Sixth?

Where do they find these guys?

Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times put Jeter sixth, behind Morneau, Dye, Santana, Thomas and Ortiz.

“I thought the guys in front of him were more important to their teams,” Cowley said. “Jeter is like a great lineman on a great offensive line. If the guard goes down, are they still going to be able to run the ball? Yes.

“Are they a playoff team without Jeter? Yes. I don’t think Derek Jeter single-handedly, with those numbers, carried them to where they finished. I think they still could have found a way.”

A great lineman? I don't know what team this guy was watching, but, his gaudy numbers aside, Jeter was the core on a team that had Melky Cabrera in left and Bernie Williams in right. And Alex Rodriguez going through his worst season of his career. Not to mention that Jeter was the Gold Glove shortstop. Morneau's a power hitting first baseman, above average, but not irreplaceably so. If they had given it to Mauer (the best hitting AL catcher) or Santana (the best pitcher in baseball), ok, but this was a stupid vote.

"I am shocked because of the position he plays and the guys we had injured," said Bowa, who like a lot of people appreciates Jeter after watching him every day instead of just once in a while. "We lost two guys [Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui] and Jeter picked up the slack.

"Morneau had a great year, no question. But the way Jeter played with two corner outfielders out ... He still drove in runs from the second spot and he did it all."

Had Matsui and Sheffield stayed healthy and the Yankees cruised to the AL East title, Bowa may have understood. "People could have said, 'Well they should have done that,' " Bowa said. "But an MVP guy is the kind of guy you ask yourself: Can they win without him? He was certainly that guy for us this year. That's why I am shocked."

Teammate Johnny Damon was too.

"It's surprising," Damon told The Post. "Justin Morneau had a great year, but Derek definitely deserves it and Derek deserves it every year. Derek picked me up a lot this year, especially those five games in Boston where he got big hits and allowed us to blow out the division. It stinks, it was his best year to make a case for himself."

Steve Goldman ponders the vote, takes a puff from his pipe, puts his index finger to his lip in contemplation, and calmly writes,

THE DUMBEST MVP VOTE IN THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION, INCLUDING THE INFAMOUS 112 CE ROMAN EASTERN CHARIOT LEAGUE VOTE AND THE 1,000,276 CE "LAST MVP BEFORE THE SUN GOES NOVA SO LET'S GET THE !!#@$# OUT OF HERE VOTE"

Emphasis his.

He continues,

Mauer's season was historic and unique. No American League catcher was within a country mile of him. Jorge Posada had an excellent season and was perhaps 30 or 40 percent less productive. Overall, major league catchers batted .268/.328/.413. Mauer hit 347/.429/.507.

Jeter's season is also in the historic ballpark. Few shortstops, including Jeter himself, have hit as well as he did in 2006. The only other year in his inventory that's as good was 1999. Major league shortstops batted .274/.330/.408 to Jeter's .343/.417/.483. Big difference. Jeter's offensive 1999 was probably in the top 10 shortstop seasons ever. The writers missed it. His 2006 wasn't nearly as good — it merely ranks in the top 30 or 40. That's where Mauer's season ranks in the history of catching as well. Without being rigidly scientific about it, Morneau's 2006 offensive season is probably about the 200th best in the history of first basemen.

The shocking thing here isn't that Jeter lost — the writers make mistakes almost every year. It's that the guy they selected wasn't even the best player on his own team. That takes a special degree of ignorance.

Joe Cowley, I think he's looking at you.