When Titans Meet (Yanks 5, Mariners 2)

Before I get to the Clash, I should note this: The Yankees are 23 and 6 since the All Star break. That amounts to their best post-all-star-break record after 29 games...in Yankee history. Like I said, this is a special group.

Back to the story. Anytime the Yankees and Mariners meet with a healthy Jeter and Ichiro, I consider that game a clash of baseball titans. Not the teams, but the players themselves, because these two are, in my mind, two of the very best.

But even one of the best players in the world makes mistakes. On second with two outs in the bottom of the 7th, and with the tying run on first base and a power hitter at the plate, Ichiro did what any sensible baserunner would do. He made a break for third base!

However, it was Jose Molina behind the plate, and he alertly pounced. Ichiro's reputation is such that teams need to be ready for anything when he's on the base paths, and the Yankees were ready. A-Rod moved over to cover third, Molina leaped up and fired a bullet, and when the ball arrived in A-Rod's glove Ichiro was two feet from the bag. Inning over.

I've always said that the three players I'd like to see play baseball in person before I die would be Bonds (who is retired and who I missed seeing on the field), Ichiro (who I may still see, but more likely when he's a pitcher) and Jeter, who I've seen many times. To me, they're the three best players of this era, with Albert Pujols now emerging as #4.

With Bonds out, Pujols is the premier hitter, and Ichiro is the most physically skilled. But Derek Jeter puts it all together, expertise at the plate, precision fielding, competitive fire, leadership, and in-game brilliance, unlike any player in the world. Jeter almost never makes mental mistakes, especially mistakes that a player with less hubris would have avoided. Instead, when the game is on the line Jeter's maneuvers become more brilliant, his tactics more amazing, not less. And that's part of why Jeter, when he hit that late-inning home run over Ichiro's head, sent a little message to the world: This is Yankee baseball, and Ichiro, this is how it's done.