off. They can’t overcome losses that put them in this spot by thinking about anything but the game they are in. Sunday, Jeter made an error that cost the Yankees two runs. He hit a homer to cut the deficit to 6-5, but got called out on Miguel Batista pitch that was too close to both take argue about to end the game. Afterward, Jeter was defiant after the umpire’s call, about his chance to make that play in the field, but that was gone yesterday.
“We’re playing the postseason now – you have to have a short memory,” he said. “Hitting with first and second, I’m not thinking about yesterday.”
That’s a good thing, unlike the fans’ failure to recall Jeter’s .303 career average with men in scoring position for his first nine seasons.
Give superior players enough opportunities to come through in the clutch and ultimately they will prove themselves winners. Barry Bonds’ 2002 playoff was testimony to that inevitability, and now Alex Rodriguez’ second Yankee season is showing it as well. Similar laws of baseball percentages apply to Jeter, baseball’s all-time postseason hit leader.
So don’t let any 9-for-his-last-30 down the toughest stretch the Yankees have had since he broke in fool you. The most fun Jeter can have is competing this time of year.
Four World Series championships would seem to keep him above any questions to the contrary. But even the best have to reprove themselves, which happens to be Jeter’s ongoing preoccupation. Scoreboard watching is only his hobby.