Thursday, June 09, 2005

More Meaningless Homers for E-Rod

Another big deal, this time about A-Rod's 400th HR. But last night was all too reminiscent of many of A-Rod's HR as a Yankee - coming in a blowout, and merely helping the Yankees avoid getting swept by a team with a fraction of the payroll.

Derek Jeter has far fewer HR than A-Rod, but even the biggest Yankee-hater must admit that, over the years, the guy has come through in clutch. From the infamous Jeffrey Maier HR in '96 to his HR in Game 4 of the '01 WS, the intangibles man makes his hits count. But A-Rod, gaudy numbers and all, has yet to hit one in a big spot.

Remember that game against the Angels, when he smacked 3 bombs? Too bad he couldn't do anything the next two games of the series, when the Yanks lost a couple of close ones. And too bad he couldn't help the Yanks win a series they used to sweep easily. And too bad he couldn't hit anything to help the Yankees avoid their collapse last year in the ALCS.

After all, the dynasty Yankees didn't win by turning 8-3 games into 11-3 games. They didn't worry about milestones, consecutive-games streaks, or any of that junk. The only numbers they worried about were wins. And the results showed.

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