New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez is closing in on a hitting milestone but baseball’s balance of power has swung back to the mound.
By Sean Nolan
It was supposed to be A-Rod’s night. But once again, a pitcher stole the headlines. Tampa Bay Rays’ Matt Garza threw the fifth no-hitter of the season on Monday night, confirming that this is the year of the pitcher.
Since Alex Rodriguez hit his 599th home run on 22 July, every at bat for the Yankee has been a big deal as he aims to join the very exclusive club of men to have 600 homers. But against the lowly Cleveland Indians, Rodriguez went hitless in four attempts, meaning he will have to wait a little longer to join the six men already past that milestone.
Three of them are as close to deities as you get in baseball. Willie Mays (660), Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755) are probably in the top five of men ever to pick up a bat. Another, Ken Griffey Jnr (630) retired recently with no allegations of any kind made against him during his career and he must be assumed to be clean.
The other two, Sammy Sosa (609) and the all-time leader Barry Bonds (762), are tainted by performance enhancing drugs (PEDs). Sosa was named in 2009 as one of over 100 players who tested positive for steroids in a 2003 test that was leaked while Bonds and BALCO will be forever linked, even if he has yet to acknowledge any guilt.
Rodriguez, of course, was also named on that 2003 list and after denying he ever took PEDs in 2007, he had to admit it in 2009, forever harming his legacy.
It means that every time he comes to the plate looking to reach 600, he is roundly booed and the coverage is as muted as the coverage of Bonds’s breaking Aaron’s record was in 2007.
In contrast, the coverage of pitchers this year has been exultant. The last season there were five no-hitters was 1991. The all-time record for one season is eight in 1884. It is still a rare treat and when you learn that Garza’s no-hitter was the first ever in the Rays’ history, after 12 years in the major leagues, the scenes of jubilation at the end were understandable.
His opposing pitcher, Max Scherzer, was himself in line for a no-hitter until he walked three and then gave up a Grand Slam in the sixth inning, followed by another hit, ending his hopes.
Garza only allowed one walk, against an admittedly depleted Tigers side, so was close to a perfect game, a feat achieved only 20 times in 135 years. But we have had two perfect games already this year, and another denied to Armando Galarraga thanks to a shocking decision by the umpire calling the runner safe at first when he was clearly out.
Even the day-to-day numbers are stark, with hitters’ stats down and pitchers’ stats way up. Currently 18 pitchers are below the excellence point of a 3.00 ERA. In 2007, only one pitcher finished the season below that mark.
Many have speculated on why the balance of power has swung back to the mound. Teams are certainly more defensive in the field, pitchers are being better handled by management and some sides have almost no power offence.
But the compelling reason is the curtailment of PEDs. Yes, pitchers were taking stuff during the wild days of the ’90s and early 2000s but the benefits to hitters of PEDs were much greater.
Steroid testing since 2006 has worked and while Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is not tested for in the major leagues, testing in the minors has begun, the last step before implementing it in the big leagues.
For fans raised on 70-home run seasons and monster hits, this year’s numbers are a return to the era of Aaron and Mays.
If Rodriguez can stay injury free, he should still end his career ahead of Bonds on the all-time list. But with pitchers like Ubaldo Jimenez, Stephen Strasburg and Garza all young and destined for long careers, his task looks like being a lot harder.
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