BOSTON – Back in April at Fenway, Alex Rodriguez had what you can call a slightly difficult four-game series.
A-Rod went 1-for-17. He went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. He struck out six times, committed a throwing error and was thrown out stealing.
“He was a mess,” Joe Torre said yesterday. “I think we all were.”
A-Rod is back now, and he’s cleaned up his “mess” pretty nicely since. Asked how long ago his April struggles at Fenway seem, A-Rod said, “Five years. At least.”
In reality, it’s been six months, but Rodriguez has rebounded. He not only had a strong season, but – and this is infinitely more important – he’s having a stellar postseason, hitting .393 with a team-high-tying 11 hits and 17 total bases.
Against the Red Sox so far in the ALCS, Rodriguez has hit .333 (3-for-9) with two runs scored. Somehow, although his previous Yankee-Red Sox playoff experience was limited to watching on TV, A-Rod has hardly looked out of place in this fan-crazed, media-crazy series.
“The season is such a great preparation,” he said. “Because even though it’s postseason, you come here in April or May or June or July, and the way you guys write about it, the way the fans are excited about it, it seems like it’s a World Series game in April or May.”
Now, though, A-Rod will leave the friendly confines of Yankee Stadium and finally play a playoff game at Fenway Park. He can fully expect to be booed, heckled, jeered, you name it by a stadium full of fans who haven’t forgotten much about last offseason’s failed trade with Texas.
A-Rod said he believed his reception tonight would be the “same as always,” and he couldn’t cite an example of the worst thing he’s heard a fan say to him here.
“Too many people screaming,” he said. “I can’t understand.”
Still, one thing A-Rod was clear on was that he took lessons from his April struggles at Fenway. Six months later, he can look back and say what he learned.
“That it wasn’t that important,” he said. “It’s a long season. You’re talking about 10-15 at-bats . . . There’s 10,000 in a career or 700 in a season. It’s small stuff.”
The big stuff picks up tonight.
