Hurrah - A-Rod hits 600

[HeroesComesandGoes]

ESPN made a big song and dance about Alex Rodriguez (a baseball player) failing to him a home run since reaching 599. I'm not so sure how the other sports channels covered it. Anyway, he finally made his 600th home run - but his drug use will severely affect whether he enters the Hall of Fame or not...

Rodriguez finally hits 600th HR in Yankees win

New York 5, Toronto 1

SPORTS NETWORK AUGUST 4, 2010 6:26 PM BE THE FIRST TO POST A COMMENT


STORYPHOTOS ( 2 )



More Images »

New York Yankees batter Alex Rodriguez makes a curtain call after he hit his 600th career home run off Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Shaun Marcum in the first inning of their MLB American League baseball game at Yankee Stadium in New York, August 4, 2010.
Photograph by: Ray Stubblebine, Reuters
Bronx, NY - Alex Rodriguez at last hit his 600th career home run, as the New York Yankees avoided getting swept by taking a 5-1 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays.

Rodriguez, who hit No. 599 on July 22 against Kansas City, went 51 plate appearances before hitting the milestone homer in the first inning off Shaun Marcum. The hit also snapped an 0-for-17 streak he brought into Wednesday's contest.

Rodriguez became the youngest player to reach 600 home runs. Hall of Famer Babe Ruth hit his at age 36, while Rodriguez turned 35 last week. He also became the second player to reach 600 home runs in Yankee pinstripes, joining Ruth.

Along with Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter powered the Yankees' offense. Jeter had his first four-hit game of the season, doubling twice, while Teixeira went 2-for-3 with three RBI in the victory, which snapped New York's three-game slide.

Phil Hughes (13-4) picked up the win after limiting Toronto to one run on four hits and two walks in 5 1/3 innings, while striking out five.

Marcum (10-5) lost for the first time since July 1 after giving up five runs on eight hits and a walk in six innings.

Lyle Overbay hit an RBI-double for the Blue Jays, who went without a home run for the first time since July 24. They had hit four in Tuesday's victory to increase their MLB-best total to 167.

However, the home run storyline went to Rodriguez on Wednesday. He stepped to the plate in the first inning with Jeter on base and two away, and Marcum threw a 2-0 pitch away. Rodriguez belted it to dead center field and the crowd's cheers intensified on the home run's long way out.

It turned out to be the winning hit, thanks to Hughes and the Yankees' pitching staff. The right-hander retired the first six batters he faced before Overbay walked to begin the third. Edwin Encarnacion followed with a single, but Hughes got the next three hitters out to escape the situation.

Jeter and Teixeira doubled in the home half to make it a 3-0 game, and Hughes allowed his only run in the next inning. With two on and two away, Overbay doubled to right to plate Jose Bautista, who had hit a leadoff single. However, Hughes ended the rally by striking out Encarnacion.

After Hughes worked a 1-2-3 fifth, Marcum loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom half. Teixeira hit a two-run single to left to extend the Yankees' lead to 5-1, but Marcum managed to get out of the inning.

Hughes and Boone Logan combined to pitch a scoreless sixth for New York, while Joba Chamberlain, David Robertson and Mariano Rivera each pitched a scoreless inning to finish the victory.

Game Notes

Blue Jays catcher John Buck left the game in the fifth inning after taking a foul ball off his hand. He was replaced by Jose Molina...Rodriguez's homer came exactly three years after he hit the 500th of his career, which he got off Kyle Davies in the first inning of a game against the Royals. Rodriguez also hit his 100th career home run against Toronto, doing so on August 12, 1998.

© Copyright (c) The Sports Network


Read more: Rodriguez finally hits 600th HR in Yankees win

[US_Spurs_Fan]

Now they can get back to talking about Brett Favre.

[spursman18]

lol was just going to comment on Favre, yesterday it was basically a repeat of last summer's shows on ESPN. With him coming out today and saying he didnt say anything regarding his retirement the network looks fooking stupid. All the shows talk about the same load of shite every day, its boring.

[stroud_jm]

does it make me un-american that I get my baseball and NFL news from English guys?

