Derek Jeter is Underrated

Believe it or not, this is the growing consensus. After going after Jeter for a few grafs, SI's Joe Posnanski, a Bill James-type writer if there ever was one, finally celebrates the Yankees captain and his remarkable 2009 season.  He writes:

I think that in many ways Derek Jeter this year has added a third title. He has, against all odds, become UNDERRATED. And that is a wicked turn. I think Jeter at 35 is having one of his greatest seasons. I think he's playing defense better than he ever has, he's getting on base and slugging like he did in his prime, and in my view he has been the Yankees most valuable player in 2009. And, for once, it's funny, I don't hear too many other people talking about it.

For years, Jeter's abilities, specifically his defensive chops, have been simultaneously championed and dismissed by his admirers and detractors. His fans, as Posnanski points out, argue that Jeter's greatness cannot be measured by simple statistics. How, his fans argue, can you quantify this or this? His detractors, on the other hand, highlight his limited range and declining UZR rating. And, you know what, both camps are right. From year to year, Jeter, while playing at an enviably high level, isn't the best shortstop in the league. (Hell, when A-Rod came over in 2004, Jeter, some argued, wasn't even the best shortstop on his team). This year, too, for instance, Florida's Hanley Ramirez and Tampa's Jason Bartlett enjoy better offensive numbers, while Texas' Elvis Andrus, Milwaukee's J.J. Hardy, Toronto's Marco Scutaro and Los Angeles' Raphael Furcal, according to FanGraphs, are better defensively. 

Since he broke into the league, though, Jeter's been one hell of a baseball player. It's about time his numbers, the hitherto computable evidence against him, are finally in step with what Jeter's fans have been saying for years. He's simply one of the best in the game. 

Major-League Smokers And Other Missed Opportunities

Sports Illustrated just published online 25 Things We Miss in Baseball. The list, which includes prosaic things like stirrups, no pepper signs, and high leg kicks, is largely hit-or-miss. I would, though, gladly welcome back into the game Youppi, the Expos mascot of indeterminate origins, and bullpen carts. Ditto balanced schedules and, if I'm being honest, organ music.

More interesting, I think, is the magazine’s companion 1o Things We Don’t Miss in Baseball, particularly numbers 5 and 7—Terrible Uniforms and Players Smoking in the Dugout—which, as a fan, I desperately want to see put back into practice right away, like before the first pitch of tonight’s game. Seriously, who wouldn’t want to see, say, Roy Oswalt taking the mound in this? Or Jamie Moyer lighting up in between innings, like Harvey Haddix did throughout his 13-inning, near-perfect game on May 26, 1959? 

I'm serious. Who wouldn't get a kick out of seeing this every night?

 

Or this?

Hell yeah. In fact, the more I think about these two lists, the more I realize that if I were to put together a Venn Diagram, the Cardinals-era Keith Hernandez, with his stirrups, quality stache, reported philandering, cookie-cutter, faux-grass home park, old-school manager, and, most importantly, his pack of smokes, would be its union. Just one more reason to love Mex. Thanks, SI, for a job well done. 

The Sky is Falling?

Hardly. Look, I'm not having any fun watching the Yankees lose seven straight (eight, going back to last year) to the Sox, but the Yankees are only one game behind in the standings. One game, even after spotting Boston seven--seven!-- wins. Things could be a whole lot worse, believe me. All a fan needs to do is think back to last year, when the Yankees, on the last day of August, were a staggering 12.5 games behind the Tampa Rays, eventually missing the playoffs for the first time since 1995. The Yankees, despite their team-wide impotence against the Sox, are still 34-18 against the rest of baseball, a very healthy 16 games over .500. Boston, on the other hand, is a rather uninspiring 28-24 against teams not from the Bronx. Amazingly, then, a game or two here or there, and the Yankees would currently enjoy a comfortable advantage over their rivals. Should've. Could've. Would've. That's why they play the game. And that's why, later tonight, the Yankees get a chance to win their first game in nine attempts against the Sox, and walk out of Boston in a flat-footed tie for first, not worrying at all about which team they're supposedly looking up at in the standings.  

So it Goes, Or Something to That Effect

Last month, Berkley Trade released Armageddon in Retrospect, a collection of 12 previously unpublished Kurt Vonnegut stories about, naturally, war and peace. In his preface, Kurt's son, Mark, writes about his father's less-than-spectacular career as a Sports Illustrated writer:

"He was not good at being an employee. Back in the mid-1950s, he was employed by Sports Illustrated, briefly. He reported to work, was asked to write a short piece on a racehorse that had jumped over a fence and tried to run away. Kurt stared at the blank piece of paper all morning and then typed, 'The horse jumped over the f------ fence,'' and walked out, self-employed again.' ''

I've always been a big fan of Vonnegut's dark humor, particularly when he pointed his sharp instrument at himself, like in this passage from Slaughterhouse Five:

An American near Billy wailed that he had excreted everything but his brains. Moments later he said, 'There they go, there they go.' He meant his brains.
That was I. That was me. That was the author of this book.

