If you can't win, cheat

[Guest Number 6]

Flipped over to Yanks/Rays in the top of the 7th, 1 out, Qualls pitching, Jeter at the plate. Jeter shows bunt and the pitch is inside, and appears to hit him in the hand. It appears that way, anyway, because Jeter hops and pirouettes out of the box clutching his wrist, while the ball bounces down the line. Trainer comes out, Jeter grimacing with hands on hips, etc.

I'm thinking this is too much of a performance to be faked, but Joe Maddon obviously disagrees, and has his team flip the ball to first. The replay, of course, confirms Jeter to be the punk-ass we all know he is. Or, according to YES, a gamesman and a great actor.

Curtis Granderson then hits a homerun for the lead. I turned the TV off.

[Frayed Knot]

Yes, but by turning the TV off you missed Tampa's Dan Johnson hitting his 2nd 2R HR of the game a half-inning later.
Rays lead 4-3 in the bottom 8th proving, once again, that cheaters don't win.

[Guest Number 6]

True, I missed out. Can't say I'm too disappointed, though.

[Frayed Knot]

And now, leading off in the 9th when the whole world knows Jeter is most clutch, he strikes out.

Payback's a bitch.

[Guest Number 6]

Couldn't have happened to a wider nozzle.

A-Rod K's to end the game on a perfect 0-2 pitch from Soriano. This series really felt like the playoffs, and I hope the same outcomes hold true when we do get there.

[Frayed Knot]

Yup, fun series.
All three games decided by one run. Division lead changed hands three times in three days.

Only real problem is that the three games put together took nearly 13 hours to play. Our game tonight finished quicker then theirs and ours featured 15 runs, one injury/pitcher change and about a dozen pitching changes in all. That one was 4-3 in 8-1/2 innings.


Now the Yanx have tomorrow off, get the Orioles over the weekend, then meet the Rays for four more in da Bronx starting on Monday.

[Guest Number 6]

Meanwhile, the Rays kick off a series at home against the consistently mediocre Angels, while the Orioles are surging. Not sure which team I'd rather face at this point, but I'd lean toward the former, especially since the Rays will be at home with the Yanks in Baltimore.

[Guest Edgy DC]

The pitching changes that matter are the mid-inning ones, and the Met game had "only" three.

[Valadius]

�There was some vibration,� Jeter said. �And acting. My job is to get on base.�

Schmuck.

[Ceetar]

Valadius wrote: �There was some vibration,� Jeter said. �And acting. My job is to get on base.� Schmuck.

Jeter followed up with: "It did help that I'd slipped the ump a couple hundred before the game. Whatever edge you can get right? That's my job as Captain, to put my team in a good position."

[bmfc1]

Since Jeter can't get on any other way, just lie. Way to set an example.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=12117903&topic_id=11493214

"You miss a call and you're gonna throw Joe out. That's big of you."

(mlb.com does a nice job with the "Must C" series.)

[metirish]

Of course the fucking NY Daily Snooze has Jeter "acting" , their bias for all things MFY is so sickening.

[G-Fafif]

How can you people forget this man, this Good Son and Good Winner, is the reigning Sportsman of the Year?

