Yankee Stadium

He has plied his trade a continent away, and maybe that distance has dimmed our appreciation. But now that Derek Jeter has 3,000 hits, it gives us reason to say what needs to be said about this magnificent Yankee. Wow. Well done. Impressive beyond words. Also, thanks for being what you are and who you are. In that magic early afternoon of July 9, with the memory and remains of old Yankee Stadium looming across the street, the seats filled in new Yankee Stadium, All-Star David Price of the Tampa Bay Rays on the mound and the count 3 and 2, Jeter went from legendary to mystical.

He is Mr. November, and every other month in which major league baseball is played. He has more hits than Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, a higher career batting average than Mickey Mantle and a higher postseason average than Joe DiMaggio. And it won't be long before Derek Jeter is a new lord of New York Yankees lore. With six more hits, the shortstop will become the first player to collect 3,000 hits while playing exclusively with the most storied franchise in baseball. He could resume his pursuit as soon as Monday against the Cleveland Indians after spending the last three weeks on the disabled list because of a strained right calf.

Ichiro Suzuki was not in the starting lineup for the Seattle Mariners for Friday night's game against the Detroit Tigers. Manager Eric Wedge said he wanted to give his slumping outfielder the night off, although he did not rule out the possibility that Suzuki would pinch-hit or pinch-run. Suzuki has played in 255 consecutive games, the third-longest streak in team history. Suzuki, who is hitting .252 this season, didn't speak to reporters before the game. He's hitting .149 since May 19. Etc. Atlanta left fielder Martin Prado has been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a staph infection in his right calf.

A wave of ballpark construction that began in 1991 with Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field has resulted in 21 big league stadiums being built in the last two decades. Yet it's unlikely any of them will match the charm or history of Boston's ageless Fenway Park. BEST 1. PNC PARK (Pittsburgh, opened in 2001): Breathtaking view of the Pittsburgh skyline and Allegheny River help fans overlook the poor team. 2. AT&T PARK (San Francisco, 2000): Few things are better than watching a homer land in McCovey Cove while you eat garlic fries.

"Road trip!" The phrase tugs at the heartstrings of all dedicated baseball fans. It ignites a desire to see the home nine do battle on rival turf or, at the very least, a chance to check out other stadiums and confirm what they already know ("It was OK ... but our ballpark is better"). As major league baseball gears up for season openers — on Thursday the Dodgers host their eternal rivals the San Francisco Giants, while the Angels are in Kansas City against the Royals — the lure of the road beckons anew.

While senior quarterback Mitch Mustain remains on track to start for USC for the first time Saturday against Notre Dame, freshman Tommy Rees is preparing for his third start for the Fighting Irish. Don't expect Rees to be overcome by playing in a historic stadium. Taking over for injured starter Dayne Crist , he made his first start at home in the shadow of Touchdown Jesus. Then came a neutral site matchup at Yankee Stadium against Army. Now, Rees ? who lived in California as a boy when his father, Bill , served as a UCLA assistant and recruiting coordinator ?

Let's be honest: This weekend is just killing time until next weekend, when a season's field could get flipped at Tuscaloosa's Iron Bowl and Reno's "Biggest Little Football Game in the World," Boise State at Nevada. Now is time to muse, reflect, relax, and take in a ballgame at Wrigley Field. As Ernie Banks said about ballparks hosting college football games ? "Let's play two. " America's pass time Illinois and Northwestern are exchanging lineup cards Saturday at Wrigley Field.

When Curtis Granderson was growing up in Chicago and imagining those backyard ninth-inning walk-off World Series homers, were the New York Yankees the hated opposition? "Really, there was no other team," he said. "I was playing for the Braves, but there was never another team. " Granderson is grown now and playing for the Yankees, not the Atlanta Braves. But he might have a chance to hit a walk-off home run in the World Series ? if the New Yorkers can survive the best-of-seven American League Championship Series that starts Friday against the Rangers in Arlington, Texas.

Enough is enough with the Joe Torre praise. I for one am glad he is leaving and I would offer to take him to the airport to make certain he did leave. Before you start calling this guy a Hall of Famer, here are the facts: Take away his Yankee years (where he had unlimited funds and unlimited talent), he is a sub-.500 manager. He has never taken a team not called the Yankees to the World Series. Joe Girardi won a title with the same team Torre couldn't during his last seven years as a manager.

Barbara Kopple's "The House of Steinbrenner," the latest in the ESPN documentary series "30 for 30," in which notable filmmakers look at sports events and figures of the last three decades — over the life of ESPN, in other words — is a tale of two ballparks: the old Yankee Stadium, born 1923, and the one that replaced it next door in 2009. It's a lightweight but affecting little film, about time and tradition and torches passed, that doesn't get into any of the controversies over the new stadium's gestation or delve too deeply into the being of the team's late, brand-defining principal owner, George Steinbrenner, a figure loved or hated in New York in direct proportion to how well his team performed.