New York ? Derek Jeter admitted to noticing the “M-V-P” chants had never been as loud, never come as early as they did Tuesday night. It was as if the first time he came to the plate, Yankee fans decided to send a message to David Ortiz.

“These fans pay attention,” Jeter said with a laugh, and you didn’t have to ask what he meant.

He’d rather let the fans respond to Ortiz’s rant about the MVP award than get involved himself.

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say it makes you feel good,” Jeter said of the chanting during Wednesday night’s 12-4 victory over the Devil Rays. “But all I’m trying to do is win games. This isn’t a time to think about individual stuff.”

On this night, the Yankees delivered a collective beating, to the point where you could almost hear Ortiz, pointing to the Yankee score and muttering, “That’s exactly what I’m talking about. Anybody could hit in that lineup.”

Yes, the Yankees annihilated the pathetic D-Rays, celebrating Hideki Matsui’s 4-for-4 return to the lineup with nine runs in the first inning, racking up runs on a quiet but effective night for the shortstop, who reached base four times without a hit.

But that hardly means Ortiz is right in belittling Jeter’s impact. In fact, in stating his case for winning the MVP award over Jeter, Ortiz not only allowed his frustration to show in a rather unseemly manner, but his argument is as flawed as a designated hitter’s defense, if you will.

Never mind that Ortiz, supposedly one of the Red Sox leaders, took a nasty swipe at his own teammates by publicly daring Jeter to “come hit in this lineup, and see how good you can be.” In doing so, he forgot a couple of key points:

First of all, there were weeks, even months in this season when Jeter’s offense was crucial to the Yankees surviving injuries and the soap-opera season of Alex Rodriguez.

Secondly, Ortiz seems to forget he has one of the most coveted positions in any lineup in the majors: hitting in front of Manny Ramirez, the most feared right-handed hitter in the game.

In short, Big Papi needs to pipe down. This whining about the MVP award is surely beneath him.

The problem is Ortiz should have won the MVP award last year, when his clutch quotient was clearly more important to the Red Sox than A-Rod’s big numbers were to the Yankees.

But that was last year. This year the Red Sox have fallen apart, and Ortiz can’t be the MVP when his team is just playing out the string, not when players such as Jeter, Jermaine Dye of the White Sox and Justin Morneau of the Twins are having MVP-worthy seasons.

Ortiz, however, slights Jeter by insisting only sluggers with big home run and RBI totals should qualify as MVPs, which may have been his dumbest comment of all. After all, what’s more valuable to a ballclub than a shortstop, whose position assures a high value, having a spectacular all-around season.

It’s not as if Jeter is hitting a soft .346, if there is such a thing. He has 92 RBIs and 102 runs, to go with his 13 home runs, and most significantly, his gaudy .396 average with runners in scoring position is the highest in the majors.