Last week, the day after the commercial shoot with Gillette, Jeter did a Gatorade spot at Angels Stadium. As Jeter and Jack Tiernan, one of his agents at the Creative Artists Agency, walked toward an SUV for their ride to the stadium, Jeter snickered at a stretch limo parked next to the SUV. "Somebody going to the prom?" he joked. As Jeter went to enter the SUV, its driver waved him off, pointed to the limo and said, "That's yours." Jeter was disappointed. The transportation company had tried too hard. Watching Jeter shoot a commercial is like watching him play for the Yankees: He exudes a down-to-earth charm and boyish enthusiasm that make him a star without acting like one, but he is out to win. "One moment he can be joking with somebody in the stands while on deck," says Casey Close, his primary agent, "asking them, 'What do you think they're going to throw me here?' And then it's like with a snap of his fingers, he gets lost in the moment of the at bat and his focus is incredible. One of the most impressive things about him is a calm sense of self, a complete confidence in exactly who he is." "I don't think I've changed," Jeter says. "I think people around you change. The way they react when you're around. My closest friends I've had for a long time." His inner circle is small, populated by friends he met before he got to the big leagues, including teammates Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte; two longtime friends, Douglas Biro and Sean Twitty; and former teammate Gerald Williams, who Jeter says "always looked out for me" in his first major league training camp (1993) and who lives near him in Tampa. "There are a few reasons why teammates look to Derek and respond to him," Posada says. "He doesn't make any excuses�about anything�and whenever he hears anything negative, he's going to prove you wrong. That fuels him to get better." For the Gatorade commercial, Jeter was shot in super-slow-motion high definition by a camera moving along a track as he made his trademark jump throw, a leaping throw to first base deep from the shortstop hole. The shot was spectacular to the point of artistry, a kind of Baryshnikov meets The Matrix. "It's almost perfect," gushed the young, enthusiastic director, Adam Berg. Almost. The director tried more takes. Jeter finally presented Berg with a proposal. "I told you I would do five jumps and three slides," Jeter said, referring to another scene in which he slid into second base. "But I'll make you a deal: I'll do 10 jumps and six slides, and all you have to do is swallow one spoonful of cinnamon. If not, five and three. Just one spoonful." "With water?" Berg asked. "Only after you swallow it." Jeter's jump throw ranks with the basket catch of Willie Mays as one of the signature plays in baseball history. Still, Jeter's defense, especially his range, has been an object of derision by statistical analysts. "There is no possible way you can measure it," Jeter says of defensive skill, which he said includes too many variables that cannot be quantified. "There's just no way. It's impossible. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but ... no way." After the 2007 season, at 33, Jeter hired a personal trainer, Jason Riley, to improve his leg strength and agility. As a young player Jeter didn't work out at all in November and December. "What I found out as you get older," he says, "is it's a lot easier to stay in shape than get back into shape." He worked with Riley throughout the winter, waking at 5:30 a.m. to finish by 7:30, even before spring training workouts. He worked with Riley again last winter. The results became obvious this year, when Jeter pleased even the statistical analysts with his improved range and footwork. And he showed no evidence of decline at the plate. Only three shortstops have hit .300 in the season in which they were 36 or older, but Jeter appears to have the staying power to join them. Indeed, Jeter, with roughly the same number of hits (2,747) as Pete Rose had at 35, could join Rose and Ty Cobb as the only players to reach 4,000 hits if he plays through his early 40s, and perhaps he will even challenge Rose's record 4,256. "I want to play as long as I'm having fun," Jeter says. "If I'm not having fun, I'm not going to be out there just to be out there. Right now I'm having as much fun as I've had since Little League. People say, 'How long do you want to play short?' I don't think about where I'll be playing six years down the road. I don't see any reason why I can't play it for a long time." Somebody fetched a plastic spoon and a jar of cinnamon. Jeter allowed Berg to examine them, then loaded the spoon with the spice, doing his level best to maintain an air of seriousness. He had arranged similar wagers earlier this year with teammate Brian Bruney and then one of the clubhouse attendants, not to be confused with his other favorite wager that involves asking someone if they think they can eat five saltines in one minute. Berg couldn't believe his luck; all he had to do was swallow the cinnamon and Jeter would have to give him 10 takes toward getting the perfect jump-throw shot. As soon as Berg shoved the spoon in his mouth, Jeter jumped away laughing. Quickly, Berg gagged, his cheeks puffed, his eyes watered and cinnamon smoke began spewing from a crack in his pursed lips. He looked like a man about to burst. Berg grabbed a bottle of water and began gulping from it. "That's it!" Jeter shouted. "You lose! The deal was no water until you swallowed it." After several minutes to recover, Berg asked Tiernan, "He's not serious, is he?" "Oh, he's serious," Tiernan replied. Another victory, however small, for Derek Jeter, today's superstar most synonymous with winning. But none of the accoutrements of his success�the five rings, the $189 million contract, the national endorsements and the starlet on his arm�capture the essence of his success. In the difficult days of the Philippines campaign during World War II, General Douglas MacArthur wrote A Father's Prayer, which begins, "Build me a son, O Lord." MacArthur prayed for a son with, among other traits, "humility, so that he may always remember the simplicity of true greatness." Therein lies true victory. The great wonder is not that Jeter has won so much but that he has won so well. He is the good son, the good winner.

