Ichiro gets 10th Gold Glove in row, Jeter wins 5th

NEW YORK — Ichiro Suzuki won his 10th straight Gold Glove for a full season of fielding excellence. Mark Buehrle won again, perhaps clinching his spot with an acrobatic play on opening day.

Derek Jeter, well, his selection is likely to set off another loud round of dispute over whether the award is relevant anymore.

Rawlings announced the American League honors Tuesday. Managers and coaches vote for players in their leagues and can't pick players on their own teams.

Also chosen were first baseman Mark Teixeira and second baseman Robinson Cano of the New York Yankees; third baseman Evan Longoria and outfielder Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays; Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer and Seattle outfielder Franklin Gutierrez.

The NL awards will be announced Wednesday.

Suzuki tied the AL record for Gold Gloves by an outfielder shared by Ken Griffey Jr. and Al Kaline. The Seattle right fielder has won every year he's been in the big leagues.

The overall record for outfielders is held by Willie Mays and Roberto Clemente with 12 each. The awards started in 1957, so there's no telling how many Mays, Clemente or others might have won before then. Angels outfielder Torii Hunter's streak of nine in a row ended this season.

Jeter won for the fifth time at shortstop — at 36, the New York Yankees captain is the oldest AL shortstop to win the Gold Glove since Luis Aparicio was the same age in 1970.

Jeter was charged with only six errors and had a career-high .989 fielding percentage, both best among full-time AL shortstops.

But modern fielding charts and rankings consistently put Jeter in the bottom half of their ratings. Two websites that study glovework — www.fangraphs.com with its Ultimate Zone Rating and www.fieldingbible.com — listed Chicago's Alexei Ramirez as the top-fielding AL shortstop with Jeter nowhere close to even middle-of-the-pack status.

Jeter's range seemed to noticeably decline — he's never been the best at getting to balls up the middle. This season, it seemed more grounders into the hole got through, too, with third baseman Alex Rodriguez ranging less and less to his left.

For years, some fans have viewed the Gold Gloves as mostly a popularity contest, even suggesting that a player's performance at the plate helped draw extra attention to his glove. Jeter's win have often served as a lightning rod for that debate.