At least that’s the angle that some of the local papers are taking today. The Daily News’ John Harper rips Yankees captain Derek Jeter in his column, while The New York Post’s Joel Sherman opines that Jeter dropped the ball as captain yesterday when he refused to discuss his relationship with Alex Rodriguez. Says Sherman:

This was not about Page Six. This was about E-6, error on Jeter for malfeasance as a leader. His relationship with Alex Rodriguez has mattered because Rodriguez matters so much to the success of the Yankees, and A-Rod has cared deeply about Jeter’s approval.
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Jeter’s opportunity to take the cathartic baton came and went yesterday with the Yankee captain defiantly sticking to his cover story that nothing is wrong, and nothing has ever been wrong. Jeter is not dumb, so we must assume he just continues to play dumb. The ice prince wants to freeze A-Rod out, and then haughtily dismiss any discussion of the subject.