An A-Bomb ... for A-Rod ...

So Matt From Vandy and I are in a bar up by school last night, eating fajitas (I had the skirt steak, he had the chicken) and watching the Yanks game on the big screen. That required whiskey, and we so imbibed.

The Mets had already vanquished the New Rocks, and the NBA Playoffs weren't doing anything particularly intriguing. Plus, every so often, you got a good long glimpse at Elijah Dukes' muscles (worth a whole post at one point, I'd say), so we were completely entranced. Mother of God, Elijah spent a lot of time lifting weights down in Durham. Among other things.

Then comes top nine; Devil Rays up four, handing the ball to their closer, Al Reyes. Dude hadn't allowed a run yet this year in something like 10 innings. But. Just for those who didn't see the game or get a close read on the rundown, he strikes out Jeter on a bunch of good pitches and walks Abreu on after seeing a close pitch get called a ball. Then A-Rod comes up. Three-for-four on the evening, already with his 13th dong of the year. He'd also made a great run from first to third on a single with a great slide past a throw from the aforementioned Dukes, who's playing with a cannon out there in center.

Anyway, back to the ninth. The first pitch from Reyes is way high and inside. The second pitch is well out of the zone as well. The third pitch is a 2-0 fastball that Alex Rodriguez deposited about 30 rows into Key West, or at least far enough over the wall and with enough ruthless venom to poison a dozen Cleopatras. Reyes doesn't look particularly perturbed. He looks calm, and resigned to the fact that A-Rod was going to viciously slander whatever pitch he was going to make.

Which brings us to the subject of this post himself, the bete noire of Y2K, the man DJ Clue called most hated, never duplicated, the sexually ambiguous man of the hour.

A-Rod for MVP? [Reaching for knife. Grabbing hand holding knife with other hand. Trying not to stab self in face. Barely succeeding.]

Oh yeah. In one of those grudging admissions that hurts me WAY more than it hurts you, it falls upon me to inform the readership that Alex Rodriguez is the best player in baseball at the moment.

What's that you say? You already knew that? Well, probably. But the point is that WE'RE saying it. It's us, cuz. The guys who loathe A-Rod and everything he stands for, to the point that we will warp the fabric of reality itself if it's possible to deny the man credit for most anything he deserves. (I mentioned fabric, so A-Rod will actually be happy about that.)

The records for home runs and RBI in April will certainly fall, given that he's up against them right now and there's still a week left in the frickin' month. After that, what? The Triple Crown, the home run record? Right now, nobody could doubt the possibility.

I'm not actually as interested in the question of "why" he's doing it, though. Not yet. I'm sure part of it is coming to camp in great shape -- the guy looks like a rock at the moment, and with that type of fitness, his natural skill is bound to come through to some extent. Plus, guys get on hot streaks, and while this is a longer streak than most (any?), it's certainly not more than you might expect from a player such as A-Rod.

But right now, the smart move is to ignore the bullshit predictions and dimestore rationalizing you hear coming out of Baseball Tonight. Specifically ignore the following diagnoses.

A-Rod is finally comfortable in New York

This is tautological and not entirely true, anyway. His swing still has the big hitch in it. He's still swinging and missing plenty. He just happens to be murdering everything he makes contact with.

A-Rod is going nuts knowing that he'll opt out of his contract after this year

Anyone who doesn't think that decision will hinge on how the Yankees do this year is literally out of their mind. Seriously. If you think the decision has already been made, you might as well give up talking right now. More importantly, we still have yet to see how the team's leadership, i.e. Torre and Captain Queeg, will respond once the first slump sets in. Are they going to treat the man like dirt again, as they did a year ago? How long will the deference last? I don't know, but I expect Alex will be interested in such things.

And so, friends, should you. Sox are at the Stadium this weekend. Let's see how A-Rod does with them. He might break all these records in style.