Put That On Your Mantle: A-Rod Ties The Mick

At 32 Years of age, Mickey Mantle had only 454 Home Runs.  Up to this point, Mantle's and Alex Rodriguez's numbers are strikingly similar.  However, Alex seems to be doing all of the things Mickey did a little quicker.  But none the less, that doesn't factor in the injuries that plagued The Mick's career. 

Alex Rodriguez, on the other hand, is criticized for his off the field antics and his playoff performances up to this point.  While the news focuses on the divorce of A-Rod and his wife Cynthia, some fans like myself focus on the baseball aspect of Alex's career and what happens on the diamond.

On Sunday night against the Red Sox, Alex Rodriguez hit a screamer down the line off of the second pitch he saw from Tim Wakefield to tie Mickey Mantle for 13th all time with 536 Home Runs.  Alex took his home run trot around the bases and then took a curtain call from the sold out crowd.  At that moment, everything going on in Alex's personal life was put on pause and I am pretty sure all he was thinking about was number seven, The Mick.  The Yankees went on to win the game 5-4 in ten innings to earn a series split at the Stadium.

With the divorce officially filed, Alex always seems to play better when most would get distracted.  So I doubt this will affect his performance, but it is very unfortunate that whatever caused this had to happen.  None the less, the Yankees and Yankee fans expect Alex to leave it all at the gates and continue to help this team fight for a playoff spot in which they are nine games out of the East and four games out of the Wild Card.

With the midsummer break approaching, Alex Rodriguez was selected to his 12th All-Star game and his his ninth consecutive.  He was also the leading vote getter for the second year in a row.

One thing is for sure, regardless of all of the tabloids and the non-believers of Alex, he still has quite a following and is arguably the greatest some of us will ever see.  He still misses the one thing that haunts his career: a championship.  But with a lot of baseball left to play this season, Alex will try to do everything in his power to make that happen.