Alex Rodriguez‘s first two hits of this AL Division Series may have seemed unsung, but they were important.
He hit only a pair of singles last night in the Yankees’ 8-4 Game 3 victory over the Indians, but considering Rodriguez had been hitless in Games 1 and 2 and in his last 19 playoff at-bats overall, the fact that the MVP-to-be finally broke his incredible skid was enormous.
“I felt comfortable,” Rodriguez said. “I tried not to do too much.”
He had succeeded in doing less than that in the first two games of the series. Rodriguez went 0-for-6 in those games, having reached base only two times thanks to a pair of Game 1 walks. But Doug Mientkiewicz said Rodriguez, his long-time buddy, seemed “just more relaxed” in Game 3, and the superstar third baseman stopped his slide in his first turn at the plate.
Leading off the second inning against Jake Westbrook, Rodriguez lined a single to left-center. He was promptly erased on Jorge Posada’s double play and his next at-bat in the fourth ended with a fly to left.
But Rodriguez’s third at-bat was huge.
In the sixth with the Yankees leading 5-3, he ignited the Yankees’ game-clinching rally. He reached on an infield single, beating out a grounder to short. This time, Posada followed with a single and two batters later, Robinson Cano – with help from Trot Nixon – cleared the bases. Cano smacked an RBI single and Nixon’s error let two more runs score.
Rodriguez struck out in his final at-bat, and his numbers for the series are 2-for-10 with two walks – not overly impressive. But beggars can’t be choosers and at least Rodriguez showed promise last night.
Not that everyone was shocked.
“He’s going to come through,” Mientkiewicz said Saturday of his high school friend, “I promise.”
After last night’s win, Rodriguez was asked if the team’s offensive burst could continue tonight in Game 4.
“Yeah, if we try not to do too much,” he said. “For the most part, we did the little things.”
Rodriguez did the little things, starting two innings with singles. The first one led to nothing. The second ensured the victory.
Additional reporting
by George King