NEW YORK -- You could hear the thumping of steel on steel and the ruckus of cement trucks pouring concrete into the new Yankee Stadium.
When the stadium opens in 2009, they might call it the House That A-Rod Built. Alex Rodriguez is pretty much blowing up the House That Ruth Built with his potent bat. Yesterday, Rodriguez blasted a walkoff three-run homer to complete a sweep of the Cleveland Indians as the Yankees head to Fenway Park for a three-game series starting tonight.
"We needed this going into Boston," said Rodriguez. "Every game there is a war."
The Yankees are 8-6, one game behind the Sox, despite having four starting pitchers go down with injuries, mostly because Rodriguez has 10 homers and 26 RBIs in 14 games.
At the end of the season, Rodriguez can become a free agent and opt out of his 10-year, $252 million deal and out of the Bronx, where the fans who now stand on their heads for him once booed him relentlessly after his horrible 2006 postseason (1 for 14, no RBIs).
"Everything he hits is a home run," marveled teammate Derek Jeter Wednesday. "I've never seen anything like it."
Fans are in standing-O mode. On Wednesday night, Rodriguez got a curtain call after he pulled a low-and-away Tom Mastny fastball into the left-field bleachers for his ninth homer. Yesterday, he was 0 for 4 with two strikeouts before he straightened himself out in the ninth.
"[Andy] Pettitte said to me, 'You may have one more chance to do some damage.' I looked at him and I didn't quite believe him. As the inning started to develop, I got my chance."
Is this the best he's felt at the plate?
"I'm trying not to think about those things," Rodriguez said. "I've felt pretty good throughout spring training and it just carried over into the season. I'm just trying to do my part. I'm trying to enjoy this."
The Yankees have the depth to win while the pitching staff, which ranks fourth in the American League in team ERA at 3.67, mends. They did it this week, first with Chase Wright, then with Kei Igawa, who allowed two runs over six innings in Wednesday's win over the Indians. Yesterday, Darrell Rasner gave the Yankees a competent start but the bullpen blew a 2-1 lead in the seventh.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, the Yankees won, 10-3 and 9-2, thanks to two big innings -- a six-run second Tuesday and a five-run third Wednesday. They scored six in the ninth yesterday, outscoring the Indians, 27-11, in the three-game series. And left fielder Hideki Matsui is due back in the lineup Monday against Tampa Bay after a two-week stint on the disabled list with a left hamstring strain.
"Our guys are out there busting," Rodriguez said. "We have to look at it every game and try to win that night."
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