The LoHud Yankees Blog discusses how Alex Rodriguez always has his head in the game:

Last night, Rodriguez said this: “I chased in the first inning, a slider down, but Westbrook had good stuff. He had us off balance all day. With the exception of a 3-2 fastball away to Jorge, and I think it was a 1-0 changeup to Granderson, he didn’t make many mistakes.”

Pretty much every hitter in the game would have remembered swinging and missing at a slider out of the zone, but I’m not sure how many would have known the count on Posada’s single and Granderson’s home run. Especially not a player who wasn’t close to coming to the plate at the time of those hits. Gameday labeled the Granderson homer a fastball, not a changeup, but the point remains the same.

Rodriguez locks himself into the game.

When Alex came up to the majors, Peter Gammons told us A-Rod was an excellent chess player. Chess players seem to own very good memories, where they easily remember patterns they’ve seen on the board before. It appears Alex has that gift.