| Authored by Christopher Reina - 19th October, 2009 - 11:44 pm
 When the Yankees began filing out of the dugout for their pregame stretching before Game 3, Alex Rodriguez confidently and casually tossed his bat high up in the air towards the back of the batting cage where the Angels were still taking batting practice.
I didn?t see any intended message towards the Angels, but it was a not so subtle announcement of presence even if to just his teammates and the playoff-sized contingent of media gathered on the field.
Shortly before the game, as the umpires went over the ground rules, Rodriguez was the only player on the field throwing an exaggerated long toss.
Rodriguez appears fully healthy and the difference in his bat speed and the strength of his contact in BP compared to everyone else on either team is immense.
Rodriguez walked onto the field ahead of Game 3 with a .925 OPS, 2-for-8 with two RBIs and a homer. He is learning that timely hitting does a lot more than astronomical numbers in October, hence at least half the legend of Derek Jeter.
Much of Rodriguez?s success has come from how he has severely reduced his strikeouts, something that even plagued him in Seattle while still putting up big numbers. In the 1997 postseason, he had an .875 OPS in 16 at bats while striking out five times. In 2000, Rodriguez had a 1.021 OPS with 10 strikeouts in 35 at bats.
There has been next to nothing production from Mark Teixeira, the man hitting ahead of him, who alleviated much of the regular season pressure when Rodriguez was coming back from hip surgery. Teixeira entered Game 3 with an OPS of .282, with one single in 10 at bats. On Monday, Teixeira walked twice but went 0-for-3.
Despite the ?new? Rodriguez popping out of wherever he?s gone in October since the 2004 Minnesota series and making a legitimate run at being the Yankees? alpha male, this remains Jeter?s team both in spirit and still in production.
If the Yankees do ultimately win the World Series it will unquestionably be about Rodriguez winning his first, but it will still be just as much about Jeter winning one for the thumb.
Jeter took an 89 MPH four-seam fastball in a 2-0 count into the bullpen in left field for a leadoff homer. Jered Weaver, needing a strike, went middle-in where Jeter still has excellent strength.
Rodriguez struck back in the top of the fourth with a leadoff homer on a 3-1 hanging changeup, which cleared the bullpen in very deep left that extended the New York lead to 2-0.
Johnny Damon chipped in a third solo homer just inside the right field foul pole in the top of the fifth inning on Weaver?s 82nd offering, a hanging changeup not unlike the one in the fourth to Rodriguez.
Rodriguez just missed a 91 MPH fastball in the top of the 5th that he took to the doorstep of the left field warning track, which was undoubtedly in the back of Mike Scioscia?s mind in the ninth inning.
When the Angels leveled the score at three runs apiece in the bottom of the sixth, Jeter struck out swinging to lead off the seventh and Damon lined out to center. After a Teixeira walk, Rodriguez was faced with a game-on-the-line, late inning at bat against Kevin Jespen.
Rodriguez was ahead in the count 3-0 before grounding out hard to third base on a 3-1, 98 MPH fastball. Jespen worked Rodriguez exclusively on the inside part of the plate during the at bat.
Jeter had a runners on, two-out opportunity with the game again tied in the top of the eighth, but he bounced back to Jespen on a third consecutive slider that he clearly found confusing.
Rodriguez met Brian Fuentes again in the ninth inning, but Scioscia took the bat out of his hands with a two-out intentional walk.
Up until his Game 2 homer off Fuentes, Rodriguez has been the kind of paradox that managers have nearly dared to let him beat them.
Not anymore at all, even for a traditionalist manager like Scioscia.
?I can just think of Barry Bonds,? said Scioscia during the postgame press conference.
While Rodriguez won?t truly receive the Bonds? treatment, or even the Albert Pujols treatment (too many other weapons surround him in comparison), he is unquestionably beyond his reputation as an absentee in big games.
ALCS Game 4
With a 3-for-4 night that included a homer and a double in New York's 10-1 win in Game 4 that put the club on the doorstep of their first World Series since 2001, Rodriguez's postseason production has shifted from monkey off his back to otherworldly.
He is now 11-for-27 in the 2009 playoffs with five homers, giving him an OBP of .469 and slugging percentage of 1.000.
I asked Rodriguez during Tuesday night's postgame press conference if he had any reservations about pitchers no longer challenging him.
"No, I mean one thing coming into this postseason (was) that I had to trust my teammates and pass the baton," replied Rodriguez. "That's something that Kevin Long preaches all the time is swing at strikes, take your base on balls and hopefully score runs."
Rodriguez still isn't quite matching the postseasons of Barry Bonds in 2002, or Carlos Beltran in 2004, with the main difference being his lack of walks in comparison, but for a lineup as potent and deep as the Yankees, the impact feels just as important.
The Phillies were 19th in intentional walks allowed with 31 while the Dodgers led all of baseball with 68.
While Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui have produced well, the Yankees have had drops in production from Nick Swisher, Robinson Cano, Melky Cabrera, Johnny Damon and particularly Mark Teixeira.
Teixeira has a postseason OPS of .469, going 4-for-24 with four walks and eight strikeouts; it has been a long time since his walk-off line drive homer in Game 2 of the ALDS.
Fortunately for Rodriguez and Joe Girardi, he protects Teixeira and not the other way around. |
