By Gene Collier, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com
New York Yankees' Derek Jeter hits his first double in the first inning against Pittsburgh Pirates starting pitcher Zach Duke at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, June 25, 2008.
(AP Photo/John Heller)
There was something demonstrably metaphorical about the way the second game of this Pirates-Yankees affair presented itself to Jack Wilson.
Like a hot bucket of 10 penny nails.
With no handle.
But the metaphor isn't complete unless you compare it to the way Game 2 of this June baseball holiday came to Derek Jeter.
Like a rose ridden by dew drops.
With some chocolate.
And, uh, other nice stuff.
Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be when you've got a Hall of Fame induction ceremony in some datebook not yet published, when you turn 34 years old today with 2,438 career hits and the next person you'll pass on the all-time New York Yankees list in that category will be one George Herman Ruth.
More likely it's just that Jeter made baseball look so deceptively easy last night, the very night when every play that involved his Pittsburgh shortstop counterpart came with a maddening if faultless degree of difficulty.
Before Zach Duke tunneled his way out of the first inning, Wilson had been involved in four defensive plays, each harder than the last.
Melky Cabrera hit Duke's second pitch back through the box, drawing Wilson toward the bag at second, then spun wackily to Jack's right. Wilson gloved it and threw true for the game's first out.
Jeter lifted the next pitch over Nate McLouth's head in center field for a double.
Bobby Abreu sent one into the hole to the right of Wilson, who made a gorgeous sliding stab and whipped it to first late. After Alex Rodriguez walked, Jason Giambi hit a would-be double-play ball to Adam LaRoche at first. LaRoche fed Wilson, who, despite a lapful of ARod, flung it to Duke covering the bag, but just a hair wide for a tough error. Jeter and Abreu scored, then Jorge Posada laced a 2-1 pitch up the middle that Wilson snared with a full web-gem belly flop and gloved it to Freddy Sanchez for the inning-ending force.
For Wilson, a dirty night's work in 15 minutes and nothing to show for it but a 2-0 deficit that would swell to five times its original size.
Peter Diana/Post-Gazette
Shortstop Jack Wilson makes a diving stop then shuffles the ball to second baseman Freddy Sanchez for the out at second to end the inning against the Yankees last night at PNC Park.
You think the Pirates would even consider putting Jeter through similar indignities?
McLouth hit him an easy two-hopper in the first,; Sanchez rolled one he barely moved for in the third. In between, Jeter hit one to Wilson behind the bag that Jack bounced 10 feet in front of LaRoche. Jeter got a single, second on the throwing error, and moved to third on Abreu's dribbler to the right side.
His 13-game hit streak established and a 39-game on-base streak in interleague play continuing to be the longest in baseball, Jeter had little to do to amuse himself other than to torture Duke by taking a 45-foot primary lead off third. This was possible because the Pirates had overshifted to defense Giambi, and none of their infielders were any closer to third base than to second.
Duke became unnerved only once, spinning around to make Jeter stroll back toward third. Giambi, not unnerved a bit, stroked his 3-1 pitch to right to bring Jeter in.
Just an inning later, Jeter doubled over McLouth's head again, driving in Justin Christian with the fourth New York run.
"I love the way he swung the bat tonight," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said of his shortstop, who'd been battling a hand injury. "He did what Derek does, hit the ball through the middle, drive it the other way. He drove it with authority."
Additionally, he did the other thing Derek does. He won. No active player, according to the Elias Sports Bureah, has a higher personal winning percentage (.600).
Though it was a little less glamorous -- all right a lot less glamorous --Wilson was on base all four times he came up as well. He lined a two-out single to right in the second that got Ryan Doumit thrown out at home by 15 feet. He took a Joba Chamberlain fastball off the right forearm in the fifth. He singled twice more, but, by the time he came up in the seventh, Jeter had retired to the clubhouse for a mineral bath, lofa cleansing and Swedish massage.
Or something.
"To be honest, we weren't thinking too much about last night (the 12-5 spanking by the Pirates); you play every day, and, some days, you're not going to look too good," Jeter said implacably after the Yankees 10-0 win. "Tonight, we got a lead early and just swung that bats well."
That they did, but no one made it look easier than No. 2 in gray.
For No. 2 in white, it seemed a very long night.
Gene Collier can be reached at gcollier@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1283. More articles by this author
First published on June 26, 2008 at 12:00 am
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