A-ROD BOMBS AGAIN!
After ESPYs debacle, launches tie-breaking blast to lift Yanks over M’s
By the end of the 2013 season, Alex Rodriguez was a prime reason you could make a case the Yankees couldn’t afford to let Robinson Cano leave as a free agent — at any price.
At that point, with A-Rod heading for his season-long suspension, there seemed to be a better chance we would never see him again in a Yankee uniform than there was of him turning into a feared slugger again. Now we know better. As the soon-to-be 40-year old DH continues to hit big home runs, including what proved to be the game-winner in Friday night’s 4-3 victory over the Mariners at the Stadium, the Yankees don’t really miss Cano — at least not the way they did last year.
Of course, Cano isn’t exactly living up to his $240 million contract these days, hitting .249 after going 0-for-4 on Friday night, but beyond that, you have to wonder if seeing A-Rod’s comeback season has given him any second thoughts about leaving the Bronx.
He’d never admit it even if true, but Cano, who was always close to A-Rod as a teammate, insisted he’s not surprised to see what his old friend is doing this season.
“Maybe other people are surprised, but I knew how much he would want to prove people wrong who said he couldn’t do it anymore,” Cano said after Friday’s game. “I know how hard he works. I think being out the year helped his body, and now you see he can still do it. “To me he looks better than ever.” Even so, the All-Star break offered time to look ahead and ask if A-Rod might run out of gas — or get injured — over the long season.
So as if to prove his first half was no fluke, he broke a 3-3 tie in the seventh inning with a shot off lefty reliever Joe Beimel into the Yankee bullpen in rightcenter. In other words, it was no Stadium cheapie, and it set up Dellin Betances and Andrew Miller to do their thing in the eighth and ninth innings to finish off the win.
After the game, in fact, A-Rod was quick to change the subject when questioned about his home run, more interested in talking about “what a weapon’’ the combination of Betances and Miller provides.
He said it was with them in mind that he went to the plate just trying to get on base, knowing if the Yankees could squeeze out a run there, it was game over with Betances and Miller waiting.
“That’s all I was thinking about, just get on base,” A-Rod said.
He also knew Beimel would pitch him away with a two-seam fastball that would sink farther away, and if he tried to yank a pitch for power, he’d probably ground out to short. “I knew not to try to pull the pitch there,” he said.
As it turned out, Beimel did pitch him away, but left one up about thigh-high and A-Rod didn’t miss it.
“That’s just what Alex does,” said Chris Young, who homered earlier in the game.
That’s 19 home runs for A-Rod, and at this point, if he doesn’t get 30 it will be an upset.
Cano, meanwhile, is a major reason the M’s are a huge disappointment this season, 41-49 now after being a popular pick to win the AL West. He went west for the money, and probably nothing but a similar deal from the Yankees would have convinced him to stay, but watching from the other side on Friday must have at least
brought back memories of what it was like to be a Yankee all those years.
In any case, there was a very different atmosphere surrounding his return this time. In 2014 the Stadium fans booed him unmercifully — apparently for having the nerve to take $60 million more than the Yankees were willing to offer. OK, maybe some of the booing was for Cano claiming the Yankees showed him a lack of respect with their offer of $175 million — which they said they were willing to raise to $180 million to get a deal done.
And that was a mistake on Cano’s part, to be sure. But this time Yankee fans responded
Imostly with indifference — just some scattered booing — as if they couldn’t be bothered, especially with their team in first place and a new hope at second base now in Rob Refsnyder. t remains to be seen if the rookie, who went 0-for-2 on Friday, can win the everyday job at second, but regardless of that, the Yankees are playing well, and if A-Rod keeps hitting, they’re probably heading for a return to October baseball.
Cano got a close-up look at what he’s missing, and as good as he may feel for A-Rod, with the way things are going in Seattle it has to sting a bit.