Today's Stat of the Day player is A-Rod! And, in honor of tying Mickey Mantle, they all have to do with his homers.
-He has hit 6 home runs off Sydney Ponson, who is pitching tomorrow
-His first home run was off Tom Gordon, on a 3-2 count with 2 outs. The Mariners ended up losing, 10-9, to the Royals. Who was the other Mariner to hit one out that day? Tino Martinez!
-A-Rod's 48th homer came off of Mike Mussina. In the 8-7 loss to the Orioles, A-Rod was 3-4 with a triple (also off Moose) and a homer. Mussina went 5 innings and gave up 6 earned runs.
-His first homer of the '98 season (65th career) was off Andy Pettitte! The Yankees lost, 8-0. Jeter stole second, but A-Rod was caught stealing. A-Rod was batting second that game.
-The next day, A-Rod hit a homer off of David Wells in the 13-7 loss, which improved the Yank's record to 2-4 on the season. Wells gave up 6 ER, but got the win.
-He hit another homer off Wells on April 30 and August 1. On August 29, he hit another off Pettitte. At that point, the Yankees were 98-36.
-His first Texas homer was on April 13, 2001 in a 13-1 beating of the A's. Who pitched for the A's that day? Corey Lidle (Although, he did not give up the homer to A-Rod.) Who else was on the A's? Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi, and each of them got a hit! Remember Terrence Long? He scored the only run for the A's.
-Skipping ahead to his first Yankee homerun: A 2-runner which scored Jeter in a 9-4 loss to the Devil Rays. Who was on the Devil Rays team? Tino Martinez and Julio Lugo (who made an error)
-Number 399 came when there was no score vs. the Brewers. Number 400 came later that game, when the Yankees were winning, 10-3. In Cano's only at-bat (in which he pinch-hit for Mussina), he hit a homer. In that game, A-Rod hit two, Cano hit one, and Jeter hit one.
-His last grand slam was September 25, 2007, scoring Damon, Jeter, and Abreu, in a 7-6, 10-inning loss to the Devil Rays.
-Number 537? Could be tomorrow, he's never hit one off of Kazmir.
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