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Did I Hear That Correctly?

MFS62 Sep 15 2006 07:08 AM

RANT ALERT. Just now, on ESPN II, a Movado Watch commercial came on. The announcer started (in a rich stentorian voice): Derek Jeter Ballplayer HUMANITARIAN yadda yadda (I had stopped listening) Humanitarian? Has he been nominated for a Nobel Prize? Has he cured some disease? Has he donated billions to charity? Or does an athlete earn that by visiting some kids in a foundling home? Gimmie a break. Anybody know what he's done to deserve that? Later

Gwreck Sep 15 2006 07:19 AM

The "Turn 2 Foundation." http://www.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/players/jeter_derek/turn2/overview.jsp

MFS62 Sep 15 2006 09:30 AM

Thank you. I stand corrected. That is a good mission and those seem like good programs in support of that mission. Its a far cry from when footballer Lawrence Taylor stood in front of an assembly at an inner-city (Newark, NJ) high school and said "I'm not going to tell you not to take drugs". Later

metirish Sep 15 2006 09:41 AM

klapisch loves Jeter. ]By BOB KLAPISCH RECORD COLUMNIST Without a pennant race to overheat the Yankee community, the debate over who deserves the American League's MVP has turned into this year's us-against-them issue. And wouldn't you know, the Sox are in the middle of this controversy. The usually likeable David Ortiz harpooned Derek Jeter's credentials, inviting him to "hit in this lineup" and see if he'd still be a front-runner for baseball's most prestigious award. Imagine if the Sox were battling for first place and Ortiz had to step to the plate tonight as the Bronx' Most Wanted. There won't be any such drama, though; in fact, Ortiz has since delivered an explanation to Jeter (through Johnny Damon) that he meant no disrespect. But Ortiz didn't back off his claim that the MVP is the sole domain of home run hitters and top run producers, regardless of the standings. To which we say, not exactly. Alex Rodriguez's 2003 award with the Rangers aside, no player whose team has melted away should win the MVP. Driving in runs under pressure is the industry's gold standard; it's what separates great ballplayers from the talented ones. And this year, Jeter has been just that, surging toward the AL batting title, hitting almost .400 with runners in scoring position, doing it when Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield were on the DL and A-Rod was searching for Dr. Phil. The balloting for baseball's awards are rotated every year, and it's my turn for the AL MVP. There's no greater late-inning home run threat anywhere than Ortiz, but Jeter is getting my first-place vote. Second place is Johan Santana -- who would be my Cy Young candidate, too, if that decision were up to me. Third on my list is Jermaine Dye. Of course, it's not Big Papi's fault the Sox are struggling to finish ahead of the Blue Jays, and that Saturday's showdown between Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling will have all the relevance of a spring training game. We're not here to say Ortiz hasn't had a fine season. But, fair or not, his stats are diminished because they were part of the Sox' larger failure Damon has been teammates with both players, and he says there's "no question" Jeter deserves the MVP over Ortiz and everyone else. "He does a million little things that I wasn't aware of until I saw him every day," Damon was saying of Jeter the other day. "There's so much to Derek's game that makes him stand out. He's totally driven, even if it's just beating out the back end of a double play. One way or another, he seems to do something every day to help us win." It's not power, and it's not necessarily flash. Ortiz and even A-Rod trump Jeter there. But the shortstop has that irreplaceable quality that allows him to narrow his world after the seventh inning. But it's not really accurate to say Jeter raises his energy level as the crowd gets louder; it's actually the opposite. He slows the game down. When everything matters, nothing matters, counter-intuitive as it sounds. In any case, Jeter has been almost impossible to retire when the Yankees most need him, including the ninth-inning, two-out base hit off Jon Papelbon on Aug. 20 that sent what should've been a 5-4 Yankee loss into extra innings. The Bombers scored three runs in the 10th, and the Sox were done for '06. In all, Jeter has batted .327 against Boston this year (and .448 against the Mets, by the way), and a cool .300 at hostile Fenway Park, which is no small feat. When the Yankees were surging toward first place in July -- with two-thirds of their opening day outfield missing -- Jeter batted .412. With the bases loaded, he's batting a nearly incomprehensible .455, which has attracted the attention of none other than Yogi Berra. If anyone understands what it takes to capture the MVP, it is Berra, who won the award three times between 1951-55. Ask about the 2006 winner, and Yogi's meter drops at Jeter. The real discussion is about Santana as the second-place finisher. "That guy's done great, but you still have to go with someone's who's out there every day," Berra said. "The way Derek hits with the bases loaded, he's like me. He knows the pressure's on the pitcher. He has nowhere to put you. "The thing about Derek is that he swings and misses at a lot of high fastballs. I tell him, 'Jeet, what are you chasing those for?' And he says, 'You swung at pitches like that, didn't you?' I say, 'Yeah, but at least I could hit them.' " Berra laughed, retelling the tweak. But he nevertheless raised a fair point about Jeter. He does strike out a little too often for a No. 2 hitter (once every 6.1 at-bats), although that swing-and-miss ratio is softened by an up-tick in just about everything other category, including stolen bases. At 32, Jeter shows no sign of losing the war with time. The only blemish on his summer was the failure to come to A-Rod's defense when the fans were busy devouring him. Whether Jeter likes Rodriguez or not (he doesn't), it's nevertheless the responsibility of the captain to stand up for anyone in pinstripes. But even that demerit is fading as Rodriguez has begun winning over the Yankee public again. The Bombers are racing for yet another postseason, and it's no stretch to imagine a late-October collision with the Mets. The Yankees would've likely made it to the playoffs without Jeter, but if you're asking the Bombers to pick their route, they'll take happily take the one led by Jeter. Any time, any season. E-mail: klapisch@northjersey.com

