It was only last week that Yankees captain Derek Jeter was on the top of the world at the ticker tape parade celebrating the team's 27th—and his fifth—World Series win. But today the Post has him on its cover, looking pretty raggedy. Why?
It was only last week that Yankees captain Derek Jeter was on the top of the world at the ticker tape parade celebrating the team's 27th—and his fifth—World Series win. But today the Post has him on its cover, looking pretty raggedy. Why?
Last night, a few of the Yankees paid a visit to David Letterman to discuss their World Series win. Captain Derek Jeter, pitcher Andy Pettitte and catcher Jorge Posada (the fourth member of the "Core Four," reliever Mariano Rivera, wasn't there) chatted with Letterman—and at the end of the segment, MVP Hideki Matsui came out with the World Series trophy. Letterman said they must be hungover and Jeter said, "Probably not as bad as you."
After Wednesday night's lost chance to clinch the ALCS, the Yankees face off against the Angels tonight. The Daily News' Mike Lupica is impatient and frustrated and tells the Bronx Bombers today: "You're the Yankees and you've won 109 games already this season, and when you're that good, when you're this loaded, you can't let it all come down to a one-game season, not after you had the Angels down three games to one...You bring the World Series back to New York tonight."
Our long nightmare is over, thanks to his dramatic two-run home run in the ninth on Friday, we can finally say that A-Rod is a “real Yankee”. And kudos to Mark Teixeira, who won the game with a home run and therefore is immediately promoted to “real Yankee” in his first Yankee postseason.
As she continues her high-profile romance with the Yankees' third baseman, Kate Hudson is getting a little boost from the Yankees. At least, that's what Page Six says.
The first playoff game at the new stadium was a happy affair as the Yankees defeated the Twins 7-2 on Wednesday night. C.C. Sabathia pitched well, striking out eight and allowing only two runs, one earned, over 6-2/3 innings. Sabathia only struggled in the third when he ran into trouble with two outs. With runners on second and third, Sabathia allowed a single to score a run and then Jorge Posada simply didn’t catch a Sabathia pitch allowing a second run and putting the Twins up 2-0.
President Obama was on this morning, sitting down with David Gregory. The topics were what you'd expect: the extreme tone that the health care debate has taken on, how it's not about race, who he's predicting to win the World Series, if there's a deadline on Afghanistan, etc. Wait wait, was the president once again lured into being a chatty Cathy on plebian topics one again, just days after he called Kanye West " a jackass"?
What's up with the Yankees and text messaging? We always hear of A-Rod texting: checking in with manager Joe Girardi, flirting with Madonna, and even LOLing with Pete Rose. But apparently his infield neighbor and new all-time record holder for most hits in club history, Derek Jeter, loves getting down with some T9 as well. After Jeter broke the big record Friday night, reporters naturally checked in with his old manager, Joe Torre. When asked if he had phoned to congratulate his former rookie phenom, Torre said, "I didn't call him...I texted him. That's his favorite thing. I've got to get into that young stuff." Much like all of Jeter's other longtime acquaintances, Torre went on to shower him with praise in abundance. He said, "He's a special kid. The person he is, to me, means a great deal. That's really something to be proud of, the respect he has for the game and his teammates. He's a leader but not that 'rah, rah.'...He doesn't have the power I know that George (Steinbrenner) likes to refer to as a Yankee. ... Just the tenacity, the determination. He's not afraid to win."
The fifty thousand or so fans up in the Bronx who got to see Derek Jeter get hit number 2,722 certainly earned their pinstripes in order to be a part of Yankee history last night. The crowd got a little wet waiting out a 90-minute rain delay in order to see the Yankee captain surpass Lou Gehrig's 72-year record with a single on his second at-bat in the 3rd inning of last night's game against Baltimore.
In 1996 Derek Jeter was named the shortstop of the Yankees out of spring training. He rewarded the team’s faith in him by homering in his first game that year and hitting .314 on the season. Ten divisional titles, six pennants and four championships later, Jeter is still at short and hitting over .300. And probably sometime this week, Derek Jeter will pass Lou Gehrig and become the Yankees’ leader in career hits.
