Bye Bye Jorge

Jorge Posada is retiring, and Tom Verducci HERE does a good job of pointing out that he's retiring as an oddly underrated player, considering he was the best offensive catcher of the last decade and stacks up well with all-time greats.  Perhaps, as Verducci writes, it's because his moments were always overshadowed:

It seems fitting that the two greatest signatures moments of Posada's career were overshadowed by other events. In Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS, with the back-to-back champion Yankees about to get swept by Oakland, Posada accounted for the only run of the game with a home run off Barry Zito. But the game is forever known for The Flip Play because of the deux ex machina heroics of Jeter, who nabbed Jeremy Giambi at the plate after fielding an errant outfield play. Posada, as Torre would point out, deserved credit for holding his position and not vacating the plate once he saw the outfield throw go astray.

Two years later, in ALCS Game 7, it was a two-strike bloop double by Posada that tied Martinez and the Red Sox in the bottom of the eighth inning. The lasting image is Posada, fists clenched, his body taut with emotion atop second base, yelling at full throat at having conquered his nemesis, Martinez, in such a clutch spot. Of course, that game is better remembered, depending on your rooting interests, as the Grady Little Game or the Aaron Boone Game.

Ironically, for someone who never seemed to lighten up on the field, Posada's Centerstage interview was pretty hilarious.