When Derek Jeter collapsed onto the infield dirt early this morning, stunning a Yankee Stadium crowd, Jayson Nix took the most pragmatic approach in the whole joint. Which is what you’d want, if you’re a Yankees fan.
“I’m thinking I’m in,” the Yankees’ backup infielder said, following the 12-inning, 6-4 loss to Detroit in American League Championship Series Game 1.
Jeter, the Yankees’ captain whose name is synonymous with the postseason, won’t be coming back. He fractured his left ankle and will need three months to recover, according to manager Joe Girardi. That likely puts Nix, the 30-year-old Texan of few words, in a position to become the next Brian Doyle.
“I think anyone would admit that you have a better chance with Derek Jeter in the lineup, but sometimes one man’s injury is some man’s opportunity,” Girardi said. “And someone has to take a step and do well with this opportunity. A lot of players get their chances because of an injury.”
Doyle, for those of us old enough to recall, replaced an injured Willie Randolph at second base late in the 1978 campaign and shined on the big stage. He started six of the Yankees’ 10 postseason games and played in nine of them. He recorded a .391 batting average, .417 on-base percentage and .435 slugging percentage in 24 plate appearances. In the Yankees’ World Series victory over the Dodgers, he picked up seven hits in 16 at-bats.
So Nix has quite a hill to climb if he wants to join Doyle in the Yankees’ Replacement Player Pantheon.
“I don’t think it has to be said that I’m not going to replace him,” Nix said of Jeter. “Somebody’s got to step up now, got to fill that role.”
While the Yankees will activate Eduardo Nunez to replace Jeter on their postseason roster, Nix figures to get the first shot in the starting lineup. He is more reliable defensively than Nunez, and the Yankees can’t be giving runs away in the field when they’re struggling to hit. Moreover, Nix actually looked good at the plate, going 2-for-3, when he started Thursday night’s AL Division Series Game 4 against Baltimore.
Can he help the Yankees withstand Jeter’s absence? Undoubtedly — provided some of the Yankees’ slumping regulars start hitting before the ninth inning. Ironically, the Yankees’ remarkable ninth inning, featuring two-run homers off Detroit closer Jose Valverde by Ichiro Suzuki and — who else? — Raul Ibanez, set in motion the play that sidelined Jeter.
Alex Rodriguez, following a good first at-bat in which Detroit shortstop Jhonny Peralta dove to rob him of a hit, looked bad afterwards, and Eric Chavez pinch-hit for him in the eighth inning against reliever Joaquin Benoit. Rodriguez also failed to live up to his leadership post, in which he takes pride, when he didn’t speak with the media after the game in the wake of the Jeter development.
Nick Swisher, Mr. Anti-Postseason, contributed an eighth-inning double and drew a sixth-inning walk. His other four trips to the plate went worse, and he also looked bad defensively, failing to catch Delmon Young’s go-ahead double in the 12th and not diving for Young’s bloop single in the sixth.
Robinson Cano, meanwhile, is hitless in his last 22 at-bats.
The Yankees can get by with some or even most of these guys not hitting, provided their excellent pitching can hold up. But someone will have to come through more often.
To step in for Jeter, you want someone both competent and tough. Someone who’ll shrug off the galactic meaning and simply views it as his next gig.
As Girardi said: “Nobody in that room wants to be without him, but we have to move on. And I don’t say that in a cold way, but we’re trying to win a series here.”
“I feel good at the plate. I know that I can do things to help this team,” Nix said, right on cue. “We’re not done yet. I’m excited for the opportunity. I’ll just do what I can to make the most of it.”