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When Derek Jeter cratered early in the 2004 season, there was — as there has been now — plenty of conjecture about where his offense had gone, specifically during an 0-for-32 slump that even shook the confidence of arguably the most confident player in the game.
The two theories most regularly offered for Jeter hitting .177 with one homer going into the games of May 8, 2004, were that he was still feeling the impact of the separated left shoulder suffered early the previous season and/or he was feeling the current discomfort of suddenly having to share his clubhouse with a frenemy named Alex Rodriguez.
No one mentioned age or decline much, if at all. He was still more than a month shy of his 30th birthday and he still had figured out how to hit .324 in 2003 after recovering from the shoulder injury.
It is the age that has been different this time. Jeter turns 37 next month. He hit a career-low .270 last year.
Thus when he entered the games of May 8, 2011, hitting .256 with no homers, there was essentially one theory why: Jeter’s time as a star had expired.
So what do we make of the four hits and two homers Jeter produced on Sunday in Texas? Was that a blip or the beginning of familiar excellence? His swing had begun to produce more hard-hit balls in the previous series in Detroit and there was some thought that once the weather finally warmed up, so might an older player such as Jeter.
But what really has to concern the 2011 Yankees is that Jeter is symbolic of a team that arguably depends on age in more critical spots than any other. In other words, despite the media time spent solely on the Yankees shortstop, this is not simply a Jeter issue. Consider this amazing fact, for example: There are four starting pitchers 34 or older who are regular members of AL rotations; one is Minnesota’s Carl Pavano, the other three are Bartolo Colon, A.J. Burnett and Freddy Garcia.
Or did you know there are 21 players 35 or older who qualify for the batting title and only one team has as many as three of them? Yep, that would be the Yankees with Jeter, Jorge Posada and Alex Rodriguez. So when Posada struggles now, you don’t instantly think about when he might break out of it; you wonder if he will ever break out of it. The Yankees have to be concerned that Rodriguez, even after a blazing start, no longer can maintain superstar brilliance.
In recent years older players have performed closer to their historical predecessors, which is to say, in general, there was decline, often steep. The common wisdom is that reflects a greater emphasis on removing performance-enhancing drugs from the game.
Yet the 2009 champion Yankees defied the trend. Their seven key older players — Jeter, Posada, Rodriguez, Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera — excelled. And the Yankees are going to need something akin to that this year to thrive because:
l Posada, 39, is the oldest DH in the majors by more than two years over Damon. Four of the five oldest DHs have Yankees ties: Posada, Damon, Matsui and Bobby Abreu. Baltimore’s Vlad Guerrero is the other. All five are underperforming their career norms.
l The only regular shortstop older than Jeter is San Francisco’s Miguel Tejada by a month; and Tejada might be the worst hitter in the majors right now. In the AL, the next-oldest starting shortstop to Jeter is the Angels’ Macier Izturis, more than six years younger.
l A-Rod, 35, is the oldest third baseman in the AL by nearly two years over Detroit’s Brandon Inge, another player in freefall.
l Colon, 38 later this month, is the oldest starter in a rotation; a week older than Atlanta’s Derek Lowe. There are 15 pitchers in rotations 34 or older, the Yankees have three and the Dodgers (Hiroshi Kuroda and Ted Lilly) are the only other team with even two.
l Rivera, 41, is two years older than any other closer; the next-oldest was Philadelphia’s Jose Contreras, who actually was replacing Brad Lidge before landing on the DL, too. The next-oldest full-time active closer is Cincinnati’s Francisco Cordero, almost six years younger than Rivera.
And, for the Yankees, this is even before discussing the thirtysomething context of their DL (Eric Chavez, Luis Ayala, Damaso Marte, Pedro Feliciano) or that the team is into Jeter, A-Rod and Rivera for the future, as well; not to mention Mark Teixeira and CC Sabathia (assuming he stays).
So as Jeter shows signs of pushing back against age, the Yankees have to hope he is the captain of that team, as well.
joel.sherman@nypost.com