Derek Jeter 2.0 dominated the fifth inning. Derek Jeter, 39, deteriorated further in the sixth.
It was not just a tale of two shortstops. But, in many ways, a tale of two Rivals. Xander Bogaerts, Jeter 2.0, represents the youth and depth that have fortified the Red Sox this season. The actual Jeter, drafted four months before Bogaerts was even born, continues to symbolize Yankees decay.
Bogaerts, among the game’s most touted prospects, hit his first major league homer in the fifth inning of Boston’s 13-9 win Saturday, a resounding launch into the left-field bleachers. In the bottom of the inning, he made a charging barehanded scoop of a slow roller and an off-balance peg to nail Robinson Cano at first.
In the top of the sixth, Jeter could not muster the leg strength to plant and deliver accurately from the hole, throwing away a Jonny Gomes grounder. Jeter did produce what has become a rare hit in the bottom of the frame, an RBI single, but he ran with such a gimp that he was removed for a pinch-runner.
The Yankees announced a CT scan of Jeter’s twice-fractured left ankle was negative. Still, willing himself to play with a bad ankle in a playoff push last year, which Jeter believes led to his first fracture, has created a snowball of injuries (at least four and counting) that have left him unable to play in a sustained, successful way in this playoff push.
Jeter told me before Saturday’s game he believes an offseason of strengthening — something he could not do this past year — will restore him. When asked if he was ignoring that this might just be the calendar getting the best of him, Jeter said: “I would never think that way, I would never think negative. I will stay optimistic and believe that if I do everything I would normally do [to prepare for a season], everything will be fine.”
Still, the odds grow longer against Jeter defying age and now mounting leg issues to perform well as an everyday shortstop ever again.
One of the stark images of what is becoming a Boston massacre of the Yankees in this four-game series is the difference between The Rival’s left side of the infield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi did not even start Alex Rodriguez, 38, because he had played six games in a row and it was a day game after a night game. And Jeter was not on the field to end it.
Meanwhile, Boston had the rookie Bogaerts at short and second-year man Will Middlebrooks, crushing on offense after a minor league demotion, at third.
We are seeing the difference between pondering and promising, and the Yankees and Red Sox. And here is the scary sentence for the Yankees: Maybe not just for this year.
Bogaerts’ presence allowed Boston to trade Jose Iglesias for Jake Peavy, who along with Jon Lester, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey and Ryan Dempster, gives the Red Sox an intact rotation for next season, with young Felix Doubront, Allen Webster, Brandon Workman and Anthony Ranaudo available for depth. The Yankees have to figure out what to do with free agents Hiroki Kuroda and Andy Pettitte.
Boston’s second baseman, Dustin Pedroia, took an under-market contract to stay long term. Robinson Cano will not be taking an under-market contract. The Red Sox cleared up long-term payroll concerns during a dismal 2012 by trading Carl Crawford, Adrian Gonzalez and Josh Beckett. The Yankees still have the fading CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira and, perhaps, A-Rod over-inflating their payroll.
To be fair, Boston’s situation appeared bleak at this time last year, but a strong offseason, much better health and a productive farm system have moved them atop the AL East. So, perhaps, the Yankees could have the same dynamics play out over the next 12 months, though, again, their system does not look as fertile and their $189 million payroll mandate next season clouds their maneuverability.
In the here and now, the fourth-place Yankees are 11 games behind the Red Sox. They are hanging on in the wild-card race, but will not much longer if their pitching does not improve.
On Saturday, David Huff made his first major league start since last year. Either because of injury or workload, David Robertson, Boone Logan, Shawn Kelley, Preston Claiborne, Joba Chamberlain and Adam Warren were unavailable. So the set-up man with the most Yankees innings this year available to Girardi was Brett Marshall (5 ²/₃).
Marshall actually authored 4 ¹/₃ one-run innings that helped the Yankees crawl back from the 12-3 hole created by Huff and Jim Miller, who was summoned Saturday, another call-up from a Triple-A team that was not particularly good and offered little support for the offense when it was the problem early or the pitching now. That pitching still has to navigate the Red Sox on Sunday before four at Camden Yards against the homer-mad Orioles followed by three at Fenway.
The playoffs are slip, slip, slipping away. Maybe not just in September 2013.