A-Rod hits 599th career home run
Before the season started it was a question of when not if Alex Rodriguez would hit his 600th home run this year and the 34-year-old is now just one away from joining the 600 club.
Rodriguez hit an opposite field home run against Kansas City Royals reliever Robinson Tejada at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday to secure the 599th home run of his career. It was his 16th home run of the season and moved him into seventh on the all-time home run list, 10 home runs behind Sammy Sosa.
But Rodriguez’s focus isn’t on his next home run - the third baseman is looking at the bigger picture.
"Nothing is as exciting as what happened last November,” he said in reference to winning his first World Series ring.
“Now I have a different perspective on things. Early in my career, I loved winning, but it was about accumulating numbers and hoping to get to the postseason. Now, it's about one goal, and along the way you hope to get big home runs. I'm in a different place right now, a much better place."
If history is anything to go by, Rodriguez might struggle to get his next home run. When on 499 it took him 28-at-bats to hit the 500 milestone and New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi hopes his star slugger isn’t affected like last time.
"My concern is he'll be answering questions about it every day and he'll start to press a little bit,” Girardi said.
"Only time will tell."
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