Good afternoon, gang. Fittingly, Katy Perry's “Last Friday Night” is pumping through the office. No clients, no boss, just a stack of files, my hilarious tag team of paralegals, and counting down until my date with The Baseball Jesus. Oh. Have I not mentioned six times already how I was randomly given two pairs of tickets for tonight and tomorrow's Yankees games? I am pumped; I have had an extra bounce in my step since I got off the subway this morning. See, in the beginning of the season, when I received the tickets, I was not especially excited – Tampa had started the season like 1-20, or something equally atrocious, Manny had abruptly retired, and I thought it would just be a fun drunken slugfest at the Stadium. Little did I know that we may witness history. Derek Jeter is on the cusp of his 3,000th hit; he will be the 28th person in baseball history and the first Yankee to ever reach the illustrious benchmark. And I cannot wait to see it. My only fear is that the game will be rained out, because it looks dark and gloomy here in the Big Apple.
Weather permitting, tonight Jeter will be facing right-hander Jeremy Hellickson, who has had an up-and-down rookie campaign for the Rays. He is 8-7 with a 3.21 ERA, but he has struggled in his last few starts. This will be his first against the Yankees. Freddy Garcia is taking the mound for the Bombers. The Rays are only three games out of first place in the AL East, but tonight begins a brutal 11-game stretch where they play only the Yankees and Red Sox. As I have said before, the All-Star break is not so much a “break” for Tampa Bay as it is a brief awakening from a nightmare.
One of my friends asked me the other day if I think that Derek Jeter is the greatest Yankee ever. It is a fun debate to have. My adoration for the Baseball Jesus is well-documented, but I do not think he surpasses Babe Ruth on the Yankee’s Mount Rushmore of Legends. There is also Lou and Joey D. to consider. But do I think he is up there? Without a doubt. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Okay, guys. I have to go be productive before heading to the Bronx. So I hope you all have a great weekend, follow @wedigfastballs on Twitter for live updates from the game, and let’s hope for number 3,000. CDTF will be back in full force on Monday with lots of good stuff coming up.
