A-Rod: Yankees need Jeter

Alex Rodriguez can't imagine life without Derek Jeter in pinstripes. "Derek Jeter was born to be a Yankee and he was born to wear pinstripes," Rodriguez told a gathering of media. "He's our captain and we need him here. I envision he'll finish his career here. I can't envision him wearing any other uniform."

That's a far cry from Rodriguez's 2001 comments to Esquire when he said the Captain "has never had to lead. He can just go and play and have fun." He drew from the Yankees' past glories when he also told the magazine, "You go into New York, you want to stop Bernie [Williams] and [Paul] O'Neill. You never say, 'Don't let Derek beat us.' He's never your concern," he said.

From New York Daily "News"

"It's Easy To Lose Sight Of The Fact That Everyone Makes That Kind Of Play All The Time..."

Thanks to his vaunted grace and tremendous skill, Yankees captain Derek Jeter was able Tuesday night to make a pop-up to shortstop look as routine as it actually was.

"Look at him effortlessly settle under that ball and close his glove around it as it falls slowly in," gushed Yankees radio announcer John Sterling, who also had the privilege of broadcasting Jeter's catch of a soft humpback liner in 2002.

Later in the inning, Jeter made an easy play look difficult with that jump-throw thing he doesn't need to do.

First baseball Thoughts of 2009

"No team has won a pennant in 29 years or a World Series in 54 years with a shortstop as old as Derek Jeter, who turns 35 in June."

--Tom Verducci, SI.com