Alex Rodriguez finally joins 600 home run club

It took Alex 12 games and 46 at bats but three years after he hit home run 500 against the Royals, A-Rod hit 600 against the Blue Jays. On a warm Wednesday afternoon in the Bronx the milestone homer was finally hit in the first inning of the Yanks 5-1 victory over the Jays.

A-Rod became the youngest player to ever reach the milestone and at 35, with 7 years left on his contract he is sure to be the youngest to hit many other milestones.

During the 12 games that it took Rodriguez to hit the ball out of the yard, the Yanks fell out of first place and many began to wonder if the circus surrounding 600 had become a distraction. Well it has yet to be determined if it spur the Yanks to play better now that they wont be distracted by A-Rod's quest.

Unlike in 2007 when A-Rod hit 500, their wont be any question as to what will happen with the baseball. All the baseballs had been specially marked since he hit 599, so that if the ball landed in the stands, it would be known that the ball would be the authentic one Alex had hit out. But when A-Rod got up in the bottom of the first inning and hit 600, nobody had to worry about if the ball was authentic since the ball landed in monument park, an area that A-Rod will also land. The ball was retrieved by a security guard who gave it back to Rodriguez for nothing but a signed bat. When A-Rod hit his 500th homer it sold for $103,579, it was unsure if the 600 ball would have gone for more or less. It could have gone for more since 600 homers is even harder then 500. But could have been less since A-Rod has since acknowledged using performance enhancing drugs.

Now that 600 is over with the next milestone will be passing Sammy Sosa (609) on the all time list. At the pace the A-Rod is going he may not get it this season. In a press conference after the game reporters asked where this experience ranked in his baseball career, Alex said is was below winning the World Series.

Yankees Quick Hits

Just a few notes that are not worthy of each having their own post :

• The Yanks plan to honor Ralph Houk who recently passed away by wearing a black armband. Not to make light of the situation but with the Stienbrenner and Sheppard already having patches, if the Yanks make the World Series they may run out of room with all the patches.
• The new song that Derek Jeter comes up to bat is "Blow the Whistle" by Too $hort. To say the least I am not a fan, I liked when he came up to Biggie Smalls.
• The Yankees unveiled a painted mural of George Steinbrenner in right field behind the bleacher creatures. They had previously had a list of all 27 championships in that area.
• Friday night Derek Jeter hit his second career inside the park home run, his first since August 2nd 1996.
• To top only Jeter's homer was Alex Rodriguez who hit career HR 599. Ticket prices are sure to rise on Stubhub,so if you plan to go buy quick. I personally would like him to hit it Saturday against Kyle Davies, the same pitcher whom he hit career #500 against.
• The Yanks have the best record in the majors and were the first team to 60 wins following Friday nights victory.

When will # 600 come for A-Rod

When Alex Rodriguez started the 2010 season he was 17 home runs away from 600. At the time i looked at the schedule and figured that he would have that many by the middle of June. We are now at the end of June and Alex has only 11 home runs. So it looks like i will need to reevaluate my original guess as to when he would hit it.

With the struggles of A-Rod this season his 600th homer will come later then expected. Following a post season where we saw Alex hit seven home runs, he is at 11 after 263 at bats this season. So when will this milestone come? Well if i was a betting man i would say that it would come following the all star break, in late July. My best guess would be the week of July 25th to July 31st when the Yanks are in Cleveland and Tampa, but that is only if he continues at his current pace of hitting homers.

If Alex was to get hot it could happen the week earlier at home (July 18-July24). But the other factor of why he may take even longer then the month of July, is because of what happened in 2007 when he hit his 500th homer. A-Rod hit career home run 499 on July,25,2007 it took him nine games in the mean time before he hit his 500th on August 4th. At the time A-Rod did admit that he was pressing a little and the flash bulbs that were going off were bothering him.

The saddest part is that when Rodriguez finally reaches the milestone, it won't have as much hype as when he hit his 500th in 2007. Since that time his reputation has been tarnished with the steroid admission. In 2007 Barry Bonds had just passed Hank Aaron for the all time home run king, and was assumed to have taken performance enhancing drugs (although it still hasn't been proven). Rodriguez was suppose to be the opposite of Bonds, a player that was clean and one day pass Bonds. If A-Rod hits number 600 on the road it will be interesting if the fans plan to cheer or boo. Either way Alex will become the youngest player to accomplish the feat and should be special either way.