“Enjoy it for a couple of days, fellas, but we have three more to go . . . this is not the final chapter.”DEREK JETER
CHICAGO – As a river of champagne flowed from the bottle in The Captain’s hands and headed toward the outer fringes of the frolicking Yankees’ circle, Derek Jeter delivered a message that couldn’t have been truer.
“Enjoy it for a couple of days, fellas, but we have three more to go,” Jeter yelled to his AL East champion teammates who clinched their sixth straight title with a 7-0 victory over the White Sox last night in front of 31,305 at U.S. Cellular Field.
Jeter has been through seven AL East clinchings and never felt the need to speak as he sprayed champagne. So why last night?
“This is not the final chapter,” Jeter said later at his locker after the champagne showers had stopped. “You are happy to be in the postseason but just getting there doesn’t do it.”
Normally, those who do the least celebrate the hardest. But in the ring of Yankees at the far end of the clubhouse were some of the biggest names in the Yankees’ universe. Joining Jeter were Alfonso Soriano, Hideki Matsui, Jason Giambi, David Wells and Mariano Rivera. Finally, after the rockiest regular season in the Joe Torre Era, the Yankees were rid of the plucky Red Sox and able to exhale.
For most of the night it looked as if the Yankees weren’t going to need a victory to clinch since the O’s led the Red Sox for eight innings in Boston. However, the Red Sox tied the score in their last at-bat and won it in extra innings. So, it was up to the Yankees to do it themselves . . . and they did.
When they were bounced in the first round last year by the eventual World Champion Angels, George Steinbrenner vowed changes would be made. Last night two of them played huge roles in securing the Yankees’ 11th divisional crown.
Cuban refugee Jose Contreras, who signed a four-year, $32 million contract, provided eight shutout innings and Hideki Matsui, who was lured out of Japan for three years and $21 million, drove in a run with a two-out single in the sixth when the Yankees were clinging to a 1-0 lead. Contreras, who allowed four hits and fanned a career-high nine, is 7-2 overall and 6-1 as a starter.
Jason Giambi, who started the game in a 1-for-13 funk, hit a grand slam in the ninth to highlight a five-run inning that included Juan Rivera’s fourth homer. It was Giambi’s 40th. Nick Johnson hit his 14th off loser Mark Buehrle in the first.
The Yankees likely will open the best-of-five ALDS Tuesday at Yankee Stadium against the Twins. Mike Mussina will start Game 1. The only way they won’t play the Twins is if the Red Sox flush their wild-card lead over Seattle.
“My congratulations to Joe Torre and the Yankees,” George Steinbrenner said. “I know Joe will be ready to take on the next challenge.”
Torre, who has sparred with The Boss in public more this year and has admitted the year hasn’t always been fun, said being around his players makes it worthwhile.
“Winning never gets old, it chokes me up,” Torre said. “We are the Yankees and nobody is ever going to feel sorry for us so this is quite an achievement. Hopefully, this is a small celebration and there is more to come.”
In other cities, divisional titles are colossal achievements. Around the Yankees, they fall somewhere between a yawn and a scratch because Jeter’s message was correct – there better be a lot more champagne stinging a lot more eyes.