The captain's dramatic Bronx return

For all that Derek Jeter is and has been to the New York Yankees and game of baseball, no one will mistake him for a vaunted power hitter. A guy with a pension for capturing a moment with the long ball - that's a different story. 

"He's a movie," manager Joe Girardi said about his star shortstop.

The Yankee captain was Oscar-worthy Sunday against the Rays, knocking a solo shot just over the wall in right-centerfield on the first pitch of his first at-bat back from the DL.

The Rays know the scene all too well. Just two years ago, Jeter notched his 3,000th hit in dramatic fashion with his first homer at Yankee Stadium in nearly an entire year. 

"I didn't want to hit a slow roller to third base and have it be replayed forever," Jeter said that day. 

That would not be the way of Jeter, a man who earned the nickname Mr. November for his historic home run in the 2001 World Series.

His return dinger Sunday also brought back memories of one of the most memorable - and controversial - of his career in the 1996 ALDS against the Orioles. Just as 12-year-old Jeffrey Maier ensured Jeter's drive reached the seats at the old stadium, a fan in the new stadium for the weekend set's final game made sure there would be no doubt of a home run, reaching his glove perilously close to past the ledge of the right field wall and snatching the ball.

With one pitch and swing of the bat, Jeter injected some early life into an up-and-down team much in need of it, at risk of a sweep against the white-hot Rays. Jeter's solo shot set off a three-run inning to give the Bronx Bombers an early lead, a day after a 1-0 loss in which they mustered only two hits. 

And here's some more statistical significance from ESPN Stats and Info: "Derek Jeter is 1st Yankees right-handed batter w/ a HR since Jayson Nix on June 25 vs Rangers. It's the 1st Yankees HR since All-Star break." 

Jeter won't be anywhere close to Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds on the all-time home run list whenever he decides to step away from the game. Where Jeter thrives in the home run count, however, is not in bulk but bravado.

Like Byung-Hyun Kim, Tony Tarasco and teammate David Price, Rays pitcher Matt Moore now too knows the feeling of being unwittingly cast as a supporting actor in a Jeter picture.