Mike the Mad Dog?

Today on Mike'd Up: Francesa on the FAN, host Mike Francesa stated that he wasn't worried about Jeter for the playoffs.  I'm paraphrasing here, but he said that Jeter could go hitless in his next 50 at bats and the Yankees will still have him hit atop of the lineup.  Why?  Easy answer, because he's Derek Jeter.  

Continuing that thought, Eric Adelson had an article today with a similar sentiment:

Yes, that was four years ago. Yes, Jeter’s hitting and fielding have eroded since. But his postseasons haven’t yet. Jeter had 11 hits in the World Series last year – more than in any playoff series in his career. (Sorry – that was a stat.) Of course playoffs are a tiny sample size, but when you add up 28 postseason series – and all those moments – you get a bigger sample size. And that sample size speaks loudly to players even if the regular-season numbers are starting to rasp. [...]

So next year, maybe Jeter will bat lower in the lineup, or hit .250, or play the outfield. But when October comes, every teammate will know Jeter has seen it all before. And October seems to always come for the Yankees, even with Jeter in a slump. The Yankees can afford pay younger players for the regular season. They will pay Jeter for October. They will pay him for the moment, and for the moments.

Adelson is referring more to Jeter's value to the Yankees but it's essentially the same thinking as Francesa and many, many other people are saying, Jeter will do well in the playoffs (regardless of his down year) because he has before.  

I find this very interesting.  It's basically assumed by some people that Jeter will perform in the playoffs because, well, he always has.  But didn't we all expect Jeter to bat .300 this year too because he always has?  If you are agreeing that Jeter has declined this year there is really no logical reason why it won't continue into the playoffs.  Let's put it this way, in 637 postseason ABs spanning 13 years Jeter is batting .313,  for his entire career Jeter has a .314 batting average.  Contrary to what you might hear or think, Jeter isn't any better in the playoffs, he's the same.  He's remarkably consistent and unfortunately this year that means he's more likely to bat closer to his .262 2010 batting average, rather than the .300 we're accustomed to seeing.