Monday, August 2, 2010

ARod shoots for elusive blast at home


Maybe Alex Rodriguez really wanted to hit that 600th home run in front of a home crowd at Yankee Stadium.

I was really hoping that he would hit the home run on the road to minimize its importance, but it obviously doesn't matter where he hits the blast. The press and excitement his chase generated among the New York Yankees faithful during the last home-stand was really depressing. What seems worse is that some fans actually went out of their way to follow ARod in the hopes of being present to see what they consider to be a remarkable accomplishment in baseball history, even if it is cheapened by his steroids use.

In hoping for ARod to hit his homer on the road, I forgot that Yankee fans travel far and wide to support their team. You would think I would have remembered this having spent three-plus days baking in Arizona to watch the Yankees play the much-inferior Diamondbacks not too long ago. Cleveland got a boost in attendance from Yankee fans last week, many of whom traveled there with the sole purpose of watching Rodriguez hit the elusive blast, but it was not meant to be. Tampa is basically Yankee Stadium south with all the transplanted New Yorkers living in the area. I’m sure a lot of those Florida-based Yankee fans were just there for an important divisional skirmish, but some were banking on seeing ARod go deep.

So now ARod will have seven games worth of chances to hit #600 in the comfort of his home ballpark in front of an adoring crowd. I wanted to catch a game on this home-stand, but I don't think I can stomach the possibility of being in the midst of the celebration if he does slam the elusive blast. I think I'll stay home.

No comments:

Post a Comment