Auburn – "Perfect Two" (2011)

You can be the captain

And I can be your first mate

Earlier this summer, my son and his wife took me to a baseball game for my birthday.

The hometown Nationals were hosting my beloved Yankees, so made sure I got to the stadium early enough to see Alex Rodriguez and his teammates take batting practice:

A-Rod connects during batting practice

After batting practice ended, I had time to stroll around the stadium and do a little shopping.  (Some of you ladies are going to be very happy come Christmas!)

I also had plenty of time to check out the food and drink offerings at Nationals Stadium.

I had no interest in this vendor's vegetarian offerings.  (Does a veggie chicken cheesesteak have veggie chicken and veggie cheese?  Or just veggie chicken?)  "Fan favorites" my ass.

The menu at the grilled cheese sandwich kiosk was more to my liking:

This beer stand offered up excellent beers from four local craft breweries:

I like grilled cheese sandwiches and good beer as much as the next guy.  But since 1995, the best thing about going to a Yankees game was seeing the incomparable Derek Jeter in action.

Sadly, the Captain retired at the end of last season.  Never again will the "Perfect Two" (to borrow from the title of today's featured song) don the pinstripes and take the field for the Bronx Bombers.  

(Sigh . . .)

But as I walked through the crowd at Nationals Park that evening, I saw Derek Jeter wherever I looked:

He was here:

(He's not really Derek Jeter)

He was there:

(She's not Derek Jeter either)

He was everywhere:

(He's definitely not Derek Jeter)

Once I even saw two Derek Jeters standing side-by-side, hoping to snag a ball during batting practice:

(Neither of them is Derek Jeter)

Seeing all these wannabe Derek Jeters, I was reminded of this verse from the Kinks' "No More Looking Back":

Is it something playing tricks with my eyes
Or just an illusion deceiving me?
Or is it someone in a disguise
Or visions of things that used to be?

Unfortunately, the answer to those questions was "yes," "yes," "yes," and "yes."

In the midst of the multitude of Jeter jerseys I saw that night, a young woman wearing an Adam Warren jersey stood out.

Adam Warren is a young pitcher who toiled in relative obscurity in the Yankee bullpen in 2013 and 2014.  This year, he was promoted to the starting rotation, and it was his turn to start the night I saw the Yankees face off against the Nats.

Adam Warren's sister

I thought maybe the woman in the #43 jersey was Adam Warren's wife and girlfriend.  I asked her about the jersey, and she told me that she was Adam Warren's sister.  (She must have been very proud of her brother's performance that night.  He pitched very well.)

Given that the game was played in Washington, there were plenty of fans in Nats jerseys.  Here's a guy in an Anthony Rendon jersey:

(My favorite National is Rendon, who played in college for my alma mater, Rice University.) 

The Yankees ending up losing by a run that night.  (Don't blame Adam Warren for the defeat.  He gave his team an excellent performance, and I'm sure his sister was thrilled to see him pitch so well.)

But what saddened me much more than seeing my Yankees lose was watching them play without Derek Jeter on the roster for the first time in 20 years.  

Will I ever see a player in pinstripes who is as great as Derek Jeter was?  Anything's possible, but I can't believe that I will.

I tried to put melancholy thoughts out of my mind by heading out after the game with my #1 drinking buddy, Nite Owl Ray:

Nite Owl Ray – a fun guy!

As we left the stadium, I sang another verse from "No More Looking Back" to myself:

No more looking back

No more living in the past
Yesterday's gone and that's a fact
Now there's no more looking back

But I'm just fooling myself if I think I'm going to be able to refrain from looking to the years when Derek Jeter played for the Yankees.  :-(

Auburn (who was born Auburn Williams in Minneapolis in 1990) released "Perfect Two" as a single in 2011.

There are two versions of the song – a "breakup" version ("There's nothing we can do/We're not the perfect two") and a "best friends" version ("Baby, me and you/We're the perfect two").  

I'm featuring the "best friends" version, of course.  I would never break up with Derek Jeter!

Here's "Perfect Two":

(87 million views?  That's c-r-a-z-y!)

Click below to buy the song from Amazon: