Joe Mauer, the catcher for the Twins, didn’t catch a whole bunch of attention in 2009 but he had one of the best seasons ever for a player at his position. He hit .365, had an on-base percentage of .444, a slugging percentage of .587 and an OPS of 1.031. His more tradition stats were stout as well — 28 homers, 96 RBIs, 94 runs and 30 doubles.

The 26-year-old from St. Paul, Minnesota set career-highs in homers, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage and OPS. The only possible case you can make against him is the fact that he missed the first month of the season due to a back injury. But game for game, there’s no one in the American League that can sniff his production.

We’ll find out if the attention that Jeter and Teixeira got this season will beat out Mauer’s true value. Hopefully not, for baseball’s sake.

Here's the 2009 AL MVP in Action (Image: Zuma Press)

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In eight innings of work, Sabathia gave up four hits, one walk and one earned run while striking out seven. It was Sabathia second postseason win in two starts. Closer Mariano Rivera pitched the ninth inning to pick up the save.

To put runs on the board, the Yankees relied on Hideki Matsui, Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter. Matsui was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a walk. Rodriguez was 1-for-3 with an RBI, while Jeter was 2-for-5 with one run and one RBI.

The Yankees and Angels will play Game 2 of the ALCS on Saturday. Joe Saunders will be on the mound for the Angels and A.J. Burnett will start for the Yankees.

CC Sabathia wins another playoff game for the Yankees (Image: Zuma Press)

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With two hits on Friday, Jeter now has 2,723 hits.

Said Jeter: “The whole experience has been overwhelming. This is more than I could’ve imagined.”

The 35-year-old Jeter is appears destined to reach the 3,000 hits mark with the Yankees. At his current pace, he’s likely to get his 3,000th hit in the 2011 baseball season.

For the rest of this season, Jeter has a bigger goal in mind — winning another World Series championship. Considering the Yankees have a MLB best record of 91-51, New York has to be the favorites to win World Series title number 27. It would be Jeter’s fifth career World Series win.

Derek Jeter is King (Image: Zuma Press)

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CC Sabathia
The 2007 American League Cy Young Award winner pitched great for the Milwaukee Brewers after they aquired him in a midseason trade. The Brewers want to keep him and are reportedly willing to give him $20 million per year for the next five years. However, it is also being reported that Sabathia is being wooed by Derek Jeter and the New York Yankees.

Ryan Ludwick
In 2008, Ryan Ludwick had a breakout season. He got named to the National League All-Star team and was simply a force in the middle of the St. Louis Cardinals lineup. The Cardinals appear ready to bring Ludwick back into the fold, however the Atlanta Braves are believed to be making a push for his services.

Derek Lowe
Almost every team in baseball could use a veteran starting pitcher who could also become a closer if need be. With that in mind, there’s no wonder that Derek Lowe is getting a lot of attention already in free agency. The Los Angeles Dodgers are believed to want him back but both the New York Yankees and the New York Mets are believed to be quite interested.

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Jeter got 10% of the vote to lead the way in the most overrated category. Although it’s difficult to rate Jeter as the most overrated player in the game, he isn’t exactly having a huge season in 2008. The 33-year-old Yankee is hitting .276 with four homers and 32 RBI.

Jeter’s batting average is lower than any season since his rookie year in 1995. Since then, he’s never batted lower than .290.

The good news for Jeter and the Yankees is that Jeter almost always plays better as the season goes along. In his career, he’s a much better hitter after the All-Star break than before the All-Star break.

Currently, the Yankees are making a run up the standings. Winners of seven straight games, New York is 40-33 and five games behind the AL East leading Boston Red Sox. In the race for the wild card, the Yankees are 3.5 games behind the Tampa Bay Rays.

Is Derek Jeter the most overrated player in the majors?

Photo: Newscom

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None of that was the bad news on Tuesday night. The bad news was the injury scare that struck Derek Jeter’s left hand. Jeter, who was hit by a pitch from Daniel Cabrera, twisted away and was obviously in pain.

