The sense of dread was growing at Yankee Stadium when Alex Rodriguez stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Yankees led the Red Sox, 3-1, but the prospect of Kyle Farnsworth warming up in the bullpen was enough to make Yankees fan squirm in their seats.
Then Rodriguez made them leave those seats. A-Rod drilled his 44th home run of the season, a solo shot on a 1-0 curveball from Josh Beckett that sent the Boston starter to the showers and gave the Yankees breathing room.
“Alex’s home run was huge,” Joe Torre said. “That sort of got the momentum back on our side. It made us feel more secure.”
That security would be needed. Sure enough, Farnsworth made Rodriguez’s home run matter when the reliever gave up a two-run homer to Kevin Youkilis in the eighth that made the score 4-3, which is how the game ended.
“You don’t want to leave it to chance,” Rodriguez said. “You want to make sure you build on the lead and that’s a great team over there.”
Rodriguez’s home run to left field gave him a measure of redemption after a running blunder in the third inning cost the Yankees a run. Rodriguez led off the inning with a single to the left-field corner and took a big turn around first base. Eric Hinske, playing instead of injured Manny Ramirez, cut off the ball and made a strong throw to second baseman Dustin Pedroia, who then gunned a throw to first baseman Youkilis to tag out diving Rodriguez.
One batter later, Hideki Matsui tripled. If Rodriguez had been on base, the Yankees would have had a commanding 4-0 lead. Instead, Matsui was stranded at third and the feeling of impending bullpen doom grew even with Roger Clemens mowing down batters with the ease of one of his minor league starts in May.
For Rodriguez, last night’s homer in a big game may have been something out of the ordinary – had it come last season. Now it has become the ordinary. Rodriguez’s MVP candidacy is gaining speed as the Yankees come down the stretch. He leads the American League in home runs, RBIs (124) and runs (121).
Rodriguez started his night looking at a called third strike from Beckett to end the first inning. After his base-running flub in the third, he hit into a double play in the fifth.