Rodriguez notched a run-scoring double and even played third base for a batter in the ninth inning as one final send off to one of the greatest hitters the game of baseball has ever seen. As for the crowd itself it was insane and it was a sellout crowd of 46.459 to see Alex Rodriguez play his final game.
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Longoria paid tribute to Rodriguez by saying he looked forward to playing the Yankees without him. A 14-time All-Star and three-time AL MVP, A-Rod has 3,115 hits and his 2,086 RBIs are second to Aaron’s 2,297 since RBIs became an official statistic.
Receiving their first recognition from the Bleacher Creatures in the game-opening roll call, they joined 23-year-old catcher Gary Sanchez, who entered the game hitting.357 (10 for 28) with three doubles, a home run and four RBIs since he was brought up August 3.
The Yankees honored Alex Rodriguez before he took to the field for the final time (as a Yankee, and probably ever) last night. The Yankees (60-56), whose homers all came from players 26 and under, won their fourth straight and matched their season high of four games over.500.
Rays manager Kevin Cash did not think his team was disrupted by Rodriguez’s ninth-inning move to third and the 2-minute break when he was replaced by rookie Ronald Torreyes. It was controversial; it occasionally defied belief (“You can’t make that up”, he said of the pregame storm that interrupted his goodbye); it was uncertain and halting and tinged with weirdness.
Rodriguez DH’ed the entire game and grounded out in his final at-bat.
Third baseman Chase Headley said Girardi had approached him earlier in the week about the possibility of getting Rodriguez in the game defensively Friday if the situation arose.
When the game ended, Rodriguez saluted the fans over and over.
Rodriguez had criticized Girardi for benching him for most of the past month.
With a 74-40 record, the best in baseball at the time, the Expos had a six-game lead on the Atlanta Braves in the National League East at the time the strike hit. “Let’s go do the same thing”, Yankees manager Joe Girardi told reporters, referencing players such as Rivera (652 saves, most in history), Derek Jeter and Bernie Williams that were among the honorees Saturday.
“He’s done a lot of damage against us in the past, so I’m not sad that he’s not going to be in their lineup anymore”, Longoria said.
NY will owe him $7,103,825 for the rest of this year and $20 million for next, the final season of his $275 million, 10-year contract.
The game brought to an end an era that started in 2004.
Having seen his lights go down on Broadway, is Miami 2017 in his future?
“I may have a couple cocktails tonight, so I may not wake up by game time tomorrow”, he said. He hasn’t said he’ll definitely retire.
I believe Rodriguez is up to the challenge and by all accounts identifying talent and developing said talent is one of Rodriguez’s innate strengths.
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With no more batting practice to take, he planned to watch the Yankees on television Sunday.
