Jeter 0-for-2 with bases loaded last night!

Jeter has no grand slams in his entire career!

Jeter still hitting just .221 against the Red Sox this season!

Conclusion? Jeter must not be clutch.


Even when ARod has a good game, he's going to be criticized by some if he doesn't bat 1.000 with runners in scoring position, or if he doesn't hit a walk-off hr:

"With the Yanks trailing 2-0 with two out in the third, A-Rod fanned as the tying run. With none out, first and third and Toronto up 3-0 in the sixth, Rodriguez grounded into a double play that scored a run, but destroyed any Yankee momentum. Rodriguez did deliver a two-run single with the bases loaded in the eighth, but the Yanks were trailing 6-1 at the time."

This kind of criticism is comical and asinine. ARod got the Yankees back into the game with an 8th-inning clutch hit, right after Jeter's un-clutch pop out to right field, and right before Matsui's un-clutch inning-ending double play.


The only reason ARod is not considered clutch is because people don't pay attention or because they've made up their mind before the season even started. Stats are there to remind you about ARod's BIG HITS. That's their entire function:

"A closer examination reveals otherwise. It shows, among other things, that 17 of Rodriguez's homers have either tied a game or put the Yankees ahead - one more than Gary Sheffield. Sheffield, universally regarded as an MVP candidate, has hit 10 home runs in the seventh inning or later this season. A-Rod, the defending AL MVP who has hardly been mentioned in connection with the award this year, has hit nine."


Like I've posted before, if Jeter has a good game, then it's suddenly considered a "big game." The analysis is rigged.

Friday night vs. Boston wasn't really a "big game" because Jeter went 0-for-4. Sunday had to be a "big game" because Jeter played well, and also hit a homerun.

But it gets a wee bit out of hand when he's praised effusively for catching easy pop ups:

"It's hard to quantify exactly what Jeter, a Yankees original, brings to his team. Sunday, he crunched a solo home run off of Martinez in the third. Earlier that inning, he made a twisting, back-to-the-infield grab of a popup in the swirling Stadium winds to rob Johnny Damon of a hit. In the fifth, he did something similar with a basket catch of a Manny Ramirez fly ball."