NEW YORK – It was more than two decades ago when Derek Jeter, running at full speed in pursuit of a pop fly against the Red Sox, made a fateful decision – he would not slow, permitting the field-level seats at Yankee Stadium to serve as his landing pad.
Jeter emerged a bloodied hero that night in the summer of 2003, a play distilled to two words – ‘The Dive’ – that scarcely escaped mention in his career write-ups over the years to come. Of course Ryan McMahon has seen the highlight. Everyone has.
“No, we’re not going to do that,” McMahon said after the Yankees’ 4-0 win in Thursday’s Game 3 of the American League Wild Card Series, with a laugh. “That’s a completely different scale. But thank you.”
The Yankees should be the ones thanking McMahon, whose fearless sprint to secure Jarren Duran’s eighth-inning pop-up was arguably the defensive play of the series.
“That’s why we got him,” captain Aaron Judge said. “You go out there and get the best [defensive] third baseman for a reason. He’s come up with some big clutch hits for us throughout the year; he had a walk-off already. It’s plays like that in crunch time. That’s why you go out there and get a guy like that.”
Playing behind Cam Schlittler in his final inning of a magnificent 12-strikeout performance, McMahon hit the railing at full speed, flipping into a sea of Boston red occupying the visiting dugout.
“The adrenaline kicked in and I didn’t really feel anything,” McMahon said. “I’m sure I hit everything in that dugout, though. I was just excited to get out of there after I caught it.”
“To be here playing games with these guys, in front of this crowd — the place was electric all night,” McMahon said. “It’s really fun.”
