from Newsday

TAMPA, Fla. -- Jorge Posada became a catcher late (age 20), and he made the major leagues for good late (age 25). Consider, in contrast, that Posada's good friend Derek Jeter became the Yankees' starting shortstop at age 21.

Posada started to get it all together as a catcher at an age when many of his fellow catchers have already begun their downward slide.

Now, at 32, Posada is coming off a season that was his finest in every aspect: offensively, defensively and, perhaps most important, emotionally.

"I think you learn," Posada said earlier this week. "You learn from your mistakes. You learn from things you do and try to stay away from the negatives you do in your career. I think I've grown.

"I'm a lot older. I'm wiser. I know what to do now, and hopefully, I don't get in [anybody's] way."

"Last year, he took on a lot more maturity, I thought," Joe Torre said yesterday before the Yankees' 7-3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds at Legends Field. "He felt more responsible for the pitching last year and really acted like that."

At a position that often requires its practitioners to act as pacifiers, Posada has often been, well, "I don't know if I would use the word emotional," said veteran catcher Joe Girardi, who helped teach Posada from 1996 through 1999. "I think he's fiery."

He has certainly started some fires. He battled umpires several times, most notably on Sept. 3, 2001, when he spat on Andy Fletcher, for which he served a five-game suspension. He instigated a clubhouse fight with Orlando Hernandez in September 2002. And following the Yankees' loss to the Anaheim Angels in 2002, Posada expressed his unhappiness that some of his teammates didn't seem angry enough.

"You realize the things that you've done, they don't look so good," he said. "You try to get better at them. You say stuff that you're not supposed to say and all of a sudden, you're like, 'What am I doing?' "

Furthermore, as a switch-hitting slugger, Posada would often be thinking about his offense, and that could be distracting to his defense.

"He let maybe a bad at-bat affect him behind the plate. And that's probably the toughest part," Torre said. "We see it all with those outfielders, they go out there and they practice their swing out there in the outfield between innings. Catchers can't afford that luxury of thinking about their hitting.

" ... I think Jorgie last year did a much, much better job in being consistent."

Agreed Yankees Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra, "He's in the game more."

There's certainly room for improvement. Posada's 13 passed balls last year were the second-most in the American League. He trailed only Boston's Doug Mirabelli, the personal catcher for knuckleballer Tim Wakefield, who committed 14.

But those passed balls didn't seem to be as bothersome last year. He seemed more in tune with his pitchers, and when he and David Wells argued during a poor August start, everyone on the team sided with Posada.

Whereas Posada seemed to fade physically in past seasons, last year he placed third in the AL Most Valuable Player voting because he hit better in the second half. Posada hit .252 with 17 homers and 52 RBIs (in 84 games) before the All-Star break and .320-13-49 (in 58 games) after.

"At the All-Star Game, I looked at my numbers, and my numbers weren't even close to where I wanted them to be. I was disappointed at that," Posada said. "I wanted to get better as the season progressed. I had a very good second half. I was very happy that I didn't give up."

Girardi, back in Yankees camp as a non-roster player, notices the difference in Posada, explaining, "You could see that he knows he belongs."

For the 2004 season, Posada is right on time.