Grand Day for A-Rod..!

Curtains' for O's, then for A-Rod - Walk-off grand slam with two out in ninth gives him 2 HRs, 6 RBIs...Newsday...

Alex Rodriguez had a feeling he would be the one to decide the Yankees' fate yesterday.

And not just when he stepped to the plate with the bases loaded, two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the Yankees trailing the Orioles by a run.

Three batters before that - with two outs, nobody on base and Robinson Cano up - Rodriguez already had figured the win or loss would come down to him. It always does, right?

HOLY POW! A-ROD SLAM SAVES DAVE WALKOFF HR BEATS BIRDS, EARNS RAVES -By MICHAEL MORRISSEY - NY Post

April 8, 2007 -- With two outs and nobody on in the ninth inning yesterday, Alex Rodriguez was four batters away from getting a chance to hit. At that moment, he still knew he'd be the deciding factor for the umpteenth time in his Yankee career.

"Somehow, I knew it would come down to me," Rodriguez said, chuckling later. "I don't know. It always ends up like I'm in the middle of something, one way or the other."

Sure enough, the Yankees loaded the bases, but Rodriguez fell behind Baltimore closer Chris Ray 1-and-2. With his club one strike away from a 1-3, last-place start, Rodriguez crushed a 95 mph fastball into the black backdrop in center for an unforgettable grand slam

In One Swing, Rodriguez Is an Instant Hit - David Picker - NY Times

Alex Rodriguez slapped his hands as he rounded first base yesterday afternoon and then nearly plowed into the third-base coach Larry Bowa as he rounded third. Before touching home plate, he heaved his batting helmet toward the sky, a smile on his face every step of the way.

Alex Rodriguez celebrating his two-out grand slam in the ninth that erased a 7-6 deficit. He finished 3 for 4 with six runs batted in and four runs scored.

Rodriguez has been playing in the major leagues for 13 seasons. But with one swing of the bat, he became a kid again.

“It felt awesome,” Rodriguez said of his trip around the bases, which he earned after belting a game-winning grand slam that capped an improbable 10-7 victory against the Baltimore Orioles at Yankee Stadium. “I was so excited. I felt foolish running around the bases like it was Little League. I just remember I almost knocked Bowa over at third. I saw the fans kind of rocking behind him. It was kind of cool.”

It was rare, too. The Yankees have played 16,116 games in their 105-year history, but they have ended only eight games with a grand slam.

Relaxed Alex Having a Blast - From smiles of spring, baseball is a game again -BY JOHN HARPER -DAILY NEWS SPORTS COLUMNIST

From the first day of spring training, you knew something was different about Alex Rodriguez. That first day he spoke from the heart, not a script, in making it clear he was longer obsessing about his friendship with Derek Jeter, and going forward he oozed contentment, not angst.

You didn't know how, or even if, it would translate to the batter's box at Yankee Stadium, especially in the clutch situations for which A-Rod had become notorious for trying to hit the ball to the moon - as much to win the approval of Jeter and New York as to merely win a ballgame.

But maybe this was the translation, A-Rod hitting his most memorable home run as a Yankee yesterday on this blustery afternoon at the Stadium; A-Rod coming through when it mattered most, and doing it in the grandest style.

Two outs, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, down a run ... the ultimate hero setting in baseball. And Yankee fans didn't believe A-Rod was going to deliver. You could hear it, you could feel it throughout the Stadium. They couldn't wait to boo him off the field.