Upton's waiting game pays off

Friday, March 21, 2008 | Feedback | Print Entry

B.J. Upton had already pulled a home run down the left-field line against the Yankees' Kei Igawa on April 23, 2007. And when he shot a double down the right-field line later in the game, Derek Jeter was waiting for him at second base.

"You know what's so beautiful about that?" Jeter said to Upton. "Now they don't know what to do with you. You hit a home run to left, and then you hit a double down the line, and now [the pitcher] is asking himself, 'What I am going to do?'"

 
 

To continue reading this article you must be an Insider
  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

Links

Subscribe

RSS RSS Feed

Recent Updates

Archive

More