The race card

It's the touchies of issues, but Gregg Doyel has a point in his column about the number of blacks in Major League Baseball. While many say there is a shortage, and baseball is hurting for it, Doyel does a great job highlighting the economics of the situation. Underlying motives can't be judged, but the money trail here tells the story.

Baseball and tobacco, explained

This is a moderately interesting article on baseball's fascination with tobacco.

Twice now: Yankees over Boston

The Yankees beat the Red Sox 3-0 this afternoon, which, combined with last night's 9-5 shellacking (it wasn't as close as it looks) puts the New York-Boston series for the year at 9-8, Boston's favor, with tomorrow's game still to come.

Of course, no one cares about the season series anymore, especially Red Sox fans, who make a big show of acting like they don't care about going into Yankee Stadium and getting embarrassed. (The Yankees left 32 men on base today and still shut the BoSox out.)

But Boston should care, because with New York about to notch its 100th win tomorrow, the Yankees are back at their rightful spot: American League East leaders, playoff contenders, and perhaps best in the league and World Series champs...we'll see.

The Red Sox have been helpless against the Yankees' onslaught of late. Just check the stats. Boston has been bludgeoned ever since its early 8-0 edge on the Yanks. Ever since the Yankees' slow start, it's been all bats and pitching from the Bronx, torching the Red Sox 13-6, 2-0 (walkoff A-Rod homer in a pitcher's duel), 5-0, 5-2, 20-11, hiccup, 8-4. And there's no question that player-for-player, the Bronx is better than Beantown.

Best yet, the Yankees were about to chase Red Sox ace Jon Lester Friday night when instead they did one better and knocked him out of the game with ball off his knee. These Yankees don't just win; they destroy.

And the Red Sox are going to have to start caring soon, because if they're as good as everyone thinks they are, they'll be meeting the Yankees again soon.

The Yankees are firing on all cylinders right now. Joba Chamberlain (no-hitter through four) and A.J. Burnett are looking good again after some disastrous pitching performances. CC Sabathia recorded his Major League-leading 19th win today. The batting lineup, from top to bottom, has been contributing at an even pace, with no big slumps. And the bullpen is as sharp as ever.

Postseason talk will begin soon, but I'm happy to sit and enjoy the Yankees where they are now: a tick away from 100 wins, sitting pretty on top of the American League East, dominating in all facets of the game.

Boston-New York, tomorrow at 1.

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A NYY column: The reason behind their success

On why captain Derek Jeter is the reason the Yankees are earning their pinstripes this year.

Early in the New York Yankees’ 8-3 win over the Chicago White Sox this Sunday, the television commentators were engaged in their usual banter. They talked about all the jersey numbers the Yankees organization has retired, about Jorge Posada anchoring the plate, about Joe Girardi’s managing style, and, of course, the favorite topic whenever the Yankees play on a major network: Mr. Derek Jeter.

"Jeter" is one of those names imagined, bred, and birthed for sports, meant to be yelled as a one-word epithet, in gloating or in hatred. He’s been a player for the Yankees for 15 years, the captain seven years, an irreplaceable contributor every year.

Early in the New York victory on Sunday, though, Jeter was showing why he’s more than all that this year. Simply put, "Numbah Two," Derek Jeter, has been the main reason for the Yankees success this season.

His resurgence over the summer, in particular, has marked the return of the Bronx Bombers as real contenders.

Consider the bottom of the third inning in Sunday’s game. The score was closer then — with New York down 2-1. Jeter stepped into the batter’s box, complete with the usual repertoire of wriggling and shifting that does Broadway proud. Before his lurching legs were even planted, he was swinging at the first pitch — a liner over the infield’s heads that landed in the outfield grass with the nearest fielder 50 feet away.

The single looked routine, and even unimpressive. Such a hit is nothing compared to the slap-shot doubles that come off Johnny Damon’s bat, the sweeping perfection of Alex Rodriguez’s home run stroke, or the loose, hip-swinging cut of hard-hitting Robinson Cano.

But Jeter was on first. And one pitch later, he was on home plate, having completed his job as the leadoff batter.

That was exactly how it was supposed to work; Jeter did his job, then Damon did his — scoring them both with a rightfield homer.

The single was Jeter’s second hit of the night. He led off the Yankees’ half of the first frame with a double, on which he was also able to score, thanks to a sacrifice fly from the number three batter, Mark Teixeira.

After Jeter returned to the dugout in the third inning, having accounted for enough runs to tie the game, neither team scored for three innings. (The game might have ended with that one-run margin if not for a five-run explosion by New York in the seventh.) Jeter hadn’t been just a strong leadoff man; his runs were almost it for the home team.

