So, Nick Swisher, what did you think of A-Rod's home run?
"Amazing. Perfect. Storybook. Awesome," he said.
That about summed it up. A.J. Burnett said it was the greatest thing he had seen in baseball."You're not supposed to be able to do that," he said. "(Jeremy Guthrie) threw it 98 and he still it. It tailed back over, but still."
Rodriguez looked rusty in his last three at-bats. But his presence in the lineup brings balance and gives the opposing pitcher reason to pause. The Yankees look a lot better when Swisher is hitting sixth and not fourth.
A few notes for you:
• A-Rod said he would be in the hotel pool tomorrow morning doing rehab exercises. It's something he will need to do for the foreseeable future. Dr. Mark Lindsay, the rehab guru, will fly in once every 7-10 days to check on him.
Rodriguez said his hip bothered him for the final two months of last season and left him unable to handle pitches in the mid-90s. He also felt "a lack of fire" in November when he started hitting again and at the start of spring training.
Alex hit .258/.366/.511 over the final two months of last season with 12 home runs, so the numbers bear that out. But why did it take until March for him to get an MRI and have a proper diagnosis? It's mind-boggling. Either Rodriguez should have said something or the Yankees should have noticed.
• Let's not anoint Francisco Cervelli the new Johnny Bench quite yet. He caught a terrific game and that throw in the first inning was eye-opening. Keep in mind that this is a player with a career .267 batting average in the minors. He's likely to get abused once the scouting reports catch up to him. But if he can catch a clean game, that's all that matters for now.
Brian Cashman told me earlier that he doesn't envision a trade. The hope is that Jorge Posada and/or Jose Molina is back in three weeks.
• The Orioles drew 36,926 for the Yankees on a Friday night in nice weather. The bad economy kept the Yankee fans back home.
• Mark Teixeira was 0 for 3 with three whiffs. He's 15 of his last 83 (.181). They boo him here like he's Robert Irsay.
• Cano was 1 for 23 before that double in the sixth.
• The Yankees are 8 for 52 with RISP the last six games.
• The big lefty had retired 23 out of 24 going into the ninth inning, the last 16 in a row. Then after Baltimore got two singles, he struck out the side on 14 pitches. That roar he let out when Mora whiffed could have been heard at the White House.
You got the feeling watching that game that the real CC will be around now. A-Rod's Hollywood moment will be the story of the game. But if this game sparks CC to a huge summer, that's even more important.
