Jeter a different hitter since return
Derek Jeter #2 of the New York Yankees hits a run-scoring single in the 3rd inning against the Chicago White Sox at U.S. Cellular Field. (Aug. 3, 2011) Credit: Getty Images
CHICAGO -- When Derek Jeter went on the disabled list June 14 with a strained calf, he was hitting .260 with a .324 on-base percentage. But it's been a different story since he returned from the DL July 4.
"You have to make adjustments, you're going to make adjustments throughout the course of the year," said Jeter, who entered Thursday night's game hitting .395 (17-for-43) with 12 RBIs and 11 runs in his last 11 games. "I've tried to make adjustments and good things have happened so far."
Jeter went 5-for-6 Wednesday night, his second five-hit game in less than a month. His other one, of course, was his 5-for-5 afternoon July 9, when he picked up his 3,000th hit. In the 20 games sandwiched by those five-hit games, Jeter is hitting .358 with a .404 on-base percentage, a .519 slugging percentage, 15 RBIs and 16 runs.
Entering Thursday night, he was hitting .280 (his highest since May 10) with a .339 OBP, his highest of the year.
Joe Girardi said Jeter has looked "a lot different" at the plate since coming off the DL, driving and pulling the ball much better than he had been. " . . . Sometimes we don't always understand what a player's going through," he said. "Maybe that 3,000 was more of a weight than any of us thought."
