The Monday Night Bleacher Report

It’s been well noted that the Yankees have had to deal with injury after injury the first half of the season. It’s almost the All-Star break and I think all of the players that were out at the start of the season are still on the DL today. But this weekend Yankee fans got to see their Captain on the field again. No, it wasn't at Yankee Stadium taking on the Orioles. Saturday, Derek Jeter took the field for the first time in nine months, playing for the Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.  In five innings he went 0- for -2 with a walk. Sunday he recorded his first hit for the 2013 season, going 1- for -2 with 2 walks. The Yankee organization is saying he will be back after the All-Star game. I know I can’t wait to see him back out there again. I mean, come on, isn't he just the cutest thing ever?

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The three walks Jeter got this weekend makes me wonder what the younger pitchers are thinking when they are facing a future hall of famer. Are they determined to strike him out, proving, if only to themselves that they are good enough to play at a high level? Or are they left just as satisfied when someone like Jeter gets a hit off of them, because they consider themselves lucky to play on the same field as that person? Sometimes when I’m watching Mariano Rivera pitch I ask myself that question, except it’s aimed at the batter. As a fan of baseball I would take the broken bat any day if it came as a result of Mo’s cutter. So that’s my question to you this week. What would be going through your mind if you were a young pitcher, and had to face Derek Jeter? Or what about having to stand 60 feet, 6 inches away from Mo? I get butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it. :)

~ Be sure to hop on over to my fellow author friend, Eden Connor's blog. I'm sure she's going to brag on her Braves a little, and maybe share another chapter from Guarding the Line.

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