Did you ever think you would see the day when a baseball player would be on the verge of hitting their 600th home run and most fans don't seem to care one bit (except of course Yankee fans)? Well, it's here. Alex Rodriguez was always anointed as the chosen one who would break Hank Aaron's record "fair and square" and the baseball world would be saved after the McGwire-Sosa-Bonds debacle. Yet here we are today, laughing at SportsCenter when they are trying to make something out of someone who has turned into an absolute joke. Yes, the talent is there - but greed and ego and stupidity have overpowered talent and because of this, everything in A-Rod's career will be tarnished forever.
Rodriguez was always the one talked about for years that there was no way he could be roped into steroids, but little did we know that he was involved a lot earlier in his career (high school) than many of the now-revealed poster boys were. It would be nice if ESPN or MLB network would actually note things like this when they're flashing their breaking news story when #600 leaves the yard this weekend. But I doubt it.
Aaron Hill was an unexpected MONSTER last year -- .286 BA, 36 HR, 108 RBI.
This year through 96 games -- .203 BA, 13 HR, 34 HR.
What happened? Where did the production go? Will the consistency of 2009 ever return?
Hill has had to battle through some injuries this year (most recently a bad stomach bug) but no one saw this lack of production coming. Hill is seeing some good pitches batting around Vernon Wells, Adam Lind, and Lyle Overbay, but being below the Mendoza line most of the year and a 21 percent drop in OPS cannot be helping any confidence levels. Cito Gaston has shaken up the lineup a few times this year but nothing seems to be working like last season.
Many analysts have predicted a big turnaround from Hill in the second half...I just don't see it. Hopefully I'm wrong but let's just hope we're just not seeing the second coming of Bret Boone.