Edgy DC Sep 15 2006 09:44 AM

Bob Klapisch wrote: Alex Rodriguez's 2003 award with the Rangers aside, no player whose team has melted away should win the MVP. Driving in runs under pressure is the industry's gold standard; it's what separates great ballplayers from the talented ones. Unsurprisingly, wrong, wrong, and wrong.

RealityChuck Sep 15 2006 10:39 AM

Certainly he's a humanitarian, just like I am a vegetarian.

Vic Sage Sep 15 2006 11:25 AM

]But, fair or not, his stats are diminished because they were part of the Sox' larger failure no, they're not. And if they are, its because hacks like this unfairly proclaim it to be so, even as they acknowledge the unfairness of it. and fairness aside, its just stupid. the "mvp" is the most valuable player in each LEAGUE, not for a particular team. EVERY team has an mvp, so if the criteria is simply the most important player for the winningest team, why bother having the media vote? why not simply take a poll of the players on the team that wins the most games in each league and give THAT team's best player the award? why not? because that would be stupid and meaningless. the vote is for the best player in the league, and while reasonable people can disagree as to what constitutes "best" (thus a vote is appropriate), you must first start with a league-wide comparision of players with the greatest offensive production before you distinguish them further with factors like defense, relative contribution to his team's wins (win shares), and intangibles like "clutch" and "leadership". On that basis, Jeter barely makes the top 5, much less an automatic lock over Ortiz, who even HACK-pish acknowledges is a greater offensive force and as "clutch" a player as Jeter.

Willets Point Sep 15 2006 11:43 AM

RealityChuck wrote: Certainly he's a humanitarian, just like I am a vegetarian. Are you saying he eats humans?

Centerfield Sep 15 2006 11:55 AM

To expand on what Vic was saying, players like Alex Rodriguez during his time with the Rangers, or Travis Hafner this year, should demonstrate to these morons that no one player, no matter how good, can lead his team to the playoffs. By narrowing the list of MVP candidates to playoff teams, what you're essentially doing is defining the MVP as "Best Player in each league who also happens to have good teammates."

metirish Sep 15 2006 11:57 AM

I had a good laugh the other day when Russo just dismissed any chance that Jermaine Dye had of being named MVP...."not a chance".....

