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To: Clappy who wrote (55189)	10/2/2002 6:12:14 PM
From: reaper	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 209892

the reason the Yankees 'always find a way to win' is that they have the best players. they are not possessed of some magic. if you want to attribute some kind of magic to someone on the Yankees, give it to Mariano Rivera, who with a sub-1.00 ERA in his post-season career is so ridiculous as to defy explanation, even for a stat geek like me. as far as Jeter 'stepping it up' in the post-season, as i showed to MM earlier this year that is so much bull-sh8t. Derek Jeter's carrer OPS through 2001 was 862 (.392 on base, .470 slugging). in 16 post-season series through 2001 (which constitutes 78 games and 339 plate appearances, so i'd call that a good sample size) he has an 820 OPS (.372 on base, .488 slugging). in 5 World Series (114 plate appearances, so a less good sample size but still large) he has an 787 OPS (.360 on-base, .427 slugging). so Derek Jeter has done pretty much EXACTLY as you would expect in the post-season (which is to do a little worse than regular season stats, on average, since on average you'll face better pitching in the post season). you THINK Jeter has 'stepped up' because he's played 78 post-season games and the Yanks are always on prime-time, so you've SEEN all the good stuff he's done, and forgotten all the strike-outs with men in scoring position (he's whiffed 63 times in the post season) and all the muffed grounders (like the two last night). and i don't want to hear any more about the friggin' Giambi play. watch Game 7 of the World Series again. ask yourself 'if Ozzie or Orlando Cabrera was the shortstop, might he have made a play on Gonzo's flair?' the answer, i am sad to say Jeter fans, is a definite 'maybe'. Jeter, who plays two-three steps closer to home on 'infield in' plays due to his historically slow release and terrible footwork, and who has the slowest first-step of any middle infielder i've ever seen, didn't have a chance. a great shortstop would have had a play on the ball. where was Jeter's friggin intangible magic on that play? look, you guys are all starting to sound like Jack Grubman here; you are presenting 'analysis' based on heresay and anecdotal 'evidence'. give me a statistic, ANY statistic, that SHOWS that Jeter 'steps up his play' in the post season. look, i don't think Jeter is a BAD player, i think he is an over-rated player. i would rather have Jeter than Juan Uribe. that said, there are 7-10 shortstops i would rather have than Jeter (in approximate order ARod, Tejada, Nomar, Jose Hernandez, Renteria, Vizquel, Bordick, Orlando Cabrera (who is flat out RIDICULOUS with the glove) and Christian Guzman). and again, the point is that people wrongly believe that Jeter is somehow 'clutch', in ways that don't show up in the stats. and that's just flat-out horse-puckey. Jeter performs in the post-season more or less as his stats would predict he would perform. btw, do you know who has the best all-time post-season slugging % and OPS? none other than Nomar Garciaparra. of course, its in a basically statistically worthless sampling of 54 plate appearances, but how come i never hear you guys telling me how awesome Nomar is when the chips are down?? the best stats site on the web is baseball-reference.com Cheers