Derek Jeter might be less than two weeks from his 36th birthday, but the Yankees captain is driving in runs at a rate as good as any in his career.
Jeter had his finest day of the season in yesterday’s 9-3 romp over the Astros, slamming two homers for the first time in four years and tying his season high with four RBIs. He has racked up 39 RBIs in the Yankees’ 62 games, putting him on pace for 101 for the season.
That’s not bad, especially when you consider that not only is he batting leadoff but also that his career high for RBIs is 102, in 1999. That’s the only time in Jeter’s 16-year career he has driven in 100.
“You give credit to the guys that are hitting before me,” Jeter said. “RBIs are pretty much a result a lot of times of where you’re hitting in the order. Guys at the bottom of the order have been getting on base.
“I don’t really pay much attention to it, but sometimes your job is to drive guys in, sometimes it’s to move guys over and I think it just depends on the situation.”
Jeter, who’s hitting .328 with men in scoring position, is tied with Mark Teixeira for third on the Yankees in RBIs, trailing just Robinson Cano’s 46 and Alex Rodriguez’s 43.
He opened up the afternoon’s scoring in the first inning by blasting a fastball from left-hander Wandy Rodriguez into the Astros bullpen for a leadoff homer. Jeter now has 24 career leadoff homers (17 at home), matching Rickey Henderson for the most in Yankees history.
“Rickey was only here what, a year maybe?” Jeter joked. “As good as it sounds, you’ve got to put things in perspective.”
Indeed, Jeter has been a Yankee since 1995, while Henderson was only a Yankee for 4½ seasons. But Jeter has not batted leadoff his entire career either, starting nearly twice as often in the two-hole.
Jeter walked and scored in the third inning, and in the sixth, he smacked a three-run shot to right off righty Jeff Fulchino. It was Jeter’s first multi-homer game since Aug. 27, 2006, against the Angels.