Rotblatt Sep 15 2006 12:07 PM

I hate to say it, but Jeter's going to win the MVP. All the signs point to him. I can only hope that, to help wash the bad taste out of my mouth, Beltran wins the NL MVP, Wagner wins the NL Cy Young, and David Wright wins the World Series MVP. That'd probably relegate the Jeter ball-licking to the background for me.

86-Dreamer Sep 15 2006 01:55 PM

funny that this thread is about the MFY shortstop, because when I saw the thread title, i thought for sure it would be about the following story about a hitting streak: "Derek Jeter batted in each of the first four innings without getting an official at-bat: He had three walks and was hit by a pitch. He didn't bat again, and his career-high 21-game hitting streak remained intact under baseball's rules. With three runs scored, he increased his total to 102 and broke 100 for the 10th time. Yankees manager Joe Torre at first forgot about the streak when he pinch hit for Jeter in the seventh. "I apologized," Torre said. "He said, 'I wasn't going to catch him, anyway,'" a reference to Joe DiMaggio's record 56-game streak. Then Torre found out that Jeter's streak continued under the rules. Jeter, whose .346 average is second in the AL to Minnesota's Joe Mauer (.348), can't avoid the streak these days. "You notice it because every time you're on deck, somebody in the stands is yelling to get a hit," Jeter said." Did the MFYs get MLB to change this rule .... I never heard of that one before. He played - he didn't get a hit - how can he still have a consecutive game hitting streak? And I don't buy this b.s. that Torre didn't know what he was doing. (Just because the Mets are on the verge of clinching doesn't mean that I have to stop being irrational about the MFYs)

Edgy DC Sep 15 2006 02:02 PM

I didn't know of such a rule either. Seems more logical, but it certainly doesn't seem to be the logic they've applied to everybody else all these years.

Yancy Street Gang Sep 15 2006 02:11 PM

I remembering hearing about that rule many years ago. You need to have a plate appearance that's not a walk or a HBP to end the streak. A sac fly would end the streak. An appearance in the field or as a pinch runner wouldn't.

Yancy Street Gang Sep 15 2006 02:15 PM

Here we go, from baseball-almanac.com: ]Rule 10.24 of the Major League Baseball Official Rule Book states the following guidelines for cumulative performance records (specifically those dealing with hitting streaks): ]A consecutive hitting streak shall not be terminated if the plate appearance results in a base on balls, hit batsman, defensive interference or a sacrifice bunt. A sacrifice fly shall terminate the streak. Consecutive Game Hitting Streaks: A consecutive game hitting streak shall not be terminated if all the player's plate appearances (one or more) result in a base on balls, hit batsman, defensive interference or a sacrifice bunt. The streak shall terminate if the player has a sacrifice fly and no hit. The player's individual consecutive game hitting streak shall be determined by the consecutive games in which the player appears and is not determined by his club's games.

Edgy DC Sep 15 2006 02:16 PM

So the question remains as to whether Torre is sincere or was he covering for his captain?

Frayed Knot Sep 15 2006 02:54 PM

That rule about hitting streaks has existed for a number of years and (as Yancy points out) it's actually a rule which exists in the baseball rule book as opposed to being just something that exists as part of the official scorer's guideline. A guy from Elias was on the radio talking about it the other day (nothing wrong with being paranoid but MLB inventing the rule just for Jeter goes a bit far). I suggested when it happened that Torre is being less-than-honest by claiming to be unaware that by pulling Jeter he was, in effect, guaranteeing the streak would continue instead of ending it.

Centerfield Sep 15 2006 02:59 PM

Put it this way, if Jeter had been 0 for 1, no way he gets pulled for a pinch-hitter.