Friday's P.M. Hot Clicks: Digs Galore at the Ryder Cup

Author:
SI Staff
Publish date:
Sep 26, 2014

Hey everybody, Pete Blackburn here filling in for Andy and closing out the week with this edition of P.M. Hot Clicks. Hope the work week didn’t beat you down too much ... and if it did, feel free to yell mean things to me on Twitter (@PeteBlackburn) while you sip down your adult beverages this weekend.

Digs Galore At The Ryder Cup

A Fitting Farewell

Derek Jeter's Greatest Hits

September 25, 2014

Derek Jeter capped his Yankee Stadium farewell with a game-winning single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give New York a 6-5 victory over the Baltimore Orioles. The win secured the Yankees their 22nd consecutive winning season -- 20 of which included Jeter.

July 9, 2011

Jeter's 3,000th hit came in dramatic fashion. He became the second member of the 28-man club to mark his entrance with a home run, joining former teammate Wade Boggs. Jeter took the Rays' David Price deep in the third inning, the second hit of the day for No. 2 and at precisely 2 p.m.

September 11, 2009

In the first season at new Yankee Stadium, Jeter broke Lou Gehrig's 72-year-old record for the most hits in Yankees history with hit number 2,722, a ground-ball through the left side off Orioles rookie Chris Tillman leading off the third inning.

May 26, 2006

Jeter's 2,000th hit was accompanied by controversy. He hit a ball into the dirt in front of home plate but wound up on second base when Royals catcher Paul Bako made an errant throw. It was ruled a single and an error. Jeter then stole third on the next pitch and later scored on a single by Alex Rodriguez.

June 18, 2005

Through the first nine and a half seasons of his career, Jeter hit .336/.379/.403 with the bases loaded, but in 153 opportunities, he had never hit a grand slam. Until, that is, he went deep with the bags soaked against the Cubs' Joe Borowski, a one-out shot to left-center in the bottom of the sixth inning that remains his only career slam.

April 4, 2005

The only other walk-off home run of Jeter's career came in the second game of 2005, a solo shot to right-center leading off the bottom of the ninth against Red Sox closer Keith Foulke. It proved to be decisive in more ways than one. The Yankees didn't clinch the AL East until the second-to-last day of that season, ultimately doing so by virtue of their one-game advantage in head-to-head competition against the Red Sox after finishing the regular season tied with Boston.

October 31, 2001

Major league baseball had never been played in November before Jeter stepped to the plate against Diamondbacks closer Byung-Hyun Kim with two outs in the bottom of the 10th inning of Game 4 of the World Series. As the clock struck midnight, flipping the calendar to November, Jeter fell in, then battled out of, an 0-2 hole, and hit the ninth pitch of the at-bat just over the wall in rightfield for a game-winning solo home run, the first walk-off homer of his career. The blast earned Jeter the nickname "Mr. November."

October 25, 2000

The Yankees led the first Subway Series since 1956 two games to one but seemed to have lost the momentum after dropping Game 3. Then Jeter hit Bobby Jones' first pitch of Game 4 into Shea Stadium's leftfield bleachers for a home run. The Yankees won that game and the next to clinch their third consecutive world championship and fourth in Jeter's first five years as the Yankees' shortstop.

September 25, 2000

Jeter's 1,000th hit was a ground-ball single off Tigers' knuckleballer Steve Sparks with one out and a man on first in the bottom of the fifth at Yankee Stadium. It was the second of three hits he had in that game.

July 11, 2000

Jeter remains the only player ever to win All-Star and World Series MVP honors in the same season. He picked up the former thanks to a 3-for-3 performance as the AL's starting shortstop that was capped off by a tie-breaking, two-RBI, single to center off the Mets' Al Leiter in the top of the fourth at Turner Field. The AL won 6-3.

