{"id":11366,"date":"2011-07-11T07:01:43","date_gmt":"2011-07-11T06:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=11366"},"modified":"2011-07-13T17:43:54","modified_gmt":"2011-07-13T16:43:54","slug":"weekly-hit-ground-ball-typical-jeter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/?p=11366","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Hit Ground Ball: Typical Jeter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"WHGB11\"Many words were used to described Derek Jeter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s performance on Saturday.\u00c2\u00a0 Most of them were attempting to get across a feeling of amazement.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unbelievable\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and\u00c2\u00a0\u00e2\u20ac\u0153astonishing\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 A\u00e2\u20ac\u0153fairytale\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and then \u00e2\u20ac\u0153more than a fairytale\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hollywood script\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and then \u00e2\u20ac\u0153something even Hollywood wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t dare script\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.<\/p>\n

Jeter started the day with a single to record his 2,999th career hit in the Majors, then made it to 3,000 on a home run before finishing the day 5-for-5, with his final hit driving in what became the game-winning run.\u00c2\u00a0 It was<\/strong> an incredible day.<\/p>\n

But it wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t \u00e2\u20ac\u0153unbelievable\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to me, or any of the other similar descriptions attached to it.\u00c2\u00a0 It was exactly the sort of thing you could believe Jeter would do; the sort of thing he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s done time and again throughout his career.<\/p>\n

While watching the game live on ESPN America, part-way through his historic at-bat I was thinking to myself: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I bet he hits a home run here\u00e2\u20ac\u009d.\u00c2\u00a0 I wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t alone.\u00c2\u00a0 The YES Network announcers stated later in their broadcast that a member of their team had done the same thing.\u00c2\u00a0 During the Braves-Phillies game a little later in the afternoon, FOX announcer\u00c2\u00a0Kenny Albert\u00c2\u00a0said that his colleague Eric Karros had called it too.<\/p>\n

A precedent had already been set for doing it.\u00c2\u00a0 Wade Boggs got his 3,000th hit with a home run, coincidentally in the uniform of the team that Jeter got his 3,000th hit against (the Tampa Bay Rays).\u00c2\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Similarly, having a multi-hit day to mark the occasion wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t unusual either.\u00c2\u00a0 The last person prior to Jeter to reach 3,000 did it too.\u00c2\u00a0 The Houston Astros\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Craig Biggio went 5-for-6 on 28 June 2007<\/a> (his third hit on the day got him to 3,000).\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also matched, in fact probably surpassed, Jeter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s game-winning input that day.\u00c2\u00a0 The Astros trailed the Colorado Rockies by 5-4 with two outs in the bottom of the eleventh inning when Biggio got a single to keep the game alive.\u00c2\u00a0 Carlos Lee ended up hitting a walk-off Grand Slam to cap one of the more spectacular regular season games in recent memory.<\/p>\n

Putting those achievements alongside Jeter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s, you can take a methodical approach to what happened and find a rational explanation for it all.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a one-in-four chance that a 3,000th hit will be a homer.\u00c2\u00a0 Additionally, at 2,999 you must just want to get any hit you can and hitters often say that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not pressing to hit a long ball that they come along.\u00c2\u00a0 As for the multi-hit day, Jeter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s confidence must have been at its height after that second hit went over the wall and for the first time in a while, he could go up to the plate completely relaxed.<\/p>\n

But what use are rational explanations when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re watching history being made?\u00c2\u00a0 We all get wrapped up in the emotion and marvel at every detail, right down to the fact that the second hit for Jeter (#2 on his back) came at 2 p.m. local time.\u00c2\u00a0 That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s part of the magic of sport.<\/p>\n

You can be rational about it, or you can simply say it was ‘typical Jeter’ and leave it at that.<\/p>\n

Seeing-eye singles<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was an exciting Saturday evening of baseball on ESPN America.\u00c2\u00a0 In the Braves-Phillies game, Cliff Lee and Tommy Hanson put on an excellent exhibition of pitching.\u00c2\u00a0 With the game scoreless, Lee decided to help his own cause even further and hit the first home run of his career, much to the delight of all connected to the Phillies.\u00c2\u00a0 Lee stated when he re-joined Philadelphia that he liked being able to hit in the National League and said it made him feel like more of a baseball player.\u00c2\u00a0 Mark it down as another example in the case\u00c2\u00a0for scrapping\u00c2\u00a0the Designated Hitter rule.<\/p>\n

What added to the enjoyment of Lee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s home run was that it was called on FOX by Braves\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 pitcher Jair Jurrjens, who was being interviewed at the time.\u00c2\u00a0 Despite his initial anguish at seeing the ball fly into the air, he was suitably impressed and referred back to his rotation-mate Tim Hudson\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s longball earlier this season.\u00c2\u00a0 Jurrjens stated that there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a good-natured competition between the Braves\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 starters when it comes to hitting.\u00c2\u00a0 Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be surprised if Jurrjens starts putting some more work in at the batting cage to join in with the fun.<\/p>\n

Jurrjens was being interviewed as a preview to the All-Star game, in which he may well be the National League\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s starting pitcher.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a shame that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen a series of players pull out of the game due to injury concerns over the last few days, including Mr 3,000 Derek Jeter.\u00c2\u00a0 However, each withdrawal creates an opportunity for someone else and I was particularly pleased to read that Andrew McCutchen has now been added to the NL\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s roster.\u00c2\u00a0 He fully deserved a spot in the first place.<\/p>\n

McCutchen and the rest of the Pittsburgh Pirates have been one of the best stories of the first half of this season.\u00c2\u00a0 It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been a long time since the Pirates were looking ahead to the trading deadline and considering whether to add a player or two, rather than simply shipping out any established players that they could get a return on.\u00c2\u00a0 Their victory over the Cubs on Friday night epitomized the spirit and optimism surrounding the team; a stark contrast to the recent years of despair and disillusionment.<\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/p>\n

Listening to and watching the reaction to Michael McKenry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s home run can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help but bring a smile to the face of any non-Cubs fans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many words were used to described Derek Jeter\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s performance on Saturday. Most of them were attempting to get across a feeling of amazement<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,4],"tags":[553,98,99],"class_list":["post-11366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-hit-ground-ball","category-mlb-2","tag-mlb-2","tag-new-york-yankees","tag-philadelphia-phillies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11366"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11369,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11366\/revisions\/11369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baseballgb.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}