Via Richard Griffin –
What’s most important to Yankee fans is that A-Rod has had a stunning season on the field and deserves serious consideration for AL MVP. After missing the first 28 games while recovering from hip surgery, he returned on May 8 as New York sat third in the AL East with a record of 13-15. The rest of the way the Bombers went 90-44.
Consider that in the sixth inning of the season’s final game, he hit a three-run homer and a grand slam to finish with 30 homers and 100 RBIs for the 12th straight season. In the dugout as the inning was unfolding, he told teammates he would need a slam in order to do it. Then he went out and hit one.
A-Rod hit 15 homers and had 50 RBIs that either tied a game or put the Yankees in the lead. He has had six walk-off homers in his Yankee career. While A-Rod was out of action rehabbing his hip, prized free-agent acquisition Mark Teixeira struggled. As soon as Rodriguez returned, Teixeira took off and ended the season tied for the AL lead in homers with 39 and leading the league in RBIs with 122.
A-Rod’s image turnaround started with his mea culpa press conference at the start of spring training in which he confessed to limited steroid use, much as Andy Pettitte had the spring before. If fans forgave Pettitte, and they did, it would have been hypocritical not to cut A-Rod some slack, even though his confession was full of holes.
The exclamation point to his personal reclamation came in Game 1 against the Twins. Riding a 29-at-bat hitless streak with runners on base and with just one post-season RBI in 13 games since 2004, Rodriguez lined a two-out single into the gap in left-centre. As he rounded first, he gave a huge fist-pump of relief and the crowd, in turn, gave him a thunderous ovation.
“The only person who can change you is you,” Mr. October said in wrapping up his evaluation of A-Rod’s turnaround. “He’s signed up. If you evolve in New York, you become a hero. The people want him to be a hero – it’s that simple.”
Here’s what I don’t get…
In 2007, his “opt-out” season, A-Rod had one of the best seasons that a big league batter could hope to ever post. And, that season, he was huge in the clutch, winning games with big hits, left and right…
And, in Game 1 of the 2007 ALDS, Rodriguez wasn’t terrible – walking twice in four plate appearances…
So, to date, what’s the difference between 2007 and 2009 for A-Rod. Both clutch seasons, both decent starts in the ALDS, etc. And, this leads to this question: Should we have been saying, after Game 1 of the 2007 ALDS, that Alex had “evolved” and had become a “hero”?
If “no,” then why are we hearing it now? If “yes,” then, why are we saying it again now? This is either a non-story or a repeated story, when you consider 2007, etc., and do the compare…
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