Yankees: Jeter reportedly “angry” after A-Rod interview

The Yankees all-time hits leader has made himself available to the media countless times during the organization’s promotion of Jeter Week. But according to ESPN, one of those interviews left him “beside himself.”

The Yankees have asked a lot from Derek Jeter, and he’s given them a lot when it comes to the honoring of the Yankees mystique and tradition. For twenty years, he never stepped out of line. He always said the right things and always kept his cool, even to the point where he can say, ” I was never thrown out of a ballgame by an umpire.”

We know all this because we witnessed it. But what we can never know is how many times Jeter bit his tongue saying nothing to a reporter or even a misguided teammate, even though he was burning inside.

They called him the “Consummate Yankee.” In our more ignorant days as a people, though, he might have been called an “Uncle Tom” for assuming a role he was expected to play in a drama he never asked for.

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But over the years, there was one thing he couldn’t hide from us. And that’s his distaste for Alex Rodriguez. If you want to be kind, you might label their relationship as “awkward.” And perhaps the reason for the sparks that flew between them is as simple as having two ultra-competitive athletes playing on a field not big enough to hold them, only twenty feet from each other.

And no matter what Rodriguez says, he resented being moved from shortstop to third base to make way for the Yankees Golden Boy. And no matter what Jeter says, he’ll always dislike A-Rod for being such a jerk and a liar during his battles with the Yankees over steroids and the resulting legal issues that developed.

Two peas from a different pod, maybe. And never the twain shall meet. Some god-awful person from the Yankees must have had the blinders on for twenty years because he asked Jeter and A-Rod to sit down for an interview that would appear on CNBC.

Which under normal circumstances would have been fine, since no one watches CNBC. Except for that one Lone Ranger from ESPN, Dan Le Batard, who said on his radio show:

"“I actually learned, factually, that Jeter was beside himself angry at that interview he had to do with Alex Rodriguez, first and foremost, because nobody told him he’d have to be sitting there next to Alex Rodriguez,” Le Batard said."

He learned, he says, factually, while releasing none of the details as to how he learned this. Be that as it may, though, his claim is believable. And if you choose to watch the video below, you’ll plainly see that the air in the studio was compacted, and a tenseness between the two men was palpable.

You’ll also see that the actual interview ended up being a farce as both Jeter and Rodriguez, although they attempted to make light of the atmosphere at times, went out of their way to make Casey Stengel proud of them by answering questions with double-speak and misplaced attempts at humor.

The interview should never have happened, and someone in the Yankees PR Department should be on the carpet for arranging it.

Yankees: Sorry about that Mr. Hicks, I see what Joe was talking about

All along, Yankees skipper Joe Girardi was saying that Aaron Hicks needs to get at-bats because he can produce for the team. He was right, I was wrong.

The show must go on

Nevertheless, both Jeter and Rodriguez will put their Yankees masks on for the cameras tomorrow night, and hugs will be exchanged for the cameras and the Yankees faithful as they play out the final act of a long-running baseball saga in New York.

And while making no judgments about either man, it would be safe to say, with the possible exception of Mickey Mantle and Joe DiMaggio, that never before have two All-Stars ever appeared in the Pinstripes with more divergent styles than Alex and Derek.