[Blackrussian]

I really like baseball. Don't understand any of it tho'.! Why don't they introduce those fielders catching mitts to fielders in Cricket teams in England.

And how come American sport dont have sponsors names across the fronts of their kits, but teams can make so much money..!!

[Rev John Ripsher]

The sponsors names are everywhere else , thats why .

The sponsors name is in bright lights right behind the back-stop and in full frame most of the time , not creased up on a shirt .

[HeroesComesandGoes]

I really like baseball. Don't understand any of it tho'.! Why don't they introduce those fielders catching mitts to fielders in Cricket teams in England.

And how come American sport dont have sponsors names across the fronts of their kits, but teams can make so much money..!!

Also, Stadium Naming Rights...Busch Stadium?

[HeroesComesandGoes]

Back on topic though - are A-Rod's achievements, merited?

[steelktm]

Also, Stadium Naming Rights...Busch Stadium?

actually cool story behind Busch Stadium naming. Back in the early 50's (or whenever it was changed to Busch Stadium) it was illegal for a beer company to sponser a stadium so August Busch wanted to do the stadium name as Budwisier. however because he couldn't they just named the stadium as Busch Stadium because of his last name. Sure enough though once this was pushed through 1 or 2 years later magicly Anheuser-Busch was releasing a new beer and it was called Busch Beer. Now because so much money was already poured into getting up the stadium name and whatnot they would not/could not get that changed so thats how beer sponsers came onto the stadium here in the states.

[US_Spurs_Fan]

Back on topic though - are A-Rod's achievements, merited?

He is annoying, but I guess its merited since he hit them all... unless he is another 'roider.

[HeroesComesandGoes]

He is annoying, but I guess its merited since he hit them all... unless he is another 'roider.

He's another 'roider...which is an insult to the other 500+ HR Club Members who had not taken any steroids in their career. I think Hank Aaron's record should still stand with barry's record "asterisked".

[steelktm]

to assume though that none of the guys before then never used anything is asinine to me. We just want to assume they never took anything to help out just because MLB never tested for it. however also considering the fact that not only were the batters using stuff, the pitchers were as well. Beside as long as baseball never made it illegal (which i don't think it was up until recently like 5 years ago tops) then how can you say they were cheating if they were using it in 1998 and 2001, ect.? However baseball is boring to me unless i am at the park and since the Pirates suck so bad and should be relegated 15 years ago if MLB had it then i don't follow it as closely as i do with NHL and NFL.

[HeroesComesandGoes]

to assume though that none of the guys before then never used anything is asinine to me. We just want to assume they never took anything to help out just because MLB never tested for it. however also considering the fact that not only were the batters using stuff, the pitchers were as well. Beside as long as baseball never made it illegal (which i don't think it was up until recently like 5 years ago tops) then how can you say they were cheating if they were using it in 1998 and 2001, ect.? However baseball is boring to me unless i am at the park and since the Pirates suck so bad and should be relegated 15 years ago if MLB had it then i don't follow it as closely as i do with NHL and NFL.

Steel, are you saying that the likes of Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron may have at one point taken steroids? I find that hard to believe TBH. And why would pitchers take steroids anyway? it's a drug to bulk the body up and when bulked up, restricts the movement of the pitcher. Randy Johnson's skinny frame indicates no steroid use, right? And I'm sure the drug testing regime applies to both pitchers and batters so to my knowledge, no pitchers has been caught having taken steroids.

But in my opinion, whether it was legal or not in baseball - it's an enhancement drug to give an unfair disadvantage against those who are not using the enhancement drug. Unfair disadvantage = cheating, which, A-Rod is one, sorry

[Blackrussian]

Also, Stadium Naming Rights...Busch Stadium?

And TV. I reckon soon well have football played in four halves to accomodate adverts, and fixtures in New York, Los Angeles or Shanghai. The Premier League will run the world

[steelktm]

Steroids by themselves do not help you bulk up. the only thing steroids do is help you recover faster. so while working out you can bulk up quicker thus why you see the batters huge. however Roger Clemens used steroids and he is a pitcher. so did Andy Petit. However it may not have been steroids back it the day. it could have been anything else it just being foolish in my opinion.