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Derek delivers Fifth-inning HR started off looking like a routine fly out
Updated: Sunday October 15, 2000 2:44 AM
SEATTLE (AP) -- It looked like a routine fly ball, and it just kept going. Derek Jeter blew a few bubbles as he ran up the first-base line, watched the ball go over Mike Cameron's glove and the center-field fence, then raised his right fist in triumph and jaunted around the bases. With the roof open at Safeco Field, balls aren't supposed to fly off the bat. This one did. Jeter jump-started the Yankees to their 5-0 win over the Seattle Mariners on Sunday night, his fifth-inning floater pushing New York within a win of its third straight AL pennant. "When I hit it, I hit it well, but I thought I hit it too high," Jeter said. "It looked like he was going to catch it." Paul Abbott, who had given up just two hits before then, was shocked. "I thought he popped it up," the pitcher said. "I've never seen a ball travel like that." Cameron thought he had a chance to catch it. "I might have jumped a little too early," he said. "It was just out of my reach." The way things are going, Jeter will have more rings that Liberace. Most major leaguers spend their entire careers hoping to make it to the World Series just once. Joe Torre, the Yankees manager, never made it in 18 seasons as a player. Jeter, one of the most unassuming stars in sports, is a big reason Torre has become a yearly fixture on baseball's biggest stage. In his first four seasons in the major leagues, Jeter won three World Series rings. When he slumps, the Yankees slump. When he hits, the Yankees usually win. "In postseason play, you are always focused," Jeter said. In the first round against Oakland, Jeter went 4-for-19 with no homers and two RBIs, and the Yankees just got by the Athletics in five games, feeling more like they escaped than they won. Against Seattle, Jeter's 4-for-14 (.286) with two homers and five RBIs, leaving his career average in the postseason at .313 with six homers and 19 RBIs in 54 games. "We're not a home-run hitting team, but we're capable of hitting it out," Jeter said. He wins so often, it seems routine. Since Jeter has joined the Yankees, winning has become routine.
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