Sunday’s win was exemplary of the types of games Jeter has been having all season — especially this summer — and the positive effect his performance has had on the team.

Remember, this is a lineup with troves of All-Stars, former MVPs, Cy Young winners, and would-be-the-top-player-on-any-other-team guys. It’s easy to forget how good Jeter is, how solid he’s been throughout the years, how important he is to this New York team.

People can be quick to dismiss the Yankees, with their millions invested in the payroll and their 26 World Series championships. They’re expected to be good, to win — but it’s not like the Babe or Joltin’ Joe are actually in that clubhouse anymore. Each Yankees generation has to prove itself, to overcome its hurdles of the times, to be just as good as the uniforms it wears.

That task has never been hard for Jeter. He entered the league as a hot prospect in 1995 (1996 was his first full season) and promptly won four championships in the next five seasons. He’s a lifetime .317 hitter, averaging 111 runs, 193 hits, 75 runs batted in, 16 homers and 21 steals a season. He fields at a .976 clip and is knocking down Yankees and league records systematically. And he’s also known for his standing in the community, his excellent attitude, his good-guy image, and his ability to never let frivolity affect the way he handles his life, or slip into his status as a Yankee. He is a professional, as a player and more, with little to tarnish his legacy.

But he is also aging. Critics have enjoyed the last couple years, when they’ve been able to talk down his ability as a fielder. Old, old, they say. Still playing that spot on the field because he’s Jeter. A flea on the back of four championships, not the legs that made them.

Jeter, in his usual Jeter way, hasn’t rebutted any claims, staying silent instead. Yankees manager Joe Girardi backed his shortstop, then gave him a vote of confidence that met accusations head-on — he moved Jeter to the leadoff spot in the lineup, where he’d have to leg out infield singles and steal second on hard-thrown fastballs. That’s not an assignment for an old, slow player.

Jeter has piled up 23 steals so far this season (he’s had more in only three seasons). And although he has only 60 runs batted in as he hits from the No. 1 spot, he’s stacked up 93 runs already (ninth in Major League Baseball). His best statistic: a hot .335 batting average, which is fifth out of all American League players and seventh overall. (If it holds, it will be Jeter’s fourth-best batting average in 15 years in the majors.)

But forget his numbers — look at the Yankees.

It’s a cliche that a team should perform as its captain does, but that’s exactly what’s happened in the Bronx this year.

For years, Jeter has been good, but not awesome. As the sprightly shortstop on the 1990s’ victory train (his first five full seasons), he batted around .323 and had 199 hits, 120 runs and 81 RBI a season. But in the last few years, as the Yankees have fallen short of their ultimate goal for nearly a decade, it’s been .312, 192 hits, 108 runs and 74 RBI (not including this season).

The Yankees have followed suit, being good, but not great. This New York team of the past couple years is the first one in a while to make its fans nervous — and legitimately so. The front office spends and spends; the "Bombers" choke and choke (or, bad pun: bomb and bomb). They can’t come back from a deficit; Rodriguez is horrid in the clutch; they’re absorbing double-digit losses.

The worst, of course, has been the early playoff losses — or last year, when there were no playoffs at all. That may have been added motivation for Mr. Derek Jeter.

This year, he’s on pace to break all his season averages. That includes a .357 batting average in July, and .374 in August. Some are saying he should be the American League MVP — but I won’t get into that here.

The point is that now, for the Yankees, anything can happen.

New York has had 11 walk-off wins this year, and a load of come-from-behind victories. Rodriguez has actually driven in runs when the Yankees are behind, and late in the game, too.

The Bombers have ripped through their schedule and racked up 82 wins (soon to be 89 in just one week — you read it here first) — four more than their closest challenger, the National League’s Los Angeles Dodgers (conveniently managed by ex-Yankees manager Joe Torre).

They’re rolling, decimating, controlling.

Go ahead, critics, complain about the Yankees again — they are finally as good as their paychecks and their pinstripes.

Top of the fourth, Sunday: Jeter spears a line drive. A little while later, he fields another ball and does "the Jeter" — a move named after the man who (may have invented and definitely) perfected it: snaring a grounder, planting, and flipping the ball, mid-air, to first, all in one motion, without a pause.

He may be slower; he is 35. But he’s also making the plays when he needs to, and hitting how he needs to, and getting his team to where it needs to be.

He’s as good as the lauding pundits say, as good as the paychecks read, as good as the pinstripes demand.

