Congrats Derek

Tonight, September 9th 2009, Derek Jeter tied Lou Gehrig for most hits in Yankee franchise history. Jeter went from being a rookie in 1995 getting his first hit in May, to being one of the best batters in Major League Baseball and showing it tonight with 3 hits, the final hit being a historic one. Jeter had a Jeterian single into right field which gave him 2,721 hits, the same as Lou Gehrig as the most in franchise history. The whole crowd broke in applause as the flash bulbs went off. Derek Jeter, a Yankee through and through, added another notch on his belt. His rookie of the year award, batting titles, gold gloves, world series rings and mvps, and hopefully 2009 MVP award all took the backseat to the most remarkable thus far. In one of the most storied franchises in all of professional sports, literred with fantastic heroes throughout all of time, Jeter climbs above them all.

There was nobody watching today that wasn't rooting for Jeter wholeheartedly. Even Red Sox fans, wherever they are, are thinking to themselves, "he deserves it". Jeter is a class act in every sense. No steroid allegations, no criminal record, no arguments, no ejections, no problems. Jeter is an all around hard working great guy and he showed that with strong will and dedication (and obvious talent) you can achieve success, the highest kind. I know Jeter doesn't like the spotlight and preferred to talk about the win instead of the achievement, even he understood how monumental this was. Anyone like myself who watched him grow as a player and has been a fan of his since the beginning, is proud to see him get this record. Happy to be able to tell our kids or people in generations below that we saw Derek Jeter play. I'm excited to tell my children that I saw all 2721 hits and saw the one that tied the record. I watched the best SS in baseball history, and one of the greatest Yankees of all time. Clearly his tenure with the Yankees is not over, and he has more great accomplishments to reach (3,000 hits, most runs all time, etc) but this was the best notch on the belt.

Amidst the Jeter drama, there was a Yankee game tonight, and the Yankees won that game. The final was 4-2 on a pinch hit 3 run home run by Jorge Posada. Another Yankee come from behind win. Another late inning rally. This team finds no reason to get scared at the end of a game and refuses to bend over when the going gets tough. Joba looked sluggish in the first but settled and went 3 innings retiring his last 8. Aceves did well following him and so did every other reliever after that. The Yankees pitching held the Rays to 2 early runs and that was that. The offense was quiet facing Nieman, but came alive off Grant Balfour late. The 91st win of the season, 2 more than last year, and a 4 game sweep of the Rays. Tomorrow is off, but Friday we'll see Pettite take the hill against Baltimore and Jeter will look to hold the all time hits record alone.