Well, it's not The Fall Classic yet, but the Yankees - Rays series had all the drama. Three one-run games, several lead changes, extra innings, and leading performances by bit players. Except for Yanks team captain Derek Jeter.
In the seventh inning Jeter earned a trip to first base by, well, acting.
As reported in The York Times:
"Fresh in the fans’ minds was the tempest that brewed an inning earlier, when Rays Manager Joe Maddon was ejected after arguing that a pitch from Chad Qualls hit the knob of Jeter’s bat, bouncing into fair territory, and not his left forearm.
"Asked where the ball hit, Jeter smiled. 'The bat,' he said. And nowhere else? 'Well, I mean, they told me to go to first,' he said.
"Jeter sold the play well. The bat flew out of his hands, and he jumped away as the trainer Gene Monahan came out.
"'Vibration,' Jeter said. 'And acting.'
"The umpires convened, upholding the original call, as Jeter stood on first base thinking, 'Don’t change your mind.' Stunned, Maddon kept arguing, unclear how the ball could have caromed that hard into the infield — the Rays picked up the ball and made the out at first base — if it had struck only Jeter’s arm. Perhaps softened by a sweet victory, after the game Maddon called it a heady play.
'If our guys did it, I would have applauded that, too,' Maddon said. 'It’s a great performance on his part.'
2 comments:
I think that Derek has danced right up to that line between good baseball and the less savory game that is played by others.
What if that had been ARod? Would the NY Times be so sanguine?
As Col. Hans Landa said in Inglorious Basterds, "That's a bingo!"
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