The Yankees were already going it without Mariano Rivera this month, a strange sight to everyone who has followed baseball since the mid-1990s. But then Rivera was only out there for one or two innings per night.
Derek Jeter was the immovable object. The Yankees have played in 158 postseason games since 1996, and Jeter has started every single one of them. He?s the all-time postseason leader in games played by 30, in at-bats by 185 and in hits by 72. He?s also the postseason leader in runs scored and total bases. He?s first in singles, first in doubles, tied for first in triples and even third in homers.
And now he?s done for 2012 due to a fractured ankle.
When the Yankees take the field without Jeter in Sunday?s ALCS Game 2 against the Tigers, it?ll be the first time they?ve done so in the postseason since Oct. 8, 1995. That was a Game 5 loss to the Mariners in the ALDS. Randy Johnson famously came out of the pen and got the win in relief for Seattle.
Tony Fernandez was the Yankees? shortstop in that contest. Dion James played left field, believe it or not. A 20-year-old Alex Rodriguez pinch-ran for Seattle and got his first ever postseason at-bat in the contest (he grounded out). Tino Martinez was the guy he replaced (he was traded to the Yankees two months later).
That ALDS loss was the Yankees? first postseason series in 14 years. So, the Bombers haven?t actually won a postseason series without Jeter since 1981, when they prevailed in the ALDS and ALCS before losing to the Dodgers in the World Series.
The odds are stacked against them winning this one, too. They?re down 1-0 to the Tigers, they have Hiroki Kuroda going on short rest in Game 2 and they?ll be up against Justin Verlander in Game 3. Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher and Curtis Granderson are all struggling mightily. And now they?ll be going with Jayson Nix or Eduardo Nunez at shortstop. It?d be a stunning achievement if they can somehow pull this one out.
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