October 9, 1996

It should have been the second out of the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 1 of the 1996 ALCS. Instead, in one of the most famous blown calls in major league history, rightfield umpire Richie Garcia failed to notice 12-year-old Yankees fan Jeffrey Maier reaching over the fence to pull Jeter's fly ball to right over the wall. Jeter's first great postseason moment tied the game at 4; New York won in 11 and took the series in five games.

April 2, 1996

Handed the Yankees' shortstop job to start the 1996 season, Jeter silenced front-office doubts about his readiness on Opening Day in Cleveland. In his second at-bat of the season, he led off the top of the fifth by pulling a solo home run over Jacobs Field's leftfield wall. Jeter also impressed in the field as the Yankees won, 7-1. He then went 3-for-3 with a walk and a stolen base the next day. By season's end, he was the unanimous choice for AL Rookie of the Year.

May 30, 1995

After going 0-for-6 to start his major league career, Derek Jeter picked up his first hit in the fifth inning of his second major league game, at Seattle's Kingdome. Jeter led off the inning with a ground-ball single through the shortstop hole off the Mariners' Tim Belcher and ultimately came around to score his first run. He singled and scored in his next at-bat as well.

In case you missed it (you probably didn't), Derek Jeter played his final game at Yankee Stadium Thursday night and it was like something straight out of a cheesy sports movie. After the Yankees blew a three-run lead in the top of the ninth, the Captain delivered a game-winning walk-off single in the bottom frame for what was likely his last of many memorable hits as a Yankee. (Click here for the full-size gallery of his greatest hits. Jeter was obviously the star, but the night had some fantastic supporting roles as well, including Jeter's adorable young nephew, who tipped his 'RE2PECT' cap to his uncle during the post-game ceremonies, and the Yankees ball boy who sneakily pocketed a Jeter souvenir for himself. As tributes go, here's a great look at Jeter's career from A to Z.

Mets beat writer should play lottery

A Mets beat writer tweeted yesterday that the team was on the verge of becoming the first NL team to go a full season without balking in 15 years. You can probably guess what happened just minutes later.

Lovely Lady of the Day

While Andy is away, the Hot Clicks benchwarmers will be using the LLOD section to highlight Derek Jeter's incredibly impressive dating history. And since the A.M. Clicks stole my personal favorite Jeter flame, Minka Kelly, earlier today, I'm going with a very worthy runner-up: Jessica Alba. The actress happened to be one of my biggest childhood celebrity crushes and -- much like Jeter -- her legacy still holds up to this day. (Click here for a fullsized gallery.)

Floyd Mayweather being Floyd Mayweather

Floyd Mayweather has had a fun past few days on Instagram. First, the boxer posted a photo of him laying in bed with $1 million in cash, because of course, he did. But the real haymaker came Friday morning when Mayweather decided to call out Manny Pacquiao, saying "Miss Pac Man is broke and desperate for a pay day."

Odds & Ends

The Redskins sold expired World Cup beers at last night's game against the Giants...Michelle Beadle came to the defense of ESPN colleague Bill Simmons, but not everyone in Bristol still loves 'The Sports Guy'...According to Tommy LaSorda, you're probably going to hell if you don't root for the Dodgers...Bill Belichick doesn't know much about Mark Wahlberg...Phil Hughes turned down an easy $500,000 bonus from the Twins...Cigar Smokin' Michael Jordan is quickly becoming an awesome Internet meme...That Derek Jeter screencap with all the 2's? It's fake...Lebron's headband game is still outrageous despite his new hairline.

The Best Block You'll See This Week...

...did not come from this Arizona State lineman.

Off Pitch

The defenders on Arsenal's U19 squad were summoned to sing Drake's "Find Your Love" at a recent team dinner. It did not go well.

Pratt Pratt Pratt!

Chris Pratt will be hosting the 40th season premiere of Saturday Night Live this weekend, which might actually make SNL worth watching. To celebrate, here's seven minutes of charming intros:

Click here for previous editions of Hot Clicks