Derek Jeter 3,000: Yankees captain collects milestone hit !
Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter sends career hit No. 3,000 into the left field seats.
Nobody does it better than Derek Jeter.
The Yankee captain has trained us to expect the clutch and heroic in the biggest of moments since he arrived in 1995. He’s done it over a career filled with highlight plays and championship moments. And now he’s done it once more by striking the perfect chord in reaching his milestone 3,000th hit.
Jeter entered Saturday two hits shy with two home games left before the All-Star break and ensuing road trip, and all he did was blast a thrilling home run in the third inning off Tampa Bay ace David Price for No. 3,000, and go 5-for-5 on the day. The shot sent the sellout crowd of 48,103 at the Stadium into delirium and set off a four-minute celebration.
It might be hard to believe, but the team-first Jeter could have been equally happy about his fifth hit, a seeing-eye single through the middle that scored Eduardo Nuñez from third with the go-ahead run in the eighth in the 5-4 victory. “I don’t think you can script it any better – this is already movie-ready,” Joe Girardi said. “To get your 3,000th hit on a home run that ties the game and you get 3,003, a game-winner? It’s just remarkable.”
Jeter is the 28th player to reach the 3,000-hit mark and the first to do so in a Yankee uniform. Four former Yanks got there – Wade Boggs, Rickey Henderson, Paul Waner and Dave Winfield – but each got No. 3,000 wearing another uniform.
Photo by Robert Sabo/News
He is the fourth-youngest player to accomplish the feat and, at 37 years and 13 days, did it eight days faster than Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hit leader.
The crowd was already on its feet when the matinee idol shortstop stepped in against Price in the first inning but it was quiet, as if everyone was holding his or her collective breath for 2,999. Jeter then won an eight-pitch battle against the lefthander and his 93-95 mph heat. When Jeter’s bouncer through the left side reached the outfield, the crowd hit decibel levels usually reserved for October baseball at the Stadium.
The familiar chants of “Der-ek Je-ter!” washed over him as he stood on first base.
The chants were there again with the count 3-and-2 in the third inning. This time Price alternated fastballs and changeups before unleashing a curve. Jeter reached down and drove it to left. The crowd roared to a crescendo as every eye followed the ball’s flight, and fans erupted with cheers as it vanished into the spectators in the left-field bleachers. It was his first Stadium homer since last July 22.
“I knew he wasn’t going to catch it, but I wasn’t sure it would be a home run. I was hoping,” Jeter said. “You want to hit the ball hard. I didn’t want to hit a slow roller to third base and have that be replayed forever.”
Jorge Posada, perhaps Jeter’s closest friend on the team, hurdled the dugout railing, and the rest of the Bombers followed to greet their captain as he crossed home plate. They pounded him with pats on the back and head and wrapped him with hugs. The pitchers in the bullpen streamed in through the outfield to join the festivities. Even the Rays applauded. Finally Captain Clutch shared a long curtain call with the fans.
“It was great. Yankee fans have always been great. . . . They appreciate the history of the sport, the history of the organization,” Jeter said. “The thing that means the most to me is that I’ve been able to get all these hits in a Yankee uniform and no one’s been able to do that before, which is hard to believe. I’ve grown up with these fans. . . . and I’m glad I had the opportunity to do it here. It wouldn’t have felt right to do it somewhere else.”
Of his 3,000th hit, he said, “It’s a number that’s meant a lot in the game because not too many people have done it before. To be the only Yankee . . . is pretty special. . . . This is the only team I ever wanted to play for and to do something like this? I don’t know if I can describe it.”
Jeter confessed that he’d felt enormous pressure to get the milestone hit before the weekend series ended and that it actually had been ratcheted up when Friday night’s game was rained out.
But Jeter is one of this generation’s greatest clutch performers, and these games with the Rays called for something very special. As usual, No. 2 delivered it. His other hits were a fifth-inning double and sixth-inning single. And Mariano Rivera – who closed the game for his 22nd save in his first appearance since feeling soreness in his triceps last Sunday – joked “I was expecting a triple” to give him a cycle.
“He enjoys that moment, he looks forward to it. Nobody’s better in the clutch – you’ve seen it in the postseason,” Posada said. “Today was a prefect example of looking forward to that moment. It’s a rainout yesterday and he goes out and gets five hits? It’s just amazing.”
The celebration went on after the game resumed with highlight reels and recorded testimonials played on the center-field scoreboard between innings. The fans were invited to stay and watch Jeter’s postgame news conference. And of course every at-bat was met by nearly 50,000 fans standing on their feet.
He was asked afterward if the 5-for-5 – the first five-hit game at the new Stadium – was his best single day’s performance. He said it ranked high, but typically was loathe to compare it to games the Yankees play in October.
He may not have felt it, but Girardi said everyone in the organization seemed to treat Jeter’s milestone home run as if it did compare.
“After 2,999, his next at-bat the dugout was full. All our support staff, everyone . . . it was packed,” Girardi said. “You knew that something special was about to happen. It was kind of the scene when we had two outs in (Game 6 of) the World Series in 2009. It was packed.”
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