SEATTLE — We can send the cover from this month’s GQ and a tape of this first week at Safeco Field. Just put them in a time capsule now to be open at Y3K to explain what baseball looked like at the start of this century.
Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Nomar Garciaparra are coverboys and Boys of Summer. Their identity is enhanced by what they do individually, but that they are doing it at the same moment in time as the others. Think about how the singular greatness of Russell and Chamberlain were embellished by each other or Ali and Frazier or Navratilova and Evert.
It is possible the three best all-around shortstops ever are playing right now and the oldest, Garciaparra, will not turn 27 until July, a month after Jeter turns 26 and the same month Rodriguez turns 25. They are the face of baseball, smiling in stylish garb from the front of the nation’s top male fashion magazine or welcoming the sport to a new season with six games in the Great Northwest — three of Garciaparra’s Red Sox vs. Rodriguez’s Mariners followed by three of Jeter’s Yankees vs. Seattle.
Last night, Jeter and Rodriguez revealed their prowess in a game of top this. Rodriguez hit a solo homer in the first, Jeter a two-run shot in the third and was robbed of a homer in the eighth by a Griffey-esque, over-the-fence catch in center by Mike Cameron. Seattle went on to win 7-5 because Rodriguez’s supporting cast was superior to Jeter’s.
Against Brooklyn’s John Halama, who lacks the fast in his fastball, the Yanks went hitless in five at-bats with runners in scoring position over six innings. Meanwhile, Andy Pettitte learned his lesson about pitching to Rodriguez after the first, though in the end that cost him, as well.
With Stan Javier up, one out and runners at first and second, Seattle manager Lou Piniella questionably ordered a double steal in the second. The runners were safe, but Javier struck out and that left a base open. So this time Pettitte walked A-Rod intentionally. He then struck out John Olerud with the bases loaded, pumping his fist as he did. That began a span in which Pettitte retired seven of eight Mariners.
That period ended when Pettitte unintentionally intentionally walked Rodriguez to open the fifth with the Yankees leading 3-2. But using his speed, Rodriguez scored from first on Jay Buhner’s one-out double and Joe Oliver hit a two-out, two-run homer to put Seattle up for good. Rodriguez’s sacrifice fly in the sixth added insurance.
Rodriguez needs to get used to being pitched around. He is now The Man here in The Great Northwest, with Ken Griffey having forced his way out to Cincinnati. A-Rod is a free agent at the end of this season, but Seattle has decided not to trade him now and not at the July trade deadline if it is in the race. The Mariners are hoping that being the unquestioned Man with Griffey gone, having the team built around him and the promise that they can probably pay him the most money will entice Rodriguez to stay.
Rodriguez says he has not made a decision, that he simply wants to fulfill his contract and have as good a season as possible in 2000. But people close to Rodriguez describe him as a Brewers-win-the-World-Series longshot to stay in Seattle. If the Dodgers decide that payroll considerations are no option, they become the favorites. Rodriguez has ties to New York, and the Mets could determine that the value of their franchise goes up dramatically with Rodriguez, a man who may chase both Pete Rose’s all-time hit record and Hank Aaron’s all-time homer record (it could be Griffey’s or Mark McGwire’s record by then) before he is through.
His homer yesterday was the 150th of his career and came at 24 years and 254 days old. That tied him with Mickey Mantle for quickest to 150, trailing only Mel Ott, Eddie Mathews and that guy Griffey again.
While they were together in Seattle, Rodriguez and Griffey enjoyed, at best, mutual respect, but very little warmth. They co-existed more than they bonded. So while Rodriguez does not have Griffey’s lineup protection, he also does not have to cope with life in the shadow anymore.
Piniella conceded there will be no way to replace Griffey’s offense, but he envisions his team as a “pitching and defensive” club now. Top to bottom, the Mariners may have the best pitching staff in the AL. Their lineup is more pesky than its booming Kingdome heydays. The difference maker, Piniella acknowledges, is Rodriguez. We are going to find out if he can carry a team.
Right now, with his pal Jeter and Garciaparra, he is carrying this sport forward. The term “The Three Shortstops” has become part of our vernacular like The Three Tenors or The Three Blind Mice or The Three Stooges. It is hard to think of one of these guys without the other two. It is about the litany of skills each of the trio possesses. But it also is about how each does business — their seriousness of purpose, palpable joy at playing this game and their team-oriented nature.
They are conscious of one another, pushing themselves further and further so as not to be left behind. Know that Jeter lifts all those off-season weights with some big part of his brain imagining himself as the power guy that Garciaparra and Rodriguez already are.
Their competition is friendly, yet fierce. They talk about the obligation they have to play hard and well and smart because the world is looking. And they have the best barometer of how they are doing — each other.