Fun with A-Rod Numbers

Okay, it has to be done. I'm not doing pace crap, because we all know that's impossible.

However...

Jim Thome, Vlad, Ian Kinsler, and Travis Hafner are the only AL players who have a higher OPS than A-Rod's Slugging Percentage.

In Ruthian fashion, ARod is tied or ahead of 10 teams in home runs. So much for high altitude, Alex has twice as many home runs as the Rockies (14 - 7). The Rockies have played 2 more games.

Jim Thome started the season 8 home runs ahead of ARod on the all-time list. Thome is on pace for 45 home runs this season, and Alex passed him last night.

ARod has now pulled within 12 HR of Frank Thomas (Thomas started the season 23 ahead of Alex). Thomas is just 10 home runs away from 500, anybody wondering who will reach 500 first?

Has Alex already clinched the AL RBI title (barring injury of course)? Well, last season in his horrible off-year, he finsihed 16 rbi behind David Ortiz for the AL lead. His 34 rbi are 17 ahead of 2nd place Jason Giambi and David Ortiz, meaning he has the same number of rbi as the two sluggers put together. If he plays the rest of the season the way he played last year, he will probably still win the AL RBI crown. With Damon, Jeter, and Abreu ahead of him, 17 is probably almost impossible for anybody to catch him.

Alex can sleep his way to a 100-rbi season. He only needs 66 more rbi in 144 games. That's equivalent to a 74-rbi season.

He currently has 21 extra base hits in the 18 games, meaning he needs only 79 more to reach the 100 mark, which has been done 15 times in ML history. If he can get up to 108, it leaves only Ruth (1921) and Gehrig (1927) ahead of him.

The thing about it of course is that this is not like when Chris Shelton homered in 7 straight games. We all knew Shelton would come back to earth (or crash to it as the case may be), but with ARod, you're already talking about one of the greatest players to ever play the game. He's part of the elite of the elite.

It can make you dream what's possible. I've definitely started wondering if he could top Maris. And I've been wondering if he can top Manny's 165 RBI, the most in a season since the late 1930's. As far as anything like Bonds' 73, well, the fact remains that Alex still plays his home games in Yankee Stadium. If he played 81 games at Fenway, I may be wiling to put money on it.