For a hitter, Derek Jeter entered No Man’s Land. His fate in Tuesday night’s All-Star Game was to face Randy Johnson, then Kevin Brown and finally Al Leiter. This is hardly a night on the town with a supermodel.
If Topps made first-half leader cards, Johnson, Brown and Leiter would be the guys on the one for National League earned run average. Combined,they are 32-6 with a 2.35 earned-run average.
All Jeter did was go 3 for 3 off them. His two-run single on a cutter from Leiter put the American League ahead en route to a 6-3 victory in the 71st All-Star Game. He was named the game’s Most Valuable Player.
Jeter brought back bad memories for many people in the Turner Field crowd of 51,323, reminding them of the New York Yankees’ victory over the Atlanta Braves in last year’s World Series. The Braves’ Chipper Jones had three hits, including a solo homer, but they weren’t enough to prevent the AL from winning its fourth straight All-Star Game.
Jeter was one of seven players replacing elected starters who missed the game because of injury. His plan was to come out hacking. The Yankees’ shortstop had struck out in both previous All-Star at-bats.
“I wanted to at least put the ball in play,” said Jeter, who was replacing Alex Rodriguez. “But when you’re facing three guys like that, you want to swing early in the count. . . . When you face guys like that, you try to swing and get out of there as soon as possible.”
Magglio Ordonez was the biggest producer of the White Sox’s three-man delegation. He lined a double into the gap in right-center off St. Louis’ Darryl Kile in the seventh inning and added a sacrifice fly off San Diego’s Trevor Hoffman in the ninth.
Ray Durham, who was 1 for 2, led off the ninth with a single against Hoffman. He scored on a Matt Lawton single.
Working in his first All-Star Game, 11-game winner James Baldwin failed to protect a 1-0 lead in the third inning. The White Sox ace gave up a two-out solo homer to Jones. The drive to left-center on a 2-0 fastball just carried into the seats, tying the score.
While this was purely ceremonial, it continued a downturn in performance for Baldwin. He lost three of his last four starts in the first half, including an eight-run shelling at Wrigley Field on Saturday. Baldwin did get the win Tuesday night, though.
Sammy Sosa couldn’t add an encore to Monday’s home run contest, going 0 for 3. He stranded four runners, only one of which was in scoring position.
“I was just trying to make contact,” Sosa said. “You have to understand that you’re facing some of the All-Star pitching, too. It’s nothing like BP. … But I made some good swings, and they made some good pitches.”
Jeter’s third hit broke a 1-1 tie. It was a liner to center field off Al that scored Jermaine Dye and Travis Fryman, giving the AL a 3-1 lead.
Leiter, the New York Mets’ ace, walked Dye to start the inning. Fryman followed with a single and shortstop Barry Larkin booted a potential double-play ball, loading the bases. Leiter got Roberto Alomar to pop up for the first out, but Jeter made him pay.
Before the two-run single, Jeter had doubled down the left-field line off Johnson and grounded a single up the middle off Brown. Jeter hasn’t had an especially great first half, hitting .322 with nine homers and 37 runs batted in.
Jeter scored the game’s first run. It came when Brown walked Boston’s Carl Everett with the bases loaded in the third inning.
Starting pitchers Johnson and David Wells worked only one and two innings, respectively. They both came out throwing strikes.
Johnson, who had only one day off after a Sunday start, needed only eight pitches to get through his one inning. He gave up a double to Jeter but blew away the left-handed-hitting Jason Giambi to get back to the dugout.
Wells allowed a single to Jones in the first and Jim Edmonds in the second. He ended both innings with strikeouts, getting both Sosa and Pittsburgh catcher Jason Kendall to take off-speed pitches for third strikes.
“When you get ahead in the count, you can throw anything up there,” Wells said. “When you get these guys with their bats on their shoulder, it’s a nice feeling.”
Jeter shared the excitement.
“You get butterflies before the game,” he said. “It’s a situation where you have the best players in baseball here. You want to have fun, but you also want to do well. But the No. 1 priority I think is just to come out here and give the fans a good show.”
