[新聞] A-Rod seems to be coming around at bat
BY KAT O'BRIEN
kat.obrien@newsday.com
May 25, 2007
If the cheers heard at Yankee Stadium every time Alex Rodriguez batted this
week are any indication, he is on the Hot List at the moment.
Either the fans have realized that "hey, this guy is pretty good" -- you
know, the guy Barry Bonds said could break the career home run record -- or
they figured out that A-Rod is more likely to respond positively to boos than
cheers.
Rodriguez might have a greater ability to change the Yankees' fortunes this
season than any other position player. Of course, even when he hit .355 with
14 homers and 34 RBIs in April, the Yankees went 9-14 - but on the other
hand, if not for A-Rod, the record would have been worse.
"We sort of helped that [hot] streak along," Red Sox manager Terry Francona
said. "I don't know that I want to give you our scouting report, but the
first time we faced him, he was on everything. He hit a ball off Schill [Curt
Schilling] that was hard - to right-center. I think Manny's the only
righthanded hitter I've seen do that. I don't think you can keep that up,
which he didn't. If you remember when he left [Boston in late April], he had
slowed down a little bit. Now we're trying to get him back hot again."
With a huge AL East lead, Francona could afford to joke. A-Rod was only
2-for-9 against Boston this week, but he did walk four times.
Consider the following: Rodriguez's career bests in nearly every major
statistical category are better than the career bests of every one of his
teammates. His career highs in a season are a .358 batting average, 57 home
runs, 142 RBIs and 141 runs scored. No current Yankee has hit so many homers,
had that high a batting average or driven in that many runs.
After his sizzling April, Rodriguez cooled off. From May 3-May 16, he was
8-for-47 (.170) with one homer and five RBIs. The fact that Jason Giambi, who
had been hitting third, dropped off dramatically did not help Rodriguez. But
his hitting certainly slowed.
Rodriguez said Wednesday: "I've been feeling all along really well."
To some extent, the positive results returned the past week. He went 7-for-25
(.280) with three home runs, four RBIs and six walks in a seven-game span.
Maybe he was not hitting at a ridiculous off-the-charts pace, but he was
hitting balls out of the ballpark, and several of his outs went a long way.
Against the Mets and Red Sox, giant series on the attention scale, Rodriguez
homered in three consecutive games. "When he comes up, they're reluctant to
pitch to him," manager Joe Torre said.
Said A-Rod: "I've felt good all along. Numbers are deceptive."
This season, Rodriguez is hitting .306 with 18 home runs (the most in the
majors) and 43 RBIs (second to Magglio Ordonez's 45 entering last night's
games). He even seems to have lessened the swirling attention around him. For
the most part, he has limited interviews to group sessions.
When one Boston reporter asked him this week if he ever tires of being a
pinata, Rodriguez shot back: "I haven't been a pinata this year. I've
actually been a pretty good guy."
Staff writer Bob Herzog contributed to this story.
Copyright 2007 Newsday Inc.
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