TORONTO – It’s always something more than what you see looking at Alex Rodriguez. There is never just one issue when baseball’s best player is in the picture.
He has hoisted the Yankees on his shoulders and delivered them to October’s doorstep. Only the month has been very cruel to Rodriguez in pinstripes. After three years of getting his ears blistered with boos at Yankee Stadium, Rodriguez has won over the masses. Only the adoration comes on the verge of him opting out of the final three years of his contract, becoming a free agent and splitting The Bronx.
Maybe it’s the Tortured Genius Syndrome, but it’s not easy being A-Rod. Not even when you lead the majors with 52 homers and 140 RBIs and have moved into the Top 10 in the AL batting average race at .318 going into tonight’s action against the Blue Jays at Rogers Centre.
While the issues bubble, it has looked ridiculously easy for Rodriguez at the plate recently. Starting this past Tuesday after the Yankees had dropped three of four and had their wild-card lead slashed to one game by Seattle, Rodriguez took the Yankees on his broad – and thick-skinned – shoulders and carried them on a five-game winning streak that stretched their lead to four games over the Tigers going into Detroit’s tilt against Toronto last night and guaranteed Rodriguez will win his second AL MVP award in three seasons and third of his career.
“He is the biggest kid in Little League, a man amongst boys, whatever you want to use, you can use it,” Johnny Damon said of Rodriguez, who is batting .579 (11-for-19) with seven homers and nine RBIs in the five-game winning streak, including .500 (3-for-6) with three homers and six RBIs with runners in scoring position. Naturally, he was named AL Player of the Week. “I wish I was on base for more of the (homers).”
Ah, the sexy long ball.
A week ago nobody believed Rodriguez had a chance to challenge Roger Maris’ Yankees and AL record of 61 home runs. Now? You would be foolish to bet against it. Maris had 56 homers after 143 games; Rodriguez has 52. However, the pitching Maris faced was a lot better than today’s slop.
Third base coach Larry Bowa spent years playing next to Mike Schmidt, who hit 548 homers. However, Rodriguez’s power spree is different.
“I saw Mike get hot but not like this,” Bowa said. “This is silly. It’s almost like Little League. That’s what it looks like when he gets up there.”
What might become Rodriguez’s biggest challenge is the Blue Jays’ pitchers not challenging him. With No. 5 hitter Hideki Matsui ice cold (2-for-27; .074), Rodriguez may not see many strikes.
He can accept the walk or expand the strike zone and chase, something that leads to slumps. Of course, should Matsui warm or Joe Torre insert the sizzling Jorge Posada behind A-Rod, pitchers will have to throw strikes to Rodriguez and pay the price.
All weekend in Kansas City, Rodriguez called it a “magical season” but says the focus is on getting into October and winning a World Championship.
Yet, somebody who has known him longer than anybody in the Yankees’ organization says the seed for this monster year was planted last October when Rodriguez hit .071 (1-for-14) against the Tigers in the ALDS, won by Detroit in four games, and when Torre dropped A-Rod to eighth for the final game.
“He remembers a lot,” Rodriguez’s high school teammate Doug Mientkiewicz said. “He remembers the feeling he had last year. He pushed so hard to do this because he never forgot the last year and how he finished.”