Derek Jeter fractures ankle, out for playoffs

Emotionally, the Yankees might well have missed their Hall of Fame closer last season. Professionally, it’s difficult to argue that his absence cost the club anything of consequence. Which might say something important about the relative importance of relief pitching. Or it might just say something about Rafael Soriano.

After years and years and years of ranking around the top of the majors in terms of shortstop production, here’s where the Yankees sit this season, OPS-wise:

You like Derek Jeter, and you’ll be sad when he’s gone.

There are three ways to react to that statement.

NEW YORK - As controlled chaos surrounded him in the Yankees clubhouse, David Phelps sat at his locker with a near catatonic expression on his face. It was Phelps, the rookie, who not only had given up the go-ahead run in the 11th inning after another amazing comeback fueled by Raul Ibanez, but who also gave up the ball on which his team’s iconic player and captain lost his season.

The Yankees lost, 6-4, to the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series on Saturday night, but that was an afterthought in the team’s clubhouse after the game. Derek Jeter fractured his ankle diving for a ball Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta hit his way, and his season was officially declared over.

He stayed down, and when the trainer and manager Joe Girardi helped him off the field, he put absolutely no weight on his left leg.

Jeter had been struggling with a foot injury after fouling a ball off his right foot earlier in the playoffs. Girardi said in the post-game press conference that the normal recovery time for this kind of ankle injury is at least three months but it did not appear to be “career-threatening.”