CLEVELAND -- Alex Rodriguez smiled when someone mentioned that Tuesday was his birthday.
"I've had some good birthdays," he said upon turning 35. "But tonight wasn't the greatest."
Not with baseball history waiting for him -- for the last five games. Since he hit his 599th career home run in a July 22 win over Kansas City, Rodriguez has gone 6-for-21 with no home runs. Tuesday, the Yankees trailed the Cleveland Indians 4-1 in the ninth inning when Rodriguez came to the plate with two on and two out.
Everyone stood. Flashbulbs popped. There was a feeling that something dramatic was about to happen. Yankees manager Joe Girardi said even he thought the same thing everyone in the Progressive Field stands thought: "Maybe this is it."
Rodriguez took a strike from Chris Perez -- a call he did not seem to like -- and then grounded a slider weakly to short. Game over. Rodriguez's quest continues."I think the number one thing is you want to get a big hit," Rodriguez said of the ninth-inning potential dramatics. "Hit the ball hard somewhere. A home run would be fantastic. Not to get 600, but to tie the game."
Rodriguez is very aware of 600, a figure that only six major leaguers have reached in their careers. But now that he has gone 21 at-bats without a home run, the concern is that he is becoming overanxious and trying to over-swing, Rodriguez admitted that has happened the last five games.
"The biggest thing is stay within the game and not try to do too much," he said. "A few times the last few games, I've come out of it a little bit, tried to swing a little too hard. Or maybe get a little pull-happy."
Being pull-happy is not the way Alex Rodriguez hits. Tuesday seemed like it might be his night, not just because of the birthday but because the Indians put Josh Tomlin on the mound. Tomlin was making his major league debut, and in that situation a guy can start nervous and pitch poorly. Tomlin went after the Yankees and took a shutout to the eighth.
"I didn't want them to think I was going to be nibbling all night," Tomlin said.
He pitched seven innings, gave up three hits and one run while walking none.
"I don't think we had any good swings off of him," Rodriguez said.
The first two times he faced Tomlin, Rodriguez grounded out to short in the second and grounded out to first in the fifth.
"They got him out in front with some breaking balls and he hit some ground balls," Girardi said.
Rodriguez's best at-bat came in the seventh, when he sent Shin-Soo Choo to the track for the third out.
"If we're at home," Girardi said, "maybe that's 600."
"I thought I hit it a little better than it showed," Rodriguez said.
Tomlin worked the first career start to his advantage. The Yankees did not know what to expect from him.
"That's not an excuse," Rodriguez said. "The kid threw really well. He had a really nice game. He had a pretty good cutter and kept our righties and lefties, both, off balance."
As 600 awaits, each at-bat brings a little more tension. Girardi said he did not think Rodriguez was over-swinging, but Rodriguez said his focus on pulling the ball has hurt him.
"Everything I'm pulling is soft," he said.
The solution?
"I don't think I'm really expanding my strike zone," he said. "Guys are throwing strikes. And for the most part I think I'm swinging at strikes. I think for the most part what I want to do is let the ball travel a little bit and use my hands a little more, like that one swing to right center."
The easiest at-bats, he said, are ones like he had in the ninth with the game on the line. Then he can try to hit the ball hard and focus on the pitches. Middle of the game, two out, nobody on are a little tougher.
"Everybody stands up, expecting one thing," Rodriguez said.
The 600th home run will happen. It's a matter of when. Fausto Carmona starts the next game for the Indians, and Carmona is a sinker/groundball pitcher. At some Rodriguez has to simply be up to the moment.
"There are times when hitters are going to go without getting hits," Girardi said. "If you make too much of it as a hitter, then it becomes a problem. But Alex has showed that he knows how to be calm in big situations and he'll continue to do that."