Or these scenes from the Rodney Dangerfield classic, Back to School.

(Via SI)

Master of Puppets

Sports Illustrated writer Luke Winn has an interesting online profile of Oklahoma's Blake Griffin and Frank Matrisciano, the San Francisco-based trainer who helped turn the All-American into a lean, mean, basketball-playing machine by introducing him to a mental-control concept called, swear to God, the "Puppetmaster." How does it work? Well, the process is as startling as its sobriquet:

When USC's Leonard Washington punched Griffin in the groin, Utah's Luka Drca tripped him, umpteen players elbowed him, Ali flipped him and Michigan's Manny Harris undercut him, Griffin stayed in control of the situation. Matrisciano said Griffin was able to do this because he and his brother have the mental discipline of 'robots,' allowing them not only to stay in control, but also plow through workouts that had caused umpteen NBA players to quit the training programs

The trick is to suffocate all human emotion, an icky personal philosophy that would make even Ayn Rand hold back the edge of her gown. Griffin, though, laps this shit up, then begs for seconds. Matrisciano, who, according to Winn, "has no listed number, no Web site and has never allowed his full face to be photographed," gets through to Griffin with motivational lines like this: "You're either a puppet on the court, or you're the puppetmaster" and "You're either allowing someone else to control you, or you're the one in control." 

I'm now officially terrified of Blake Griffin, and somewhat relieved to have his Oklahoma team on my list of 13. 

Hoops Hype

Sports Illustrated, which completely owns college basketball, just released its annual NCAA Men's Basketball preseason Top 20 rankings and scouting reports for each team. Not surprisingly, North Carolina has a stranglehold on the top spot. When Tyler Hansbrough and, to a lesser extent, Ty Lawson decided to stick around Chapel Hill for another year, Tar Heels Coach Roy Williams was pretty much guaranteed a fifth trip to the Final Four. 

Although the Heels are, without question, this year's team to beat, there are a number of teams, primarily Louisville and UCLA, eager to steal the show. Coach Rick Pitino has four returning starters to rely on, and Earl Clark is poised to improve on a pretty impressive sophomore effort. The Bruins, despite losing Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, still have Darren Collison and a highly touted recruiting class to boot. They could make some noise.  

I'm not crazy, though, about Connecticut at No. 3, but Hasheem Thabeet, when he wants to, can be a total beast down low, and there's absolutely no way Jim Calhoun will let his team play as soft as they did last year against the University of San Diego after A.J. Price went down.  Still, No. 3 is a bit generous, I think. 

Duke, meanwhile, comes in at a soft No. 8, which isn't exactly a ringing endorsement from the college hoops illuminati.  Let's face it: the Blue Devils are there because they're the Blue Devils. Not exactly a bold pick. 

More interesting, however, is the staff's selection of Purdue and Notre Dame as the No. 5 and 6 teams, respectively, in the country. Purdue looked really good last March and Notre Dame's inside-out combo of Luke Harangody and Kyle McAlarney, as Grant Wahl rightfully points out, has the potential to be pretty deadly. Both teams should be fun to watch. 

Like Seth Davis, I'm really high on Michigan State. Under Tom Izzo, the Spartans are always a tough out, and sophomore Kalin Lucas is one of the quickest guards in the country off the dribble. Maybe even faster than Ty Lawson.  Maybe. Look for the Spartans to challenge Purdue for the Big Ten Championship and, later, make it to at least the Elite Eight. 

I'd love to say the same for Georgetown, but I just don't see it happening. Coach John Thompson III lost Roy Hibbert to the NBA and Patrick Ewing, Jr. to, well, the ether, I guess. Even with three serviceable returning starters (DaJuan Summers, Jesse Sapp and Austin Freeman), I'm worried the Hoyas don't have the offensive weapons to put up much of a fight. Greg Monroe, sadly, is still a year away. I'll be pulling for the Hoyas, though, and I hope they prove me wrong.

Really, though, this is the Tar Heels' year. I fully expect them to win it all, but I am going to have a blast, as I do every winter, watching promising young teams try for the upset.           

Odds & Sods

Obama likes what he sees in Gates, but Marty Burns loves what he sees in Atlanta. Joe Biden’s got himself a Thursday date in D.C., while Marte’s settling down in the Bronx. Bobby Jindal knows how to take a pitch. Sarah Palin, on the other hand, is still completely bush league.