For the first time in his 10-year career with the Yankees, team captain Derek Jeter hit a Grandslam homerun.
Grandslam homeruns are just the jackpot of hitting; which is to say, play long enough as a regular, most of them hit them at one point or another in their careers. AP has this report:Jeter's first career slam, a sixth-inning drive to left-center off reliever Joe Borowski, backed a stellar start by rookie Chien-Ming Wang as the Yankees extended their winning streak to five with an 8-1 victory Saturday.
It was Jeter's first home run in 136 at-bats and 155 plate appearances with the bases loaded. The Yankees captain had the most at-bats with the bases loaded without a slam among current major leaguers, and his 156 homers coming in were the most without a slam by active major leaguers.
He came out for a curtain call, then was given another standing ovation when he went out to shortstop for the seventh. Fans loudly chanted his name in the eighth, when he hit a leadoff homer off Cliff Bartosh, a drive just over the wall in right-center. With the seventh multihomer game of his career, Jeter tied his career high of five RBIs.
When Derek Jeter walked to home plate with the bases loaded in the sixth inning Saturday, he had gone 5,770 at-bats over 11 major league seasons without a grand slam.
``I thought I'd never hit one,'' he said. Jeter finally filled one of the few gaps in his resume, connecting off Chicago Cubs reliever Joe Borowski for a home run to left-center that broke the game open. Cheered even more loudly than usual by the Yankees fans who idolize him, Jeter added a solo shot in the eighth, backing a stellar start by rookie Chien-Ming Wang in an 8-1 victory that extended New York's winning streak to five.
It was Jeter's first home run in 136 at-bats and 155 plate appearances with the bases loaded. The Yankees captain had the most at-bats with the bases loaded without a slam among current major leaguers, and his 156 homers coming in were the most without a slam by active big leaguers.
His teammates wouldn't let him forget that. ``It's usually after I get out. I'd come back and they'd say, `Well, we thought you were going to hit one,''' Jeter recalled.
He had been aware of his grand slam drought since April 22, 2002. Mark McLemore hit his first one in his 5,349th at-bat and told Jeter about the stat when the Yankees arrived in Seattle four days later.
Philadelphia's David Bell, who hasn't homered in 118 at-bats with the bases loaded, now has the longest drought, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Tampa Bay's Alex Gonzalez has the most homers without a slam, 132. ``I'd be lying to you if I said I didn't feel good right now,'' Jeter said.
Fans demanded a curtain call, and Jeter was given another standing ovation when he went out to shortstop for the seventh as third baseman Alex Rodriguez gave him a pat on the rear. With his name being chanted loudly in the eighth, Jeter hit a leadoff homer off Cliff Bartosh, a drive just over the wall in right-center. Jeter tied his career high of five RBIs and had the seventh multihomer game of his career.
``You have to just push him out there to take a bow,'' Yankees manager Joe Torre said.
Jeter once said he had never hit a grandslam at any level of baseball he played. Here's a joke factoid for you: In all my years of pottering around playing 'ball, I've only had 3 measley homeruns hitting for the Ku-Ring-Gai Stealers; even for such a largely-lowly-talentless-player as me, one of them was a grandslam homerun off some grizzled-old relief geezer from the Fivedock Falcons. What took you so long, Jetes?
- Art Neuro
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