The Derek Jeter Game

Derek Jeter (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The American League defeated the National League 5-3 Tuesday night in The Derek Jeter Game (also known as the 85th Major League Baseball All-Star Game) at Minneapolis, thus achieving home field advantage for the World Series.

The focus of this game, Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees, obliged by hitting a double and a single in his two at-bats.  Then he was ceremoniously replaced in the fourth inning to thunderous applause from the Target Field crowd, applying the famous "Minnesota Nice" touch to a man they would otherwise refer to as "that Yankee jerk" whenever his team played the Twins--or in much stronger language than we use here.

Jeter, who's currently on his season-long Retirement Tour after two decades in Yankee pinstripes (in much the same manner as Mariano Rivera last season), is a great player who certainly deserves the Hall of Fame-worthy career he has had.  All-time Yankee hit leader.  Team captain since 2003. A five-time World Series champion.

But Jeter is also baseball's most enigmatic player.  In this age of social media, sports talk radio and the tabloid press, Jeter has somehow managed the feat of keeping his life to himself.  Which is tough to do when you play in New York City.  According to some reports, even his teammates don't know him.

Major League Baseball seemed to have built this All-Star Game around Jeter, but at the expense of recently deceased icons such as Tony Gwynn and Don Zimmer.  Jeter's first at-bat, for all intents and purposes, was sponsored by Nike.  Gwynn and Zimmer?  Gwynn played his entire career with the San Diego Padres, and Zimmer was a lovable old coot who spent several decades in baseball in various roles.  But the Padres aren't the Yankees, and there's no money in marketing the dead.

So when the season ends and the last cap is tipped, Derek Jeter will fade into baseball history.  He will be remembered by teammates, opponents and fans alike for his competitiveness and his class.  Which is something Major League Baseball should also learn when it comes to honoring its legends, whether they played in New York or not.

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The circus has left the Twin Cities, and Target Field will once again host a Minnesota Twins team that wants to believe they have a shot at an American League Wild Card playoff spot.  Problem is, they are 44-50 and 10 1/2 behind the division-leading Detroit Tigers.

Pitcher Glen Perkins and catcher Kurt Suzuki distinguished themselves in The Derek Jeter Game by shutting down the National League in the ninth inning to preserve the American League's victory.  They, along with Phil Hughes, Brian Dozier and Sam Fuld have been bright spots for yet another Twins team beset by injuries and incompetence.  Even the acquisition of Kendrys Morales has been a disappointment so far.

If the Twins come out of the gate running in the second half of the season, a lot of us who wrote this team off will be in for a big surprise.  If they stumble?  To paraphrase former Vikings coach Dennis Green, the Twins are who we thought they were.