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MVP winner in a Yankee Stadium dugout tries to seduce a beautiful woman sitting in the good seats with a souvenir baseball. Where have we seen this before?
Yes, Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander’s layup pitch to his supermodel girlfriend, the human curveball Kate Upton, during Monday night’s game in the Bronx called to mind one of Alex Rodriguez’s legendary stunts: When he tried to score two female fans’ digits by tossing them a note on a baseball.
But other than the basic dimensions of their flirt game, everything’s different about Verlander’s adorable gesture and A-Rod’s sneaky ruse. Let us count the ways:
Target
Verlander: Swimsuit model Kate Upton
A-Rod: Swimsuit model Kyna Treacy (and friend)
Objective
Verlander: A gift for his girlfriend
A-Rod: A phone number for his triple-play try
Game situation
Verlander: Fourth inning, relatively meaningless regular-season game on Aug. 4
A-Rod: Extra innings, 2012 American League Championship Series Game 1
Job that day
Verlander: Glorified spectator — not pitching until Wednesday
A-Rod: Removed for pinch-hitter after helpless 0-for-3
Target (sorry, let’s try this again)
Verlander: Kate freakin’ Upton
A-Rod: Two Australian ladies
Karma?
Verlander: Detroit cruising along in first place
A-Rod: Derek Jeter broke his ankle minutes later, dooming Yankees to series sweep