It is the one foe every athlete faces, but no athlete can beat. Each knows that the end will come, that age is undefeated in the annals of sports. The trick is to make summer last as long as possible, to put off reality for another day.
The Yankees' best players have done this better than most, with another World Series title at stake this month. Yet bit by bit, and in devastating fashion, the team's aging stars are falling. Derek Jeter, the centerpiece for the last 17 years, is the latest victim, following Mariano Rivera and the since-recovered Andy Pettitte. Jorge Posada retired after last season, and Alex Rodriguez is mired in a deep slump.
The Yankees have lost the first two games of the American League Championship Series to the Detroit Tigers, and Jeter was not there for Sunday's meek 3-0 defeat. He had further tests on the left ankle he fractured in the 12th inning of Game 1, just after midnight. He is done for the postseason, and his next trip, the team said, will be to see a foot and ankle specialist in Charlotte, N.C.
Jeter, who is using crutches and wearing a splint, faces at least three months of recovery at 38. He has company among the aging and ailing.
Five months ago, Rivera, the Yankees' 42-year-old closer, ended his season by tearing a ligament in his right knee while chasing a ball during batting practice at Kansas City. Pettitte, 40, is starting again, but he missed almost half the season after a line drive shattered his ankle in late June.
Posada, the longtime catcher, retired after last season, when he was 40. Rodriguez, 37, is healthy but has had a steady decline in production, finding himself benched for one game this postseason and removed for a pinch-hitter in three others.
"Sometimes, as we all get older, we all feel that we're the same as we used to be," said Yankees Manager Joe Girardi, who turned 48 on Sunday. "It's not really the case. I think, at times, players maybe need a little bit more rest than they would have if they were 25 to 30, and you have to guard against that — and also try to win every game."
That is the Yankees' annual riddle, and to a large extent, they have solved it. Their creaky roster finished the regular season with the most victories in the American League and then eliminated the pesky Baltimore Orioles in a division series. Jeter's ankle will heal, Rodriguez is signed for five more years, and Rivera and Pettitte have strongly suggested that they hope to continue their careers.
But the day when the Yankees move on from the Jeter era is increasingly coming into focus, and the transition can be painful to witness. On Saturday, Jeter dived to his left for a grounder, a play he has made countless times before. But this time, he could not get up from the dirt, his ankle having finally given out after sustaining a bone bruise in September and taking a barrage of foul balls off it in the Baltimore series.
"This is a tough story for baseball — what he has done in the postseason, what he means to the Yankees, what he means to baseball in general," Tigers Manager Jim Leyland said, adding later, "It's sad, really."
On Sunday, the Yankees played their first postseason game without either Jeter or Rivera on the active roster since the final game of the 1981 World Series, their last postseason appearance before returning in 1995. They had replaced Rivera with Rafael Soriano, who had a terrific season. But Soriano was largely on the roster for that purpose, a former All-Star signed as a possible successor to Rivera.
Jeter's replacement is Jayson Nix, a 30-year-old who has played for five teams and has a .214 career average. Nix said Jeter sent him a text message Sunday.
"It just said good luck, he believes in me, and go get 'em," Nix said.
That is more than Jeter was saying in the training room after the injury. Joe Torre, who managed Jeter for 12 years with the Yankees and now works as an executive in the commissioner's office, was there when the team doctor gave Jeter the diagnosis. According to Torre, Jeter said nothing. Torre said he had never seen Jeter so down.
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