All the way this year, Jeter. It’s time for Numbah Two to get Number 27.

Yankees blast Beckett

It was supposed to be a pitcher's duel, but the bats came out again tonight in the matchup between New York's CC Sabathia and Boston's Josh Beckett. The Yankees had the upper hand, homering off Beckett five times (the most home runs he's allowed in a game in his career), and New York won 8-4.

Sabathia now leads all Major League Baseball pitchers with 15 wins. He pitched into the seventh inning and struck out eight.

Derek Jeter homered in his first at-bat and overall had another stellar night, going 2-for-5 and making an awesome (classic Jeter) grab, twirl and throw to first for an early-inning out.

Alex Rodriguez was 1-for-4 with 3 RBI, including a homer that cleared the Green Monster.

Hideki Matsui (2 RBI, home run) and Johnny Damon (RBI) both went 2-for-4.

The Yankees have a homestand against the wild-card-pursuing Texas Rangers next, starting Tuesday night.

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Let's hear it for the Jete

Derek Jeter is now batting .330 after his third straight game with three hits. (He's batting 20-for-36 (.556) over the last nine games.) Tonight his RBI sparked a five-run sixth inning, leading the Yankees to a 7-2 win over the Oakland Athletics.

CC Sabathia picked eight strong innings for New York, breaking the team's two-game losing streak and winning his 14th game this season, which ties him for the Major League lead (with Boston's Josh Beckett, of all people, and the Cardinals' Adam Wainwright).

Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui and Melky Cabrera all went 2-for-4 in the win. Jorge Posada collected 2 RBI on a double.

The only bad news was that the Yankees scored a mere seven runs after loading the bases in the first, fourth and sixth innings. A total of 20 men were left on base throughout the night.

After one more game against Oakland tomorrow night, the Yankees get a day off before going into Boston for a three-game series over the weekend.

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That good.

There was only one way I wanted to see this game end, and in the 15th inning, it happened.

An A-Bomb! From A-Rod!

This is why I watch baseball.

Alex Rodriguez hit a home run in the bottom of the 15th to lead the Yankees past the Red Sox 2-0. His clutch hit wasn't the only abnormal thing to happen this night (or this morning, I guess), but it's the only anomoly from this slugfest I want to see repeated in the future. Other oddities included the first three New York batters in the lineup go 1-for-20 (including 0-for-6 from Mark Teixeira and 0-for-7 from Johnny Damon) and the Yankees churning through six pitchers.

But it was a stellar night for the pitching staff, showing that the bullpen that was considered all-but-dead at the beginning of the season can be playoff-caliber. The relief staff allowed three hits over its 7.1 innings, following A.J. Burnett's best performance of the year: 7.2 innings pitched, no runs allowed, six strikeouts, one hit. (When Jacoby Ellsbury got a hit to start the game, I remember actually saying to myself that it was a shame that Burnett's no-hitter was already gone. Little did I know how close to that he would actually pitch.)

The real hero, of course, was A-Rod.

I was in a bar right next to Fenway, watching the game drag on (it totaled five hours and 35 minutes by the end), clad in my Yankees hat and Rodriguez shirt. Each time he came up, I was ready to see him shed his unclutchness and win the game.

Bottom of the 11th, 2 outs: struck out.
Bottom of the 13th, 2 outs, man on first: flied out.
Bottom of the 15th, 2 outs, man on first: an A-bomb. For A-Rod.

A-Rod had gone 72 at bats without a homer, and his batting average has hovered around the Mendoza Line all season. But looking at the team's performance since he's come back (New York is 46-27 since his arrival, and just 13-15 before; plus better statistics for several players), and his strange ability to eventually come through in the clutch at points this season, you have to wonder if he's figuring out which kind of cog he needs to be in the mighty Yankee machine.

And thanks to the pitching staff for keeping the game close until he was ready.

Next up, 16 hours after the end of this win: the game of the week on Fox, at 4 p.m. Saturday.

As of right now, the Yanks are running away with the American League East, and with the Dodgers losing tonight, they have the best record in baseball.

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In your face, Red Sox dopers!

What!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz, the two sluggers who anchored the Boston Red Sox lineup on its way to World Series in 2004 and 2007, have been tagged for using steroids.

Ramirez and Ortiz were both named in the 2003 report that implicated Alex Rodriguez and a total of 100 MLB players.

I am almost speechless, unable to make the thousands of points cramming into my head, at this news. Euphoric? Yes. Trying to say something that involves the word "tainted"? Also yes. Pleased that the Curse of the Bambino could only be broken with juice? Yes, yes, yes.