Once a week until Derek Jeter gets his 3,000th hit, we’ll take a quick and dirty look at which game we anticipate he’ll get it in, based on his 2011 numbers to that point. Obviously, buy tickets (or fly to some random city) at your own risk, especially since a lot can change in the coming weeks: Jeter could get hotter or colder, games could be rained out, he could get more frequent days off, or be dropped in the batting order, or get hurt, or whatever. But just for fun …
• Jeter has 40 hits through the Yankees’ first 40 games this year, or one hit per team game.
• Jeter has 2,966 career hits, and needs 34 more to get to 3,000.
• At this rate, it’ll take 34 team games to get there.
• And so at this rate, he’ll get to 3,000 on June 24, at home, against the Rockies. Jeter, by the way, collected just four hits since last Wednesday’s projections. (He hit just .129 over those seven games.) But Jeter and the Yankees begin a two game set in Baltimore tonight, and, as we learned from Newsday’s nifty Jeter hit finder, he’s got more hits against the Orioles in his career than any other team (299), as well as more hits in Camden Yards than at any ballpark not named Yankee Stadium (156).
Previous projections:
5/4: June 28, vs. the Brewers
5/11: June 17, vs. the Cubs