HOUSTON — Derek Jeter got his first taste of the Mariano Rivera farewell tour Wednesday night when he was honored by the Astros.
While he expected the ceremony and the gifts, he was surprised by the standing ovation he received and the Astros coming out of the dugout before his first at-bat.
“The thing that caught me off guard was when the Astro guys came out my first at-bat,” Jeter said after the Yankees’ 3-1 loss at Minute Maid Park. “It’s the second game of the season. It was much appreciated. … I didn’t know what was happening.”
His former teammates still aren’t sure how Jeter will handle all the adulation. Though Rivera embraced the ceremonies a year ago, Andy Pettitte doesn’t think Jeter will be as comfortable.
“I don’t think he’s crazy about it,” said Pettitte following the brief tribute he took part in. “I think he knows he’s got to go through that. It’s good that he is.”
Jeter’ s undoubtedly even less crazy about the team’s 0-2 start and the fact he struck out with the potential tying run on second to end the top of the seventh.
“It would be nice to have both,” Jeter said when asked if he would rather have a win instead of the ceremony.
Both Pettitte and manager Joe Girardi said the retiring shortstop doesn’t like his schedule to be altered. The ceremony lasted less than five minutes and the only person who spoke was the Astros’ public address announcer.
“We didn’t do a whole lot,” Pettitte said with a laugh. “We kind of stood there and shook his hand.”
Jeter received a pair of cowboy boots with the Yankees logo and a ‘2’ inscribed, a Stetson hat and a set of golf clubs from the Astros and was greeted by former teammates Roger Clemens and Mike Stanton. Clemens declined to speak about Jeter — or anything else.
“I don’t have too many boots,” Jeter said. “I’ll wear them one day.”
It was the first of many ceremonies Jeter will have to take part in and Girardi said Jeter might have to make some adjustments.
“I think it’s something he will think about as he goes through them,” Girardi said. “It’s different than Mo. He could go back inside for five innings.”
“I know Derek is crazy, crazy, crazy about his pregame routine stuff,” Pettitte said. “He’ll probably get used to doing that as he continues to travel from city to city. I think each time will get easier. “He’ll be ready to play the games, but probably the first few times it might get him out of his routine a little bit. He’s got his routine down to a tee, and this is probably putting a kink in his schedule. He’s been too great of a player and ambassador for this game not to let the fans in every city he goes honor him. That’s what makes him so great. You know he doesn’t want that.”
Jeter said he was able to do everything he was supposed to do and was not impacted by the ceremony.