Mr. October

No one would ever think a player who received 2 MVP awards in 3 seasons would have a .159 postseason batting average in those same three seasons. Think again: that was the inconsistent Alex Rodriguez of 2005-2007. This year, though, it was the opposite. A-Rod missed the first month of the season due to hip surgery and got off to a rough start hitting the ball. He missed the All Star game for the first time in this decade, but he got hot from July to September. He had 18 of his 30 home runs and 90 of his 127 hits in the last 3 months of the season. As September and October came around, with the Yankees maintaining the league's best record, the question came up about whether A-Rod would struggle yet again in the playoffs. He definitely silenced all critics because he has been tearing it up. In the 7 postseason games he's played so far (6 of them resulting in wins for the Bronx Bombers), the Yankees third baseman has 5 home runs, 11 RBIs and a .407 batting average. He also has an incredible 1.000 slugging percentage. Number 13 has had an RBI in 8 straight postseason games, a record. The Yankees have been playing great baseball, and the questions people had concerning the Yankees were about A-Rod. Now, I don't think there are any questions about the Yankees. I concluded in the beginning of the playoffs that the Yankees would need Rodriguez to come through if they wanted to go deep in the postseason, and that's exactly what he is doing. He is the main reason why they are just 9 innings away from the World Series. At this rate, I don't know if anyone can stop him from getting his first ring or the Yankees from getting their 27th. The Angels, trying to avoid elimination, send ace John Lackey to the mound for game 5, who Rodriguez is batting under .200 against in his career. If anyone on the Angels can stop him, it's Lackey, so tomorrow is going to be a big test for Lackey and the Angels bullpen.