They Should Just Rename October

Jeter Time
Captain Clutch went 5-for-5 in ALDS Game 1 against the Detroit Tigers.

“You know, you’re not always going to come through,” Jeter insisted, afterward. “There’s been plenty of times that I haven’t. But when I’m in that situation, I feel as though I’m going to produce. You just have to try to treat the postseason like a regular-season game.”

This, of course, is easier said than done, yet easier for Jeter than for almost anybody else. He now has 147 hits, 17 homers, 84 runs scored in 116 postseason games. He is batting .315. Five years ago, he famously rescued an entire playoff series against the A’s with a remarkable fielding play, his instinctive shovel relay to home, beating Jeremy Giambi.

2 singles, 2 doubles and a homerun. Nice day at the office during the month that matters. The rest of the article snarks about A-Rod, which I think is a bit low.

It is always a tale of two infielders with the Yankees, two future Hall of Fame shortstops who have taken dissimilar paths to this same place and time, this era of excess. And always, Rodriguez has trouble following in the cleat tracks left by Jeter.

The comparisons will never stop, as long as Jeter is such a natural in October and Rodriguez tries so very, very hard. While Jeter was amazing in Game 1, A-Rod merely blended into the victory, found camouflage and some comfort in the victory.

Rodriguez was 1-for-4, singling in the third, while occasionally appearing quite lost at the plate. He was very nearly invisible, part of a lineup that Leyland, the poet/manager, had labeled, “Murderer’s Row, and Robinson Cano.”

Was this really enough for A-Rod? A single, no RBI, no runs scored, a playoff win? It is October now, reinvention time, and one game has already ticked off the calendar.

The guy needs some space to just do his thing. If there's anything certain about baseball, even in the post-season, there will be games where A-Rod will go 4-for-4 and Jeter goes 1-for-5. Sometime in the near future, people are going to look back and wonder what all the fuss was about.