LOS ANGELES This is a world stage, even if most American fans don’t quite get the World Baseball Classic. On that stage yesterday at timeless Dodger Stadium sat Derek Jeter and David Wright, two New York guys. They sat side by side in uniform during the Team USA press conference, just as they have played side by side at short and third.
In New York they are always center stage with their own teams, the Yankees and Mets, though never really together. Even at the All-Star Game last year at Yankee Stadium, they represented their leagues.
Here, though, for a few weeks, they are true teammates.
Watching the byplay between the two yesterday, the smiles, the inside jokes, the fumbling with the headphones used for translating questions, you couldn’t help but get the idea that Jeter was passing the torch to Wright. Not the baseball torch, that’s a much different story. Jeter was up there doing the right thing. He was having fun, enjoying the moment, carrying himself in a respectful way and, here’s the key, always putting winning first in every comment.
Jeter is the mentor and Wright is the student, taking in all he can for the future. There is a way to handle yourself when you are center stage in New York. Obviously, Alex Rodriguez, despite being in the same clubhouse as Jeter, has never quite gotten it.
Wright, who will start at third and said his injured left big toe is “100 percent,” came much more emotionally equipped to handle all this. He is using this WBC experience to grow.
This is Jeter’s second time around the WBC block. Tomorrow could be the last game for Team USA, which plays Japan. Roy Oswalt, not Jake Peavy, is scheduled to be the starting pitcher. Adam Dunn will be back in right. Mark DeRosa will play first.
Win and Team USA goes to the championship game on Monday. Lose and the players go back to spring training.
“The first time around, I don’t think anyone knew what to expect,” Jeter said of the WBC. “Then once you had the opportunity to go out there and play and wear the uniform, represent your country, and be around the guys, you realized what an honor it was. And that’s the reason I’m here this time. It’s not to get out of spring training for two or three weeks.
“It’s to come out here and represent our country and win a championship here.”
Jeter’s defensive range has been shaky in the tournament, but he insisted he will be ready for the season despite splitting time with Jimmy Rollins at short.
“Even when this tournament is over with, we will have a week to 10 days when we get back home,” he explained.
For Wright, his game-winning hit against Puerto Rico added another element of success.
“That would be a memory that, for me, lasts a lifetime,” he said.
Jeter said the semifinal against Japan is not revenge game for the Americans, even though Japan won the first WBC.
“I never try to look at things as revenge. Even if we had won that first tournament, this time, you’re still trying to win. It’s different than the last tournament, and this group here is trying to win.”
As Jeter spoke, Wright nodded his head in agreement, listening carefully to every word.