A-Rod and His Heady April Bat Head to Fenway
April 20, 2007— -- Nah. Can't be. Alex Rodriguez hit another home run? Wait -- not just another dinger, but another walk-off, drama-king homer that traveled almost as far as the quickie charter flight the New York Yankees took to Boston immediately after Thursday afternoon's come-from-behind victory.
This time A-Rod sent a nothing pitch from a one-time Maidenform bra factory worker into the far reaches of Yankee Stadium. One moment the pitch was leaving the right hand of Cleveland Indians closer Joe Borowski, who took the mound in the bottom of the ninth with a 6-2 lead. The next moment the ball was clearing the center-field wall, the Yankees were celebrating another improbable victory, and Rodriguez was taking a dugout curtain call after his mind-boggling 10th home run in just 14 games.
One Man Show
A-Rod is an offense all his own. With No. 10 behind him, Rodriguez has more home runs alone than eight MLB teams have combined.
As the Yankees prepare for the first of six series meetings with the division-leading Red Sox, there is absolutely no disagreement as to why New York is 8-6 rather than the other way around, or worse. They are being carried on the previously fragile shoulders of Rodriguez, who is shoving Barry Bonds, Dice-K, the Philadelphia Phillies Phree-fall -- and anyone else to temporary baseball irrelevancy.
A-Rod leads the big leagues in homers, RBIs, and Standing Ovations. His 10 dingers are only four shy of the April record set by Albert Pujols a season ago. With just 10 games remaining in April, I'd say he has no chance at the 20-home run month set by Sammy Sosa in June of 1998, but apparently this is the new and ungodly improved Rodriguez.
Of course, the only reason he made it to the plate in the bottom of the ninth Thursday was because Borowski ralphed on himself. The likeable, blue-collar reliever retired the first two Yankees hitters and then gave up a so-what homer to Josh Phelps. But then came a single by Jorge Posada, a Johnny Damon walk, a Derek Jeter single, a Bobby Abreu single, and then the three-run A-Rod rocket launch.
