Curious as to honest opinions... Especially from those who saw the final inning or so play out live. Anybody else rewind and look at some of those key pitches from Robertson and Meeks?
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Classic! Did you see Robertson reaction after giving up the second HR. If he put that there on purpose, give him an Academy Award!
No way does any pitcher give up a hit to make someone else look good. Besides that, the Os are playing for home advantage. They needed that win.
Jeter is clutch. Thats why he has played this long.
What happened last night is purely an example of what makes baseball so magical.
Jeter is clutch. Thats why he has played this long.
What happened last night is purely an example of what makes baseball so magical.
I don't believe a pitcher can give up two homers just to create the possible opportunity that might arise. It was classic Jeter he drove the ball the other way for the game winner.
I didn't watch the game on purpose (watched reruns of the Big Bang Theory and read a baseball book about the minor leagues), and I'm so freaking tired of the Jeter 24x7x365 farewell tour extravaganza. I'm so glad to see the media circus is folding up the big top. I respect the player and what he has accomplished, but I'm over this in a big way.
Olbermann is an acquired taste. Yes, he can be an ass but he mostly has a point. I did get a chuckle from this....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...08&feature=share
Fenway (the name says it all, doesn't it?), in my short time on this site, this is the first time I disagree with you.
I respectfully disagree with Fenway as well.
I think that it was Costas that said the other night that said something like, when you play this game that is such a big business (and not always good), when you see so many things that are wrong within the game, its so nice to have a feel good story every once in a while (my interpretation). And for many, no matter who is your team, it is a really good story and does good things for the game. Of course your last day at your home park with a walk off rbi makes it even more special.
Jeter was not the best at the game, I agree, but he played the game and represented the game the way it should be done. You never read anything bad about him and I understand that his charities and foundations gave a lot back to others.
He also obviously played it clean with no suspicion, you cant say that about most.
I would rather see him stay and AROD never return.
I also am so sick and tired of the press time given to these guys that beat their wives and children. Celebrating a player that only has positive stuff associated with his name can never get old IMO.
I was listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio a few days ago. He commented on the criticism to Jeterpalooza. He said if you're diehard, watch everything you can baseball fan you're probably completely sick of hearing about Jeter. He added, radio and tv programming (ESPN, MLB Network) is not geared towards junkies. It's geared towards fans who watch or listen twenty or thirty minutes of these stations per day. So the stations will repeat themselves day after day until ever fan from the diehard to the casual has had a little bit of Jeter. He said after playing twenty years, his sucess and how he's carried himself, Jeter has earned it.
On any given day turn ESPN TV on in the background for a morning. By noon you will have the sports news memorized from hearing it repeatedy so many times. Same thing with CNN and regular news.
I am not even a Yankee fan. I love Jeter. First as a women he is not too hard on the eyes.Charming and he deserves all the press for a outstanding career as a Yankee only.
The guy played for one team his entire career, wanted to be a Yankee as a small kid.Stuck at SS his whole career and left the game before a move was made as he was losing range as a ss as most older and great players such as Riken and Chipper to name a couple.
He is a hall of famer and to me one of the great players in my time. I have loved the commercials esp the Gatorade.
I think with the steroid drama and the negative press MLB and other companies are trying to portray a positive for the game and I think the young kids esp need to see a fine career by a great player.
Originally Posted by TPM:
No way does any pitcher give up a hit to make someone else look good.
It happens:
Pitcher Admits to Throwing Derek Jeter a Meatball
And just to add fuel to the pipeshot conspiracy fire 
More conspiracy fuel for a little Saturday fun:
As best I can tell, Evan Meek, in 2014 had not pitched in a 9th inning closer situation (where his team was ahead) until 9/25/2014 vs. the Yankees (actually they were tied). According to Fangraphs, his velocity averaged 90.0 mph for the year, but averaged only 87 for this game. So, it's odd that a pitcher that has lost a little velo would be thrust into a closer role.
Yep thats supposed to be the pitchers secret. You NEVER admit that. Waino made a mistake.
Did he get a pitch to hit...maybe...a pitch that would induce an out?
Thats done all of the time.
Did he get a pitch to hit...maybe...a pitch that would induce an out?
Thats done all of the time.
Originally Posted by fanofgame:
I am not even a Yankee fan. I love Jeter. First as a women he is not too hard on the eyes.Charming and he deserves all the press for a outstanding career as a Yankee only.
The guy played for one team his entire career, wanted to be a Yankee as a small kid.Stuck at SS his whole career and left the game before a move was made as he was losing range as a ss as most older and great players such as Riken and Chipper to name a couple.
He is a hall of famer and to me one of the great players in my time. I have loved the commercials esp the Gatorade.
I think with the steroid drama and the negative press MLB and other companies are trying to portray a positive for the game and I think the young kids esp need to see a fine career by a great player.
Good post!
It's been done before.
I know that this has nothing to do with topic, but this is really very emotional if you are a real fan of baseball.
The walkoff hit was not a fake but this was:
If we talk about "range" Derek Jeter has been the worst SS in MLB for the past few years. Probably should have moved to another position.
If we talk about Derek Jeter the player and the professional, he is one of the greatest In our era. Most important is how well he represented the game during a very tough time for baseball.
The game was good to him and he was great for the game. Perhaps the greatest Role Model baseball has ever had.
Moderator comment:
Most of the time, the answer to the question of why so-and-so's post didn't get pulled by the moderators is at least partly related to the fact that we don't read every post in every thread. I umpired two baseball games today, and enjoyed a family dinner and movie night. I checked in to this site only briefly and that was to tend to some clean up of another squabble.
Thus, I wasn't playing favorites here. I simply wasn't paying any attention at all.
In light of this surprising news that moderators have lives, perhaps our resident critics can understand why it is unreasonable to accuse moderators of political bias for not deleting a post I haven't read and they haven't bothered to report.
While we are on the subject, it is also bad manners to attack the politics of people whose political opinions you don't even know. In my case, I spend as little time as possible thinking about politics, and my reaction to the bit of political news that gets through my filters ranges from boredom to disgust. There is not a politician on the landscape that I can point to and say he or she mirrors my views and votes my convictions. So don't assume you can infer my politics from my moderating decisions.
What I flag is generally bad manners and non-baseball, regardless of the viewpoint expressed. And yes, I do cut a little more slack to long-time members on occasion because I consider the overall body of their work.
In the case of this thread, this is a thread about Derek Jeter, and I think our remembrance of his great career deserves better than the bickering that has crept in.
Therefore,I am going to delete every post in this thread that does not pertain to the Captain, regardless of whether the post came from right, left, or middle of the road.
Please restrict further comments on this thread to Derek Jeter.
And please try to be nice to the other members regardless of which fools and knaves they vote for.
"In the case of this thread, this is a thread about Derek Jeter, and I think our remembrance of his great career deserves better than the bickering that has crept in.
Therefore,I am going to delete every post in this thread that does not pertain to the Captain, regardless of whether the post came from right, left, or middle of the road.
Please restrict further comments on this thread to Derek Jeter."
Agree 100% the bickering and ruining of threads is really tiresome to say the least.
Take it to your personal blogs. Most really don't want to read it. Its getting tired.
Matty and TPM,
Disagreement is welcome. But let me clarify, my sickness of the topic is NOT of the man. He is one of the best in the last generation. A certain 1st ballot HOF for what he did on the field and off the field. I'm not blinded by pinstripes. I'm just so tired of the media hype that began in Spring training and probably won't end until Hot Stove 2015. There have been some exciting things happen in baseball this year that get put on page 2 because Jeter puts his socks on.....then puts his shoes on. Part of me feels bad for the guy. Jeter's got to more sick of this than I am because I'm sure he's been asked the same questions a million times.
I did catch an interview with him last week that was different. He said he was looking forward to not having a schedule, getting married and having children. I wish him well.
Bottom line..Jeter may not have led in any one statistic but his body of work and performing at his best on the biggest stage or moment in the biggest city and navigating a 20 yr career in NY is what makes Jeter who he is...
Eli Manning is similar to Jeter in that everybody tries to justify his shortcomings on how they cant do this or that but both show up when it counts and like Jeter, Eli navigates thru the NY media the right way as well. Two great NY athletes who are clutch in the big time are two future hall of famers.
Along with attaining records that pass all-time greats thru their careers, Once they both stop playing is when peeps will realize how great they both are.
A big second to your post PG Staff. And as far as Olbermann goes, he has no point. The best answer to Keith Olberman was by Jim Rome the next day. Jeter was an integral part of 5 Championship teams, and numerous winning teams that fell short of the World Series. 6th on the all time hit list. Beloved and respected. So Olberman can have Barry and his home run titles and MVP awards. I will take #2.
Saw this quote today:
“I know that there’s a lot of people that have much more talent than I do,” Jeter said. “(That’s true) throughout the course of my career, not just now. I can honestly say I don’t think anyone played harder. I don’t. Maybe just as hard, but I don’t think anyone had more of an effort. Every single day I went out there and tried to have respect for the game, play as hard as I possibly could. I did it here in New York, which I think is much more difficult to do.
I’m happy for that.”
That's all we can ask from anyone whether he is a future Hall of Famer or a 6 year old. Play as hard as you can everyday.
Well this thread went the way I had hoped it wouldn't. The question wasn't "tell us all about your feelings about Derek Jeter". The question was specifically about his final AB at Yankees Stadium... And whether this was a "miraculous baseball occurrence"... Or a more or less staged series of events.
To the responses of "the Orioles needed the win" - Then why is Evan Meeks in that situation when there are perhaps literally a dozen better arms sitting in Baltimore's pen... Including the closer? Come on...
To the response "pitchers don't help their opposition, ever" - This is of course simply false. Not only does "feeding" a meatball to a retiring supper star happen, it's basically a tradition. (I would have thought such a "real fan" might've been aware of that.)
