Afternoon Baseball

EDIT: Baseball Musings has some good discussion on the topic. My point, here and there? There's been no crime committed by a Jeter win. He's a quality shortstop who perhaps has the built-in advantages of playing for the Yankees and being photogenic. But he also makes a decent amount of highlight plays, and at the end of the year, it's simply a lot easier for the human brain to remember those plays when making a selection.
But anyone trying to say he's a terrible fielder is simply reiterating Rob Neyer arguments from 2001. And since he's behind the ESPN Insider wall, I really don't care what he says either way.

People will probably go nuts over him winning a second Gold Glove. But let's face it: With Omar Vizquel both old and in the National League, A-Rod playing 3rd, Miguel Tejada being servicable with a great arm but nothing more, Edgar Renteria being terrible, and Bobby Crosby missing too many games to truly be eligible, there's only one possible alternative: Orlando Cabrera.

However, as I've argued, Derek Jeter is a fine choice this year. Cabrera is certainly hurt by East Coast bias, but his omission is merely unfortunate for his fans, not any travesty.
It's truly amazing that Jeter did not make the All-Star team this year. For someone who perhaps has made an All-Star Game or two in recent years on popularity or reputation, to not get it in a year where he was clearly one of the best all-around players is odd. Oh well. I'm sure he didn't mind the long weekend to spend, perhaps with that Maxim-cover MTV girl he's seen with a lot, like at Jorge Posada's charity functions.
Yes, that was a purposeful segue into pictures of Jeter's girl and Posada's wife.