Derek Jeter will pass Mickey Mantle and Babe Ruth on the all-time Yankees hit list in the final year of Yankee Stadium.
When the palace across the street debuts next season, Jeter will move past Lou Gehrig and become the all-time pinstriped hit leader.
He is six at-bats away from jumping over Yogi Berra for fourth place on that list. Already this season he has shoved Joe DiMaggio down a notch on the runs and doubles lists.
Mantle. Ruth. Gehrig. Berra. DiMaggio. The names are daunting.
And yet, at a time when the Yankees needed their captain the most, he has delivered.
When Alex Rodriguez joined Jorge Posada on the disabled list, many predicted the Yankees’ lineup would go soft. Though they are hitting .255 (53-for-208) in the last six games, they are batting .324 (34-for-105) in the previous three.
Since losing Rodriguez, the Yankees are 3-3 going into tonight’s game against the Indians at the Stadium. In those six tilts, Jeter is batting a team-high .423 (11-for-26) with three RBIs. With runners in scoring position, he is at .571 (4-for-7) and has driven in two runs.
“You almost wish [yesterday] wasn’t a day off,” said Jeter, who went 4-for-5 in Sunday’s 8-2 beating of the lifeless Mariners.
Figure if the Yankees run their current three-game winning streak to five, the idiotic notion they are better off without Rodriguez will surface. That’s nonsense. If the Yankees are going to carry a suspect rotation until help can be found, Rodriguez and Posada must return and be productive. Until then, Jeter and others have to carry the load.
Bobby Abreu, Hideki Matsui, Johnny Damon and Melky Cabrera have done their share. Abreu is batting .417 (10-for-24) with a homer and five RBIs. Matsui is at .346 (9-for-26) with four RBIs. Damon is batting .381 (8-for-21) and Cabrera is hitting .300 (6-for-20) with a homer and six RBIs without his mentor in the lineup.
Of course, there are some riding on others’ shoulders. Jason Giambi is at .071 (1-for-14), Robinson Cano is at .158 (3-for-19) and Morgan Ensberg is at .188 (3-for-16).
As for going past DiMaggio and having Berra, Mantle, Ruth and Gehrig in his sights, Jeter shakes his head.
“In some sense it’s like you don’t really believe it,” said Jeter, who has 2,391 hits – 24 shy of Mantle, 127 behind Ruth and 330 back of Gehrig. “They played for such a long time. I know I have been here a long time, but in my mind I still haven’t played that long. It’s quite hard to believe, to be honest with you.”
Maybe when Jeter, 34 next month, is done he will reflect on his place in Yankees history. He will have plaques in Cooperstown and Monument Park, and might be an owner of a team. Until then, Jeter doesn’t act like Pete Rose used to and calculate how many hits he needs to become baseball’s all-time hit king.
“It’s not like I am at home and I run to the Stadium and say, ‘If I can do this . . .’ ” Jeter explained. “A lot of it I wasn’t aware of. [Passing DiMaggio on the runs list]. I had no idea. I was on the bench and somebody said something to me because I didn’t see it flash on the scoreboard.”