Proof in the pop
A-Rod shows he still can be DH with clutch homer
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The words were strong from Alex Rodriguez before Friday night’s game.
“I’m very confident,” A-Rod told The Post in the visiting clubhouse at Tropicana Field. “And I’m excited. I’m excited to be back in uniform and give these guys some punch in the middle of the lineup.”
That doesn’t sound like someone who is ready to turn over the designated hitter job.
Rodriguez then went out and backed up those words, blasting a 440-foot, two-run home run to left-center off the Rays’ Chris Archer in the sixth inning of the Yankees’ 4-1 victory.
This was a classic A-bomb from A-Rod. The exit velocity was 108. This also was the night the Yankees busted out their new matte helmets.
“I love them,” A-Rod said of the helmets that will be used only with the road uniform. “Anything that makes a 40-year-old a little cooler, I’m all for that.”
As Rodriguez finished his swing, he let loose with a little left-handed bat flip, as if to tell those who want to put him out to pasture and make Carlos Beltran the full-time DH: “Take that.”
Joked A-Rod, “That’s my version of a bat flip. At 40, you don’t have too much cool style. All that’s left me. I don’t know if I ever had any, actually.”
Rodriguez still has the ability to crush the ball, and he said he fixed some mechanical issues with his swing after about 60 atbats.
“I found something, and I felt a lot better,” Rodriguez said without divulging particulars. “Overall, [the swing is] just cleaner.”
Beltran managed to crush a home run, too, in the eighth, and he did it as a right fielder. Imagine that. Beltran, 39, and A-Rod, 40, became the first pair of Yankees 39 or older to homer in the same game since Baseball Reference data dating back to 1913 became available.
The Yankees are at their best when Rodriguez and Beltran are hitting well in the middle of the lineup.
There has been a lot of noise lately the Yankees might be better off with Beltran as the designated hitter and Aaron Hicks in right field.
That would entail moving ARod out of the DH spot, and that would be a huge mistake.
If these Yankees are going to succeed, they are going to need Rodriguez to be a big part of the offense.
“You need production from your guys in the middle of the order to be successful,” Joe Girardi said.
Rodriguez went into the game batting .184 with five home runs and 12 RBIs in only 76 at-bats because of a hamstring injury. This was his first home run since May 1 and No. 693 of his career.
He knows it’s time to produce. Rodriguez came away from his rehab stint excited.
“I feel really good,” Rodriguez said. “I worked really hard on my conditioning and my core and my flexibility, a lot of the stuff that I worked on last year. And I went down to Trenton, and I had two really solid days and saw the ball pretty well Thursday. I’m hoping to continue to hit the ball hard, and hopefully some luck turns around here.”
He turned around that fastball from Archer.
“This team was built at the start of this year with Alex as the DH and Carlos in right field,” Girardi said. “Alex has been down 21 days. He was swinging the bat really well before he got hurt. It’s way too quick to abandon [the plan]. He is an on-base and RBI guy. He hits the ball out of the ballpark. You can pick up quick crooked numbers when you have guys who can hit it out of the ballpark.”
A confident Rodriguez is giving it his best shot at DH. He did everything the Yankees wanted. He went to Trenton for a tune-up when he was prepared to be back in the majors.
Bring it on. He believes he can produce big hits.
Again, read his words: “I’m very confident.” In the sixth inning, he showed that confidence with one big
swing.