I've heard Ichiro's a funny dude...I miss the days when I could sit back and not make OPS arguments about guys like Ichiro knowing that Shmoo would take care of it soon enough.

np: Whiskeytown "Stranger's Almanac"

If you are really a Yankees fan, actually shit, if you are a BASEBALL fan, I'm gonna have to seriously ask you to take this statement back....

Derek Jeter is the best postseason baseball player EVER.There is no comparioson. EVER. YES I SAID EVER.

Jeter is the Tom Brady of MLB---not a fantasy/rotisserie guy like Peyton Manning or A-Rod; just a dude who will win you damn ballgames

<--a Braves fan who knows him some damn baseball

I completely agree about Jeter. I have pulled aginast the Yankees in every series except the Diamondbacks one and I'm always amazed at how clutch Jeter is. I'd stick him up in a crucial at bat over A-Rod any day in any situation, same as I would hand the ball to Pettite or Wells over Clemens in a big game.


Yail, your Braves are looking great right now. Schuerholz/Cox are quite the brain trust down there. Hudson, Smoltz and Hampton are as tough as it comes right now.

What Bloor said. Check yr. house for a gas leak, billy

Jeter is the type of guy that when the Yankees were boss ballin, he was integral to it ,and now that they aren't doing that damn thing it is because they chased the ntacs who are "stars" (Giambi, Randy) and not dudes who GET IT DONE like Jete and Tino, etc..

I'll agree with the consesnsus....going back the last 7-8 years, Jeter doesnt put up the same numbers as A-Rod, or Nomar, or Tejada, etc....

but he does all the intangibles.. the little things....the things that don't show up in the box score, that make his team better...

if anything, Jeter doesnt get enough credit or respect.

Dont forget Paul O'neil (an animal and a guy who used to roll to John Birch/Klan meetings with M.Schott in Cincy and then later set homeless people on fire in NY) but a damn winner.

Despite being a Yankees hater, I always found it hard to root against the players on the 1996-2000 Yankees.

Jeter deserves to be Yankee captain....he's had some great moments in Yankee history. I think of him more as a Great Yankee though than a great player. He's made some awe inspiring, magical plays like the backhanded relay in the Oakland game and had many key hits. But really, other than a few magical plays, he hasn't elevated his play in the playoffs. Look at his stats below. Very good but not better than his regular season numbers. Most remarkable is how many opportunities he's had to shine: 441AB!

Postseason stats:

441 AB
135 H
77R
14 HR
42 RBI
.306 BA
.380 OB%
.456 Slg%

Jeter 162game career average

654 AB
123 R
206 H
18 HR
82 RBI
.315 BA
.385 OB%
.463 SLG%

Out of curiousity I looked up A-Rod's postseason #'s

103AB
34H
17R
6HR
16RBI
.330 BA
.395 OB%
.583 Slg%

A-rod isn't exactly a post-season slouch. And as much as I love Tino, Jeter and O'Neill, the recent drought in Yankee's WS wins has everthing to do with a decline in pitching, especially middle relief and very little to do with their propensity for signing star players.

What Alex never was in Seattle and I imagine he will not be in New York is clutch. Jeter would will himself on base if he had to. Alex was summed up in the infamous "slap" play in last year's LCS.

I hope someday the Mariners will put some players around Ichiro so we can see what he would be like in the postseason. 2001 seems like 100 years ago now. The M's have something like the fourth or fifth highest payroll in the game.

Yeah, but by pursuing those big money fuckoffs, don't you think they may have took their eye off what made 'em great 96-01? You know, like having an awesome team that played really well together, and not a collection of big $$ free agents.

The Yanks of 2001-2005 have defenitely traken a different path of the 1996-200 teams...

The 1996-200 teams were buiolt around superstars mixed tremendously with resourceful role players....A perfect mixture...

then after the loss in 2001, it seems Steinbrenner paniced and resorted back to his 80's min set, of putting a superstar at every position, forgoing chemistry and the right players...

The people with the best stats don't always mean its the right move to make....and the results of the last 4 years have shown that.....

we need to re-establish the farm system...let some of these big contracts go or run-out, and take some chances with some youth....

but I think Steinbrenner got a great teaste for success by th late 90's teams, and will do anything to avoid the drought that was 1982-1995 again......

If you're going to judge A-Rod on that one play or one series, then let me point out Jeter hit a measly .200 in that series and has had playoff series before where he batted well below the Mendoza line. The biggest difference between Jeter and A-Rod in the playoffs has been the amount of bats Jeter's had, not the overall quality of them.