When a late season game doesn't mean much, guys like George Brett and Craig Biggio, just to pull great hitter names out of the hat, often get one grooved in their final AB... Especially in front of the home fans. It's a simple tip of the cap from the opposing team, opposing manager, and/or opposing pitcher. Doesn't always happen, but more often than not it does. I would contend that what happened with Jeter's last AB in the Bronx was along these lines... Just taken a step or three further than the usual... Because it's Jeter and because it's NY. Amazing to me how people lap it up!
Really, all you have to do is look at the pitches from Meeks and from Robertson... It's plainly obvious what was going on. Watching with my son, I told him with one out in the ninth "watch what's about to happen here"... And sure enough. I'd love to believe that I have extraordinary powers of baseball perception... But all you had to do was watch in real time. Replaying certain pitches a couple of times removes any lingering doubt.
Lastly, consider a couple of additional factors:
Why was Jeter not lifted with one out in the 9th in a 5-2 game? That was clearly the time to give him the swan song... And don't tell me he wanted to play out the game with no fan fair. After the circus of the past couple of months!? Please!!
The Manager of the O's is Buck Showalter (you could look it up)... Jeter's first Mgr and an active part of bringing him up and developing him. He was obviously conducive to sending Jeter off with some (canned) flair.
Anyway... None of this diminishes Jeter's HOF career IMO. Personally, I dislike the charade. But it's all good... all part of "The Show" I guess. If you were wiping tears from your eyes that night, then ok by me! I just put the poll up to gauge how many people really bought it... About 2/3rds according to the highly scientific poll above.
First thought: Can anyone identify the moment when we started counting ALL game-ending hits as "walk offs?"
There was a time when that appellation was reserved for home runs, where someone trotted around the bases. Now they act like it's a big deal anytime the home team wins in its final turn at bat. Heck, I've even heard announcers talk about "walk-off walks" and "walk-off wild pitches." As if something thrilling happened.
As for Olberman -- when I first saw this guy 20 years ago, on the 11 p.m. SportsCenter with Dan Patrick, he was fresh and funny if often over the top. When he left ESPN the first time, all you read was what a jerk he was and how no one cried when he left. Turns out he's full of bile and enjoys spewing it, especially if someone will pay him handsomely to do so, and who cares if nobody's watching. I put him in the same class with (from the opposing side) someone like Ann Coulter -- that is, an embarrassment to people who (for other, more legitimate reasons) may vote with them, but who cringe when they talk. Basically these types make a living by trying to say something ever more outrageous than the last time, so that someone will come watch. In a time when we have hundreds of channels to choose from, it's a big "HEY, LOOK AT ME!" situation.
I'm tempted to say that the Olberman rant is particularly ironic because it is basically a lament over how the sports media coverage has gotten so 24/7 and how they hype pretty much everything until you want to puke. I mean, we didn't see this sort of send-off for guys like Aaron or Mays; it's a phenomenon of the need of modern media's insatiable need for content. So here's a guy who's a creature of that environment decrying the very kind of media fest that his career has been dedicated to fostering. Only now he pretends not, so that he can extend it further by stirring up trouble just by saying something totally stupid.
But that would attribute more of a thought process to Olberman than I suspect was involved. To me, it's just the latest of his "HEY, LOOK AT ME!" stunts designed to keep the paychecks rolling in.
And boy, do they roll in! Back when I was planning a career, no one I know foresaw that you could ever make 7 figures or better by being a loudmouth jerk. Now that it's clear that you can, expect more and more people to try their hands at it.
If this were a playoff game Jeter would have been walked and with a lefty coming up and then Meek would have been replaced with a lefty.
Closers dont usually come in when there is a tie unless he had been waiting in the pen. Playoff situation perhaps he would have. We dont know who was or wasnt available and keep in mind Meek is a ML pitcher so if he wasnt capable he wouldnt be on a major league roster.
The Orioles had already made the post season but home field advantage was not yet to be determined.
Roberts did not give up 2 HR on purpose for the game to be tied. That is what is so perplexing but perhaps Roberts was feeling the excitement and a bit jacked up himself.
Finally, always remember in the end that the baseball gods always are in control of the final outcome of any game..as is evident the other night at Yankee Stadium!
Closers dont usually come in when there is a tie unless he had been waiting in the pen. Playoff situation perhaps he would have. We dont know who was or wasnt available and keep in mind Meek is a ML pitcher so if he wasnt capable he wouldnt be on a major league roster.
The Orioles had already made the post season but home field advantage was not yet to be determined.
Roberts did not give up 2 HR on purpose for the game to be tied. That is what is so perplexing but perhaps Roberts was feeling the excitement and a bit jacked up himself.
Finally, always remember in the end that the baseball gods always are in control of the final outcome of any game..as is evident the other night at Yankee Stadium!
Olbermann is an asshat. Who takes him seriously anyways.