Derek Jeter was 3-for-4 with a double, a walk and a stolen base in Saturday's loss to the Athletics. Jeter has now hit safely in three straight games and six out of his last seven to raise his batting average to .274 for the season. His batting average hasn't been that high since early May.

Before Wednesday's game, Yankees manager Joe Girardi suggested Brett Gardner soon might replace Derek Jeter in the leadoff spot. Jeter is 6-for-30 (.200) with one steal in his last seven games. Meanwhile, Brett Gardner is an astonishing 14-for-24 (.583) with seven steals in his last seven games. With Alex Rodriguez sidelined, there's room to move Gardner up and to push Jeter and Curtis Granderson back a spot.

Derek Jeter went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a groundout in New York's 7-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Friday. Since turning back time last Saturday, Jeter is now 2-for-12 with four strikeouts and four groundouts. It's quite likely he'll remain a below average option at shortstop going forward this season.

According to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Paul Morosi of FOXSports.com, Derek Jeter will not attend the All-Star Game because of "emotional and physical exhaustion" from his pursuit of 3,000 hits. One source close to Jeter speculated that he may have reversed course if he had reached 3,000 hits earlier last week and had time to "decompress." However, he did not have that luxury. While there's a case to be made that he should have at least attended the festivities, it doesn't matter much from the perspective of the game. Asdrubal Cabrera, who many thought deserved to win the balloting in the first place, is now starting at shortstop for the American League.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi came to the defense of Derek Jeter on Sunday, saying he'll keep the veteran shortstop in the leadoff spot. "Is he hitting .320 like he did in 2009? No, he's not," Girardi said. "But are you convinced that he can't hit .320 in the second half? That would be my question to everyone in here." Jeter is batting .270 on the year with a .330 on-base percentage. He went 5-for-5 with a home run to reach 3,000 hits on Saturday and has collected a hit in five of six games since coming off the disabled list. "Right now, he's our leadoff hitter," Girardi said. "People have talked about when (Nick) Swisher comes back would it be Swish? Well, Swish only heads off against lefties and if you look at Derek's numbers off lefties (.329), they're really good. So would you leadoff of (Brett) Gardner against righties? I'm probably gonna stick with Derek. That's what I'm going to do."

Derek Jeter's 3,004th career hit was one of just four for the Yankees in their 1-0 win over the Rays on Sunday. All four base knocks were singles. Jeter has now collected a hit in five of six games since coming off the disabled list, upping his average from .260 to .270.

Derek Jeter reached 3,000 hits in style Saturday against the Rays, going 5-for-5 including a home run to reach the historic milestone and a go-ahead single in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Yankees a 5-4 victory. We're not sure you can write it up any better. Jeter singled in the first for hit No. 2,999 and smacked a no-doubter over the left field fence in the third inning to become the 28th player in baseball history to reach 3,000 hits. Oh, but he wasn't done. Jeter also doubled in the fifth, singled in the sixth and pushed the Yankees ahead for good with a single through the draw-in infield in the bottom of the eighth. It was an incredible day for "The Captain," one that pushed his batting average up from .257 to .270 for the season. He might not be the player he used to be, but you can't say he doesn't have a flair for the dramatic.

Friday's game between the Rays and Yankees has been rained out. No makeup date was announced. Apparently the Yankees wanted to play a doubleheader Saturday, while the Rays would prefer to make the game up in September. Either way, Jeter's chase for 3,000 hits will have to wait until Saturday. Friday's starters Freddy Garcia and Jeremy Hellickson will presumably be pushed back one day.

Derek Jeter doubled in New York's 5-3 loss to the Indians on Wednesday. Career hit number 2,997 came off of Justin Masterson in the eighth inning. Jeter will now have four games against the Rays in New York heading into the All-Star break with which to notch his 3,000th hit. Here's hoping he can do it in the Bronx.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman confirmed that Derek Jeter will be in the lineup Wednesday against the Indians. Yankees manager Joe Girardi was considering giving Jeter the day off, but he has decided otherwise. Jeter went 2-for-6 in Tuesday's win and is just four hits away from 3,000 for his career. He is 5-for-12 (.417) against Wednesday's starter Justin Masterson.