[新聞] With homer barrage, A-Rod turns jeers to cheers
From: http://www.gloucestertimes.com/pusports/local_story_113093911?page=0
With homer barrage, A-Rod turns jeers to cheers
Associated Press
Gloucester Daily Times
NEW YORK - Alex Rodriguez walked into the Yankees clubhouse, changed from
street clothes into uniform, grabbed a bat and hustled off to the batting
cage, never taking off the white earphones playing his music. When he got
back to his locker, he quickly moved into the trainer's room, then across the
back of the clubhouse to the players' lounge.
He wanted to talk as little as possible about what he's doing on the field,
one of the great starts in major league history.
A couple of hours later, for the second time in an 11-game span, he homered
with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to turn a loss into a
victory, taking a wild run around the bases at Yankee Stadium, arms raised,
smile showing off all those pearly white teeth, as fans screamed his name.
Finally, they're lauding him, not lambasting him.
For the first time, Rodriguez might be living up to the expectations created
when he signed a record $252 million, 10-year contract with the Texas Rangers
before the 2001 season.
Going into Saturday's game at Fenway Park, A-Rod was a Hot Rod, leading the
major leagues with 12 homers and 30 RBIs. He was batting .371 and his home
run pace matched Mike Schmidt in 1976 for the fastest in major league history.
Now, Yankees fans aren't dwelling on A-Rod's postseason failures of 2005 and
2006. He's turned the jeers to cheers, gotten people discussing whether he'll
eventually succeed Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds as the career home run leader.
He has 476 homers at age 31.
"I haven't seen anything like it before. It's like everything he hits is a
home run," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. "I can't relate because I can't
do it. It's one of the waves you hope you can ride for a long time."
The new, trimmer A-Rod even has his walkoff routine down as he flies around
the bases, slapping third-base coach Larry Bowa, flipping off his helmet and
getting mobbed by teammates as he approaches home plate.
"It kind of goes back to when you're 9, 10 years old, making a jackass out of
yourself when you're running around the bases, but you can't help yourself,"
Rodriguez said.
With a grand slam against Baltimore on April 7 and Thursday's three-run homer
against Cleveland, Rodriguez became the first player to twice hit homers that
turned losses into victories with one out remaining over such a short span
since the Brooklyn Dodgers' Dolph Camilli did it over seven games on Aug. 15
and 23, 1942, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
These cool April afternoons have been so different from the dark days of
winter. Following A-Rod's second straight postseason flop last October, there
was another offseason of discontent in the Bronx. Did Jeter need to embrace
A-Rod? Would Rodriguez exercise the opt-out clause in his contract after the
2007 season to escape the unrelenting pressure and microscope of the Yankees,
where the only lasting statistic is World Series rings?
Rodriguez spoke with his agent, Scott Boras, about what he should be doing.
Since he arrived at spring training, A-Rod has appeared far happier than
during his first three seasons with the Yankees.
"People keep wanting to know Alex Rodriguez, and my point was, they don't
need to know Alex Rodriguez," Boras said. "Your job is to perform as a
baseball player. What people need to know about you, you can choose to not
tell them or tell them. Don't feel any obligation to hold up a standard where
you have to be something off the field. Your job is to perform on the field."
Has he ever.
"He's showing his athletic ability. He's not concerned about making a
mistake," teammate Johnny Damon said. "He already knows he works harder than
anyone. He's put together better than anyone. So he's kind of just letting
his athletic ability take over."
From manager Joe Torre to general manager Brian Cashman to teammates, they
all say Rodriguez has been more at peace with himself since spring training.
On his first day at Legends Field, he dropped the pretense that he and Jeter
were still buddies away from the ballpark. He acknowledged that he liked
having the biggest contract. At some level, the narcissism that every top
athlete must have won out over the need to please.
"Just enjoying myself. I just wanted to come back and enjoy myself,
regardless of what happens, just enjoy it as much as I can," he said this
week. "Sometimes you try to force things and manipulate things. This game is
too hard to try to do all that."
Rodriguez won the AL MVP award for the second time in 2005 but he rarely
appeared comfortable last year. Fans booed him repeatedly, especially for his
24 errors. It was front-page news when he sunbathed shirtless on a hot day in
Central Park last July, then made three errors that night against Seattle.
His contract, the demands of Yankees fans and A-Rod's standards for himself
made it seem as though he walked to home plate with the Empire State Building
on one shoulder and the Statue of Liberty on the other.
A big September left him with a .290 batting average, 35 homers and 121 RBIs,
but then he went 1-for-14 against Detroit in the Yankees' first-round playoff
loss, dropping him to 4-for-41 (.098) without an RBI in his last 12
postseason games dating to 2004.
Rodriguez lost 12-14 pounds during the offseason and currently weights about
225, according to Boras. Kevin Long, the Yankees' new hitting coach, went to
Rodriguez's Miami home and worked with him in A-Rod's batting cage. They
shortened his swing, examined video, tried to cut down on upper- and
lower-body movement, worked on trying to swing less forcefully and with a
more technical approach.
A-Rod also concentrated on trying not to dwell on previous at-bats when he
goes up to the plate. He struck out his first two times up Wednesday and
Thursday, then homered later both days. Cleveland, ahead 6-5, had the option
of intentionally walking him in the series finale.
"In years past, maybe I would've outthought myself in that situation, with
men on second and third. But I just wanted to see the ball and put a good
swing on it and just trust what I saw," Rodriguez said.
In a way, by not trying as hard to be liked, Rodriguez is being appreciated
more. After homering for the fourth straight game, he gave brusque answers in
a live interview with the Yankees' own YES Network at the Metrodome in
Minneapolis, as if he couldn't wait to rush off. After Wednesday's game, he
was almost out the clubhouse door without talking to the media before Yankees
media relations director Jason Zillo intercepted him.
"Certainly what we talked about is that media, the fans, everybody responds
to the player that is performing," Boras said. "The truth of it is, if a
player performs well, we know what the fans are going to do. If a player
doesn't perform well, we know what the fans are going to do."
For now, the fans are on his side. But A-Rod knows better than most how
quickly that can change.
"He's endured a lot, the fact that every day there was questions about him
and what's wrong," Torre said. "Sort of nice to see him leave a man at third
base and not have somebody ask you about it."
Mr. April
Alex Rodriguez statistics each year through April 30, as compiled by the
Elias Sports Bureau (2007 through April 20):
Year G AB R H HR BI BA
1996 Sea 16 58 12 17 3 15 .293
1997 Sea 27 120 22 40 4 19 .333
1998 Sea 26 120 23 38 9 19 .317
1999 Sea 2 6 1 0 0 0 .000
2000 Sea 23 79 27 28 8 26 .354
2001 Tex 25 93 22 29 7 21 .312
2002 Tex 25 98 20 30 9 28 .306
2003 Tex 26 107 23 38 9 23 .355
2004 NYY 21 91 13 23 4 7 .253
2005 NYY 24 102 20 31 9 27 .304
2006 NYY 23 86 22 23 5 16 .267
2007 NYY 15 62 20 23 12 30 .371
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