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A-Rod is king of the Golden Age of offense


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Part of what A-Rod has accomplished can be attributed to the fact that he’s playing in a Golden Age of offense. It’s no accident that the great streaks of run production to precede him were accomplished in the 1920s and 1930s, the only era that’s still ahead of today’s in offensive production.

You can complain, if you must, about A-Rod’s postseason production and the fact that he’s never won a ring. In that, he’s more like Bonds, who was awful in the playoffs for the Pirates and never had a good postseason until 2002, when he hit .471 in the World Series that the Giants lost to the Angels.

But that’s a different argument and an omission that A-Rod still has time to remedy. We’re talking regular-season now, those six months of the year that determine if teams are even getting into the playoffs.

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This year, it’s hard to picture the Yankees even in the picture without his extraordinary efforts. I’ve been as tough on him as anyone over the postseason, but I’m cutting him a break on this season, because he’s been as clutch as anyone in the game.

Rather than go on about his October numbers, I’ll instead pick on two regular-season stats as the only real holes in his resume.

One is his strikeout total. In the process of getting to 500 home runs he’s also struck out more times at age 31 than anyone except Sosa. The strikeouts are what’s kept his lifetime batting average at .306 when it should be higher. It’s also held his on-base percentage down to .387 for his career, a good number, but not close to a great one.

The great hitters didn’t strike out a lot. A-Rod averages better than 120 whiffs a season — about the same as his RBI total. Babe Ruth never struck out 100 times in a season. Neither did Hank Aaron, and Bonds and Mays did it only once each — Mays in his last full season and Bonds in his first.

But that’s it for the flaws in A-Rod’s game. He may not get as many extra-base hits as the old-timers, and he strikes out more than he should, but he just keeps on producing runs, as consistent season after season as anyone since Lou Gehrig and Jimmie Foxx.

That’s pretty good company.

Mike Celizic is a contributor to MSNBC.com and a freelance writer based in New York.


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