I'd add that someone's example of Tom Brady is a good one. Brady's a great leader on a great team but its team defense thats made the Patroits so dominant more than Brady's play. He's a great fit for that team but does anyone really think that the Colts would be a better team if you substituted Brady for Peyton Manning?

I do think they would- at least I don't see Brady choking it up in every big game which Manning has done since college. I don't know that the Colts would win the Superbowl with just Brady, but I think Manning is anything but a winner.

Jimmy Stripe, you are officially my homeboy! Billy, I dunno if Brady makes the Colts better, but I do know that Peyton would make the Pats worse.

No, I think they just haven't done as good a job of stockpiling quality pitching or getting the right ones. Cashman decided a couple of years ago that their starting pitching was getting old and that they needed to get younger. He was right in theory but the execution was poor.

First trade: Ted Lilly and a group of prospects for Jeff Weaver. Lilly was an allstar last year. Weaver was a complete flop in NY. John Ford Griffin, an OF prospect, is now apparently tearing up AAA for Toronto

Second trade: Weaver and some prospects including Yancey Brazoben for Kevin Brown. Brown's been a disaster and Brazoben would sure look good in middle relief for NY

Third trade: Nick Johnson & prospects for Javier Vasquez who Cashman chose over Curt Shilling. Arizona apparently preferred the Yankees' offer to Boston's and wanted to trade Shilling to NY. NY preferred Vasquez mainly due to the age.

Really, its been poor pitching that's kept the yankees from winning it all. Its really a miracle that they made it as far as they did last year with the cobblestone rotation they'd put together.

I think the Yankees are turning their season around but if they fall a little short, not picking up Jon Leiber's option and signing Jaret Wright instead could be the difference maker.

And the Colts with Brady at QB would never play any big games, I don't think they'd even be a .500 team.

In retrospect, this may be a little bold...what I was trying to get at was if you were to pick a guy for one critical drive, it might be Brady over Manning but if you were to say your team's defense was so horrible that you need to score 30 a game to win, you'd probably pick Manning.

its my impression but I'll confess that I'm not really much of a football fan. i don't know if I even watched a single game last year. Baseball on the other hand, I never miss a game.

I'm glad you ammended this. I mean I don't universally dismiss P.Manning like the Senator, Scotty D. and Lt. E-Junk (USAF); I do, however think that Brady can make 88% of the plays that Peyton can make. I dismiss the fact that Peyton Manning costs his team games. Dude works harder than anyone in the game in terms of preparation, game planning, etc.

The Colts problems probly lie more in scheming and just sure luck than personelle. I mean who (Cleveland? Where you at Cleveland?) would have guessed Belichik (sp? I know i keep killing his name) would have had the success he has had.

Oh, and despite being a fine coach, Tony Dungy is the Kenny Lofton of NFL coaching. Where he goes, the champagne don't flow.

This may seem real ramblin' but I'm still shocked that any baseball fan, and especially a Yankees fan does not consider Derek Jeter the best, ok most important player in the game....

P.S. Billy, stats are great in fantasy sports but its immeasurables that win championships. Just for the Braves, the names Mark Lemke, Francisco Carbrerra, Mike Deveraux, and Eddie Perez will always have a spot in my heart b/c they delivered in the clutch....

P.P.S. im starting another baseball thread

Don't get me wrong, Jeter's got a spot in my heart. If fate found me in the GM's chair for the day and Jim Beattie called me offering Miguel Tejeda for Derek Jeter if I answered yes in ten seconds, I'd probably fail to say yes in the time required. But i'd recognize that my reluctance to pull the trigger on that would be a fan's reluctance to trade a favorite as opposed to not believing Tejeda's a better player. And I love Luis Sojo, and Brian Doyle far more than I should so don't think you have a monopoly on lovable, clutch stiffs.

Yankee fans beware! Aaron Sele is your doom tonight!

Fuck the Yankees. How about my motherfuckin' Padres! They've won 14 of their last 17 and worked up from under .500 and are now tied for first place. This includes 3 out of 4 in St. Louis, where they had not won a single game since 2001. It also includes a 3 game sweep of the Marlins (granted, no D-train, but Beckett and Burnett still). Tonight, a come from behind win against the Braves. Also, the best home record in the major leagues. And where is the press?

They're the Padres.

Who's this Padres of which you speak? I thought San Diego's team was the Surf Dawgs. No? Yankees made it 10 in a row tonight behind Pavano's Complete Game Shutout and Giambi's 3-4 with a HR and 3 RBI.

np: Postgame

Ricky Henderson play for the Dawgs

I think Surf Dawgs is possibly the worst name ever.