Yankees 11 Seattle 1: C.C. Sabathia is dealing and the Yankees’ offense is clicking: Hideki Matsui was 4 for 5, with two home runs, while Derek Jeter also homered. Jerry Hairston Jr., subbing for A-Rod (out after being hit in the elbow by the Blue Jays' Shawn Camp) at third, was 2 for 5, with two RBIs. This win is at the start of a long road trip, so one game down, nine to go.
Coming off a four-game sweep of the Red Sox, the first since 1985, life in Yankeeland hasn't been so sweet since Aaron Boone went deep off Tim Wakefield to send the Bombers into the World Series in 2003. So what could possibly rattle any sense of complacency among the team with the best record and biggest division lead in baseball? How about the Times questioning the long-term security of their captain, Derek Jeter, whose ten-year contract is set to expire at the end of next year? After telling a reporter that there's been no talk of an extension, he was asked if that concerned him. He said, “I haven’t even thought about it. It’s 2009. It’s not 2010. Or 2011.” While no one has seriously suggested the Yankees would ever let Jeter walk before his 3,000th hit with the team came, the paper couldn't resist taking the bait of his somewhat surprising mention of the year he could test the free agent waters. Hopefully GM Brian Cashman won't lose sleep over the quote after all the praise he's receiving for the integral roles played in the sweep by his big acquisitions Mark Teixeira, CC Sabathia and AJ Burnett.
Yesterday, before their 13-6 win over the Red Sox, the Yankees honored boxing legend Muhammad Ali. Ali, in a motorized cart, circled the stadium as he was cheered by fans and as the scoreboard showed clips of his famous bouts. You can see video here.
Despite being unable to beat the Red Sox this year (0-8 so far against them), the Yankees are only one game behind them. As they head into the All-Star Break, the Yankees are playing their best baseball of the season, something they will need to continue to do if they are going to bring playoff baseball back to the Bronx.
Andy Pettitte once again fell victim to his home ballpark, but that wasn't the only story in the Yankees' 7-6 loss to the Blue Jays. The bats almost bailed Pettitte out, making a furious comeback from a 7-1 deficit, but a sweep of the four-game series was not to be. Derek Jeter got thrown out stealing third with no one out in the first inning, but replays showed he avoided the tag. He and manager Joe Girardi took exception when third-base umpire Marty Foster said it didn't matter. No matter the call, that wasn't a good decision by Jeter, and it wasn't a good outing by Pettitte, who doesn't look comfortable in the Bronx. The Yankees finish the first half with a trip to Minnesota and then Anaheim to face the Angels.
Mariano Rivera achieved two big career milestones in Sunday’s 4-2 Yankees’ win. He got his 500th save, becoming only the second player to reach that mark and he got his first career RBI.
Yankees 15 Mets 0: Johan Santana had the worst start of his career, giving up nine earned runs and the Yankees pounded their way to a Subway Series win. While the game ended in a blowout, it was the bottom of the second and the top of the third that proved critical. In their half of the second, the Yankees scored four times, all with two outs to jump out to an early lead. The Mets loaded the bases with no outs in the third, but failed to score when Alex Cora was called out on a bad call, Fernando Martinez struck out and Carlos Beltran hit a liner to short.
Yankees 9 Mets 8: In all the years of the Subway Series, there has never been an ending like this one. For almost four hours, the Yankees and Mets battled back and forth, trading runs and the lead over and over again. Like they have done all season, the Yankees used home runs to get on the scoreboard with Robinson Cano starting things off in the second inning to put the Yankees up 1-0. But, Joba Chamberlain could not find the plate on Friday and the Mets took advantage of his wildness to take a 2-1 lead. Mark Teixeira went deep to put the Yankees up 3-2 but the Mets jumped all over Brett Tomko in the fifth to take a 6-3 lead.
Yankees 5 Tampa Bay 3: The ball certainly carries in the Bronx. The new ballpark saw five dingers on Monday, four of them by the Yankees as they finished their homestand with a 4-2 record. Mark Teixeira got things started and Nick Swisher added a two-run shot to put New York up 3-0. But, Andy Pettitte had a rough fourth, allowing three runs, before settling down to pitch well in the fifth and sixth. Johnny Damon and Derek Jeter added solo shots for the final two runs of the game and Mariano Rivera recorded his 14th save. New York now heads to Boston for three games with the second-place Red Sox, a team they have not defeated this season.
Derek Jeter may be the face of the Yankees. Almost every other player is more popular, but the fact remains that Alex Rodriguez is the engine that drives the team.