Derek Jeter has put the New York Yankees
on his back and is trying to singlehandedly carry them across the finish line.
The Yankees Captain got a big assist
last night from Phil Hughes, who shut down a beleaguered Boston Red Sox team,
avoided giving up the long ball (no small feat as his is one of the league
leaders in this category) and got his 15th victory last night, tops on
a Yankees rotation that includes CC Sabathia and Hiroki Kuroda. But as
impressive as Hughes was in Fenway Park, Jeter showed us why he is the true captain
of the team, not just in title, but out on the field.
Ignoring the pain that has him hobbling
and limping all around the bases, he managed to once again come up in the clutch,
with a well-earned single that gave the dominant Hughes a small cushion. We
shouldn’t really be surprised by anything Jeter does, except the man is playing
on one leg, which, of course, he won’t even talk about. I wish I had Derek
Jeter’s pain tolerance (my recent back injury has shown me that I do not).
It has become obvious to everyone that
the Yankees are still in the division race only because of Derek Jeter. In the
YES postgame show, David Cone said the Yankees Captain is basically willing the
Yankees to win the American League East and get them into the baseball playoffs.
By the way, Jeter also tied the
incomparable Willie Mays for 10th place on the all-time hits list.
As amazing an honor as that is, Jeter doesn’t have time to think about it. He
was too busy dispatching the hapless Red Sox. Now he will turn his attention to
beating the Tampa Bay Rays, on his one good leg.
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