[metirish]

Oh for fucks sake.....easy to tell what Tom Verducci swallowed that day....and damn happy to do it.

[G-Fafif]

metirish wrote: Oh for fucks sake.....easy to tell what Tom Verducci swallowed that day....and damn happy to do it.

While doing ten jumps and six slides, no doubt.

[Centerfield]

Oliver Perez's "fall-off-the mound" delivery ranks with the basket catch of Willie Mays as one of the signature plays in baseball history. Still, Perez's effectiveness, especially his control, has been an object of derision by statistical analysts. "There is no possible way you can measure it," Perez says of control, which he said includes too many variables that cannot be quantified. "There's just no way. It's impossible. Everybody is entitled to their opinion, but ... no way."

[Guest Edgy DC]

There's a bullet of cool crossfire going on in the last three posts and I'm ducking behind my Hugo Boss Ford SUV, or whatever it is that Derek makes me drive.

[MFS62]

After I spent about 10 minutes screaming in frustration at Wayne Hagin for not giving the name of the winning pitcher in the post game wrapup show last night, Steve Sommers made me laugh.
He talked about the Jeter incident, saying he's not only trying for an MVP award, but an Oscar, too.

He then played clips of the reactions of both John Sterling and Suzyn Waldmann after Jeter got "hit". Both of them said they looked at the replays, and both admitted the ball hit the bat.

I guess if they can admit that, then Jeter deserves that Oscar.

Later

[ashie62]

metirish wrote: Oh for fucks sake.....easy to tell what Tom Verducci swallowed that day....and damn happy to do it.

Really? Too funny.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Guess Jeter watched a lot of World Cup games.

Can you imagine what the reaction would be if that was ARod, or, my goodness, one of the Mets?

Now, Mr. Drama, time to confess that you ran an extra five steps and dove into the stands for "The Catch" and probably rubbed your face in some kid's ketchup-covered hot dog to produce that "blood."

[Ceetar]

Yeah, if Reyes did that he'd be a punk and what not. Nevermind if he GLOATED about it afterwards.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Future Met Carl Crawford in the meantime has some funny stuff going on. He was thrown out at 3rd to end the middle game in the series and was told afterward that the MFYs (led by Posada of all people) remarked that the play was dumb and generally below the standards of excellence set by the MFYs.

When he was told that Jorge Posada said he "couldn't believe" he went on the play, Crawford fired back. "I'm like, you need to believe it, because that's how we play," Crawford said. "He plays against us all the time. You can't believe it? That's probably the first time he ever saw me get thrown out like that. Hollering about he can't believe it. I can't believe I was out. That's what I can't believe."

[Guest Edgy DC]

Here's hoping they stomp the Yankees into embarassment in the post-season, and that Federal Government deems it appropriate that they hold Roger Clemens' trial at Yankee Stadium III.

[Ceetar]

Edgy DC wrote: Here's hoping they stomp the Yankees into embarassment in the post-season, and that Federal Government deems it appropriate that they hold Roger Clemens' trial at Yankee Stadium III.

And they make a big deal that Jeter didn't attend. Legitimate "honeymoon" excuses ignored.

[Guest attgig]

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=12120633&query=%26game_pk%3D265984

interview afterwards...

[Guest Edgy DC]

Check out Joe Maddon's hipster look.

[Frayed Knot]

I gotta say the funniest thing about this whole episode - based on a small sampling of fan/host responses - isn't that folks are stumbling upon the revelation that ballplayers will take calls they didn't earn. Everyone over the age of six knows that outfielders and wide receivers are going to hold the ball up and claim a catch even after it bounced three times on the way, or that flopping hoopsters and futballers try to draw calls from intimidated refs.

No, the funniest part is from the ones who say; "but I assumed Jeter would be different"
Good Lord folks, did the tooth fairy tell you that?

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Why doesn't Jeter specify that he desires only the Ford Edge for his transportation needs. Damn, hypocrite.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Wow! Someone must have hijacked Ian O'Connor's Twitter account, because there is no way in hell he really thought this:

Slept on it & still can't figure how Jeter's acting job was smart & savvy while A-Rod yelling "Ha" in Toronto was a mortal sin. #yankees