New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez celebrates after hitting a ninth
inning two-run home run in Game 2 of the American League
division baseball series against the Minnesota Twins at Yankee
Stadium in New York Friday, Oct. 9, 2009.
(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)
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Alex Rodriguez was clutch in Friday night’s 11-inning 4-3 playoff win against the Twins.
Alex Rodriguez was clutch in the playoffs.
I had to write it twice just to make sure I was reading it right, but there’s no mistake – in the first two games of this ALDS Alex Rodriguez has been an RBI machine.
On Friday night, Alex Rodriguez strode to the plate in the ninth inning a changed and confident man.
With Mark Teixeira already on first with a single off Twins closer Joe Nathan, Alex Rodriguez swung his bat quietly but with purpose – just as A-Rod has gone about his entire 2009 season.
With the weight of steroid deception off his shoulders, A-Rod was free to swing his bat in the ninth inning unencumbered, and with only three outs left in the bottom of the ninth he tied the game with one powerful shot over the wall.
In two games Alex has tied his career postseason single-series-high five RBI, otherwise only achieved in a seven game series.
Batting .500 and slugging .875 has set A-Rod up for a serious rebound in postseason performance. Fans have long since written him off when the game is on the line, but if Alex really is finding a way to be relaxed under pressure, the rest of baseball is in for a rough October.
Tony DeMarco of NBC Sports sees more hardware in the Yankees’ future: “We’re about to come full circle. The first decade of the new century will end the way it began: With the Yankees on top of the baseball world.”
And for the first time since he joined the team in 2004, A-Rod may even be on top of the Yankee world.
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