“You never know what’s going to happen, but I like our chances.” -DEREK JETER
BALTIMORE – Derek Jeter knows how to pick a win ner.
And we’re not just talking baseball.
Jeter collected on a friendly wager or two yesterday when he entered the visiting clubhouse at Camden Yards. Yes, he had Sugar Shane Mosley, who won a unanimous decision over Oscar De La Hoya Saturday night in Las Vegas, despite De La Hoya’s promise that there will be a “full investigation.”
Jeter is hot. He knows about winning. He is flirting with his first batting title and went into last night’s game against the Orioles with a .323 mark, fourth in the AL. Boston’s Bill Mueller leads at .329.
Considering all that, how does Jeter feel about this Yankee team? It’s a team people really can’t get a handle on because, despite so much success and 92 victories, the Yankees just don’t have an overpowering feel to them. Yankee fans aren’t just happy with victory, it has to be a crushing defeat of opponents.
If you look closely, a funny thing is happening with this team. The Yankees seem to be coming together and there is a much more relaxed atmosphere around them. The players feel much better about one another and their roles than they did a month ago. The nametags finally have been ripped off and these Yankees are beginning to come together. It doesn’t hurt that Mariano Rivera is throwing lights out, either.
You can say these Yankees make too many basic mistakes, and have played too many bad teams to be real champions. That may be true, but before you think that this is really the year that the Curse of the Bambino is lifted or that another hot team like last year’s Angels will win the American League pennant, consider these words from Jeter.
“It all starts with pitching and our pitching staff has been pretty good lately,” Jeter told me last night in a quiet corner of the clubhouse.
“And now we are starting to swing the bats pretty well, too,” Jeter added.
“You never know what’s going to happen, but I like our chances.”
There you have it. Remember, Jeter is not one of those stars who talks just so he can hear himself talk. He talks when he’s got something to say.
“It starts with pitching, but you also need the offense,” Jeter explained. “We’ve won in previous years when we’ve only had one. And that was pitching, when we scored like 2-3 runs a game. If you have them both, you are that much better.”
Don’t undervalue the importance of that statement.
Jeter feels the pitching and the hitting is coming together for the Yankees. He knows the road will not be easy, but he also knows these Yankees are beginning to click – even if the victories of late have come against the Double-A Tigers and the young Devil Rays.
This is the Yankees’ final trip of the season. After four games here – Hurricane Isabel permitting – it’s on to Tampa and then to Chicago to face the dangerous White Sox, in what could be a preview of the first round.
The White Sox are dangerous because they have the starting pitching and Bartolo Colon is a monster, who will probably be wearing pinstripes next season. Jeter knows the Yankees have to become the hot team come October.
“I had a pretty good feeling last year, too,” Jeter added with a smile. “But we ran into a hot team.”
No team was hotter than the Angels. The goal for the Yankees these final two weeks is to get it all together and fly through that first round. Then, even if the mighty Red Sox are waiting in the ALCS, the Yankees have history on their side.
One final word on all that Curse stuff. Ben Affleck did the narration of HBO’s “Curse of the Bambino,” which debuts tonight.
Affleck and Jennifer Lopez just split up. The Curse can rear its head in many ways. You can take that to the bank.