"This has been the Yankees season - and off-season before it - dominated by Derek Jeter. It started with his contentious contract negotiation, has continued all the way through 3,000 hits and through the, which he did not attend, citing exhaustion, because of the 3,000."
Years ago, I went to a movie theater and watched the first Harry Potter movie. I instantly became disinterested in all things Harry Potter.
The final Harry Potter movie is currently in theaters -- it's not called Harry Potter 8, but instead it's called Harry Potter 7, Part 2 -- and lots of people think it matters, but I don't care.
Kinda like the women's US soccer team. Don't even care enough to google the scores. Though it's nice to see Han Solo and Princess Leia's daughter doing so well.
You can choose to pay attention to what matters to you.
The Yankee season has been about a lot of things. Second place; Eighteen games over .500; 1-8 vs. Boston; A starting pitcher with 12 wins at the All Star Break; Granderson and Teixeira hitting HRs like Mantle and Maris; David Robertson; A team with an unusual combination of power and speed.
In my world, the first 88 games have not been dominated by Derek Jeter.
"A few years ago, coming out of the 2007 when Rodriguez hit 54 home runs for the Yankees, you could make a case that he was as big a baseball star as there was in the world, the way - who turns 36 at the end of this year - was still the biggest sports star in the whole wide world. Now it is the middle of the sports summer and A-Rod is out of action with a bad knee and so is Tiger Woods, who misses his second straight major because of injury, and might miss a third before the summer is over."
ARod is on the DL. Jeter just got off the DL. Wright and Reyes are on the DL. About 100 players are currently on the DL. Tiger Woods doesn't play baseball.
"The attention will shift to Jeter's right, where the third baseman will come back and move up the all-time home run list a little more. He is at 626 right now. Junior Griffey is at 630. So A-Rod will pass him at the end of August or in September. Next year he is scheduled to pass Willie Mays, who sits at 660. And he will be the next Yankee to get to 3,000 hits, either next season or the one after that."
How boring.
"Big numbers approaching for Alex Rodriguez, even as his numbers keep slipping. The Yankees are paying him big to play into his 40s, but ask yourself a question: Do you expect him to ever again carry the Yankees the way he did in the 2009 postseason?"
Sure, why not?
Edgar Renteria won the World Series MVP last year. Crippled Hideki Matsui won the World Series MVP the year before that.
"The Yankees paid him to carry the team and then, almost immediately, had to go get Mark Teixeira to help him carry the team. Think about that: They paid A-Rod upwards of $300 million to be The Man and then had to go pay Teixeira nearly $200 million to be his sideman."
This is a dig at ARod that makes no sense.
When a baseball team signs a big free agent, their game plan is not to never sign another free agent ever again. I can't really think of another instance where the Yankees stopped signing free agents.
Two players can be The Man. We'll call them The Men.
"Alex Rodriguez may retire with numbers across the board as great as anybody since Babe Ruth has had. The Yankees, bless their hearts, have him for six more years after this one."
Stupid Numbers as great as stupid Babe Ruth. Yawn.
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