Jeter, Yanks on roll heading to Fenway

Shortstop is hot; his team has seven-game lead

By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com

Derek Jeter is batting .490 with four home runs over his last 12 games. (AP)

08/20/2009 2:46 AM ET

OAKLAND -- Derek Jeter's wry sense of humor is often obscured by his business-first agenda of winning baseball games for the Yankees. The fun layer is on display more behind closed doors than for the general public.

He offered a glimpse earlier this week, when Jeter was given a half day off as the club's designated hitter. Jeter cracked to manager Joe Girardi that if all he needed to do was DH, he could probably add another five years to his already-impressive Major League career.

The remark was not serious, and besides, Jeter seems to be doing just fine where he is. When the Yankees hit Fenway Park on Friday to renew acquaintances with the Red Sox in the game's top rivalry, Jeter will likely be at shortstop and -- as usual -- looking only one game and one series ahead.

"I'm worried about this year, man," Jeter said. "I'm not thinking about anything beyond. It's unfair to be thinking about what I'm going to be doing years from now. I'm thinking about helping us win this year."

Jeter has certainly done plenty of that, traveling to Boston riding one of his hottest offensive stretches in recent memory. Jeter completed the Yankees' West Coast trip hitting .550 (22-for-40) over his past 10 games, including five games with at least three hits, and he has boosted his season batting average to .331.

"You can just put him on first base," Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira said. "It seems like everything he's hitting is hard, and he's setting the table a lot for us. When guys are on base, he's driving them in. I haven't seen many guys go through rolls like this."

For his part, Jeter has no interest in discussing his, perhaps for fear of scaring off whatever is working. Almost immediately, Jeter rapped his knuckles against a wooden locker as soon as the topic of his good fortune came up.

"It's baseball, man," Jeter said. "Sometimes you hit balls and get hits. Other times they catch them and say you're struggling. If they don't catch them, they say you're hot. Sometimes you can hit a ball terrible and still get hits."

But you can't feel this good if you're not healthy. Part of the genesis for Jeter's renaissance season was a recommitment to lateral agility and lower body strength, which have seen him post some of his best defensive statistics in years.

That conditioning has also helped him remain strong after a Spring Training shuffle that left Jeter as the leadoff hitter and bumping Johnny Damon to the two-hole, playing a factor in why Jeter has already stolen 20 bases after swiping just 11 all last year.

"It's amazing what he's able to do, year in and year out," Girardi said. "The thing is that he comes ready to play every night, and that's why he is who he is and he has the success that he does."

"It's all a matter if you feel good, then you might do some things differently," Jeter said. "It has nothing to do with [the lineup switch.] If I was hitting second, I'd be running the same. I'm not going to run just for the sake of running."

Jeter's contract runs through 2010, and his situation will create a discussion in New York when that time approaches. Almost certainly, the Yankees could not fathom the idea that their captain logs his 3,000th hit in another uniform, but it is unclear how much longer Jeter will play shortstop at a competitive level.

"I haven't sat down and had that conversation with myself yet," Jeter said. "That's the way I've always handled it. I'm not going to change."

So while Jeter may need a long solitary drive to breach that topic, others already are considering and discussing a different issue.

Come the end of the season, Girardi believes that while home run hitters always garner most of the spotlight when it comes to discussing MVP candidates (and Joe Mauer and Teixeira should each be included), his shortstop's consistency should also not be overlooked.

"What he's hitting, his defense, his leadership -- all the things that it takes to be an MVP, I think he's done," Girardi said. "I think it's harder for a guy like that to win. It seems like the guy that wins the MVP always has 30-plus homers. That's kind of the way it's been. But I think he's a definite candidate."

In typical Jeter fashion, he seemed taken aback even by the thought.

"My name is in it? I have not heard that," Jeter said. "I'm not thinking about that. We're trying to win. We haven't won here in a long time, and right now, our team is playing pretty good. We just want to continue it."