Sunday, October 14, 2012

Costly Loss For Yankees: Jeter Injured

Costly Loss For Yankees: Jeter Injured, He fractures his ankle, and aura of invincibility, in the 12th inning as the Tigers prevail. Fractured ankle shatters Derek Jeter's aura of invincibility in Yankees' loss, Derek Jeter broke his left ankle early Sunday morning in the 12th inning of a playoff game that was supposed to be his, because all playoff games are supposed to be his. Jeter's career, full of brilliance, needs no such hyperbole. It finds itself awash in it anyway. He is not tough. He is the toughest. He is not clutch. He is the clutchest. He is not the captain. He is The Captain.

Our tendency to look at Jeter in absolutes has manifested itself in another fashion: agelessness and invincibility joining his oeuvre. Jeter may be 38. So what? He looks a decade younger. He may not move like he once did at shortstop. That's fine. He pounded out 216 hits this season. Whatever Derek Jeter may be matters not as much as what we want him to be. He is the most idealized baseball player, certainly, and maybe the most of any professional athlete in his generation.

To see him scream, then - to see him mouth agape, looking back at a left ankle on fire, fractured badly enough it will require at least three months recovery time and keep him sidelined for however much more postseason the New York Yankees can muster following their 6-4 insult-to-injury loss to the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the ALCS - was to see Jeter at his rawest. His ankle popped. It stripped away the sheen of who we want Jeter to be and revealed who he really is.

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