NY1: A-Rod Hits 500th Homerun at the Stadium...

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For Yankee fans the wait is finally over – Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th home run Saturday afternoon, officially becoming the youngest player in baseball history to do so.

A-Rod on a Hot Streak - Yankees Win 10-1 over Twins...

Rare Company for A-Rod

By Tyler Kepner

Think about this: in the history of baseball, only one player has ever hit more home runs in the first seven games of a season than Alex Rodriguez. That was the Hall of Famer Mike Schmidt for the Phillies in 1976. A-Rod is one of
eight others who have hit six homers in the first seven games.

Schmidt’s outburst included a four-homer game in which he victimized both Reuschel brothers, Rick and Paul, at Wrigley Field. For another wacky 1970s game at Wrigley, check out this box score

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Rodriguez's red-hot start could prove most valuable -

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BY MARK FEINSAND

Alex Rodriguez's sizzling start must be a very encouraging sign for the Yankees, who have seen firsthand that when A-Rod starts strong out of the gate, he usually doesn't let up.

After belting a two-run home run in the first inning to start the Yankees on their way to a 10-1 rout of the Twins, Rodriguez has six home runs and 15 RBI in the first seven games, opening 2007 in historic fashion.

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Dandy Andy gets A-big boost

Alex's 6th helps Pettitte, Yankees overpower Twins

Andy Pettitte took the baton from Carl Pavano and ran with it last night at the Metrodome, putting his dismal first start of the season in the rear-view mirror.

Pettitte looked like his vintage self over six shutout innings, picking up his first win of the season in the Yankees' 10-1 victory over the Twins. (Read more...)

Pavano, Yankees beat Twins, 8-2

The Moment of a Lifetime for Pavano..Tyler Kepner – NYTimes

Carl Pavano won tonight for the first time since May 22, 2005. When we talked with him after the game, someone said it must have felt like lifetime since he won.

Whose lifetime, exactly? I can answer that one.

My youngest daughter, Caroline, was born on May 21, 2005. She was one day old when Pavano beat the Mets on a Sunday afternoon at Shea Stadium. We hadn’t even taken her home from the hospital.

Now she’s walking and talking. She’ll climb anything. She eats meals at the table with us. We’ve got boxes and boxes of clothes she’s outgrown, and we haven’t shopped for baby food in forever. She’s down to one nap a day. We’ve signed her up for preschool. She’s still in diapers, but she also knows how to put diapers on her dolls.

So you get the idea. A human being can accomplish a lot of milestones in the time it takes for a pitcher to win one game.

A lifetime ago? You bet. (read more...)

Slide show...

Finally Pavano pitches Yankees to a Win in Minnesota

After a shaky debut last week, Carl Pavano threw seven innings and gave up two runs as the Yankees rolled to an 8-2 win. - KAT O'BRIEN - Newsday

MINNEAPOLIS -- The problems that plagued the Yankees in the first week -- rough, abbreviated outings by starting pitchers and errors galore on defense -- must have been left behind in New York. Apparently, warm temperatures and Carl Pavano were the antidotes...

Rodriguez hit his fifth home run of the year. This was a soaring 390-foot shot to rightfield off Twins starter Sidney Ponson with two outs in the sixth inning. It gave A-Rod 13 RBIs in six games -- and four homers and 10 RBIs in 11 at-bats in the last three games.

"You can just see the confidence there," Torre said.

No Yankee had ever hit five home runs in the team's first six games, as Rodriguez has, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

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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.