A-Rod is looking like Babe Ruth right about now. More home runs than 8 teams? Unbelievable.
Maybe in years past, A-Rod's home run binge would've driven me crazy. But not this year.
First off, it's only April. For Yankee fans, baseball season might as well be one month long - October. After all, the Yankees' track record in April-September from 2001-2006 has been excellent -they're the only team to win a division title annually in that span. But the month following has been a failure. And the month following is why Yankee fans are hungry.
A-Rod will never get the love he wants from Yankee fans until he hits in October. Jeter has the Jeffrey Maier homer, the Jeremy Giambi play, and other big moments going for him. A-Rod, on the other hand, has a record of futility in the big spots. Even after this torrid stretch, I'm sure 9 of 10 Yankee fans want Jeter, not A-Rod, at the plate in a World Series with the game on the line.
The better A-Rod plays, the more money he can command next year. In a way, I'm rooting for A-Rod to have a sizzling regular season. And his usual lousy postseason. Like this, he'll want out of New York, but will command such a high price that the Yankees won't re-sign him (especially with Ca$hman cracking down on the budget). Now, some may argue that his postseason record of futility will drive down his price. I don't think so. I can see the Angels, Cubs, and other say that out of the New York spotlight, A-Rod will be able to come up huge in a big spot.
So let the Yankee fans enjoy A-Rod's run. Because it might be his last hurrah in Yankee pinstripes.
- Before the season began, I thought the Indians would be this year's version of the '06 Tigers and '05 White Sox: a team with talent coming off a mediocre year, and then putting it all together. But they looked as awful as the Phillies this past series.
- This is the first year in a while where I'm much more interested in Yankees-Mets than Yankees-Red Sox. Maybe I still have negative associations from last August's disaster. But I'm looking forward to Josh Beckett's outing (.159 BAA in three starts this year). Saturday's start will be his biggest test so far in '07. If he can regain his '03 form, then the Red Sox have to be the favorite in the AL.
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Not sure whether it was his '03 form, but it was better than his '06 form, at least after the first couple innings.
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