The good news is that the x-rays were negative and Jeter said he should be able to play on Wednesday. While the Yankees might hold him out a game or two just to make sure he’s healthy, it’s great news for New York that there wasn’t a broken bone in his hand.

The Yankees, who are in last place, need to turn around their ship ASAP. How can they do it? Here are some solutions to help the Yankees get out of last place.

Photo: Newscom

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The Yankees are now 20-22 and in last place in the AL East. The Rays, with a record of 24-17, are in first place.

How can the Yankees turn save their season?

1. Get Healthy
The Yankees are dealing with a number of injuries at the moment. Most prominently, the team is without Hall of Fame third baseman Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez has a strained quadriceps that has kept him out of the lineup for the entire month of May. In that time, Rodriguez has only been seen choking in the delivery room. Besides Rodriguez, veteran catcher Jorge Posada and young starter Phil Hughes are also battling injuries. Posada has a shoulder injury, while Hughes has a broken rib.

2. Get Hitting
The Bronx Bombers are more like the Bronx Bunters this year. No player on the team is having that great of a season at the plate. Jason Giambi leads the team with seven homeruns – but he also has a batting average of .184. Veterans like Bobby Abreu and Derek Jeter are having decent but not great seasons. Young players like Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera haven’t lived up to their potential. The Yankees need a hot bat to emerge.

3. Get Pitching Depth
Chien-Ming Wang has been very good for the Yankees this year. Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte have had their ups and downs but overall they have been good enough. The problem is the rest of the rotation is in shambles. The Yankees were hoping that Hughes and Ian Kennedy could be the other two starts, but Hughes is hurt and Kennedy has been ineffective. Whether it’s a trade or a young pitcher stepping up, the Yankees need a more balanced rotation.

4. Get Torre?
While the Yankees are struggling, Joe Torre has the Los Angeles Dodgers at 21-19. Could the Yankees be showing signs of missing Torre? Perhaps. George Steinbrenner and his twin son Hank Steinbrenner won’t give current manager Joe Girardi as much leeway as they gave Torre. If the Yankees don’t turn it around ASAP, Girardi might be sent packing.

Does Joe Girardi Hear Joe Torre’s Footsteps?

Photo: Newscom

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This week we return to the current era. Outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds starred at Stanford from 1990 to 1992, playing alongside Mike Mussina, among other, less notable future big leaguers.

The Baltimore Orioles selected Hammonds with the fourth pick overall in the 1992 draft, two slots before the New York Yankees nabbed a high-school shortstop named Derek Jeter. Perhaps pushed too quickly, Hammonds made his big-league debut on June 25, 1993, against those Yankees, after just 257 minor-league plate appearances. Hammonds singled twice and walked in three trips to the plate that day, and hit .305/.312/.467 in 33 games with Baltimore in ‘93.

The next three seasons saw Hammonds battle injuries and ineffectiveness, but in 1997, he finally started to deliver on his potential. That season he hit .264/.323/.486 for the Orioles in 118 games. The Orioles rewarded Hammonds by trading him to Cincinnati midway through the ‘98 season.

In 1999, Hammonds hit .279/.347/.523 in 123 games for the Reds. Again, he was rewarded with a trade — this time being shipped to Colorado for an aging Dante Bichette.

Hammonds took full advantage of his new situation, hitting .335/.395/.529 in 122 games for the Rockies. That winter, the Brewers, perhaps unaware of his gaudy splits (.399/.465/.651 at Coors Field, .275/.325/.415 on the road), inked Hammonds to an ill-advised 3-year contract worth roughly $22 million.

In a development that surprised nobody outside of the Milwaukee front office, Hammonds’ numbers regressed. Actually, that’s a tremendous understatement: he hit .248/.321/.398 in 187 games for the Brewers before being being released on June 4, 2003.

A few weeks later, the Giants signed Hammonds. He spent most of ‘03 and ‘04 in San Francisco, then played 13 games for the Washington Nationals in 2005. Now 37 years old, and presumably retired, Hammonds owns a .272/.338/.449 batting line (99 OPS+) in a tick over 3400 big-league plate appearances.

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