Hail the mighty home run: Ball flies, woes seem to go away

Hail the homer! Ball flies, woes seem to go away

BALTIMORE — Memo to Jake Peavy, or whoever starts July 3 for the San Diego Padres: Don’t throw a first-pitch fastball to Manny Ramirez.

Otherwise, risk seeing it fly out of the ballpark, the way Alex Rodriguez rocketed that 98 mph heater on his first swing.

A-Rod’s majestic shot into the left-center field stands at Camden Yards did more than put the New York Yankees ahead Friday night — it once again illustrated how alluring home runs can be, no matter what else.

One monster drive later, the talk in baseball returned to the field. The buzz in Baltimore and beyond no longer centered on Rodriguez’s admission this year that he used steroids, or Manny Ramirez’s 50-game suspension for taking a banned drug.

Home runs have a way of doing that.

“When you’re a little kid, you don’t imagine yourself being a person who gets base hits. You want to hit homers,” Yankees teammate Nick Swisher said. “People watching the games put themselves in that position, wondering what it would be like to hit one.”

Probably been that way since the days of Babe Ruth.

That Nike ad from a decade ago — “Chicks dig the longball” — captured it perfectly. Even now, with the steroid cloud tarnishing what Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa did then, fans delight in echoing that popular catch phrase.

In fact, it was the first thing Swisher recited Saturday afternoon when asked about the fascination over home runs.

A few moments earlier, as Swisher held court, Rodriguez walked past on his way to the field for an early workout.

“Hey Swish, let’s go,” Rodriguez barbed.

“Just because you went deep on the first pitch,” Swisher teased back.

And as the Yankees and Orioles got ready to play, no one was mentioning baseball’s latest drug scandal.

“I’m not saying we should put these guys on pedestals. Maybe it’s our fault because we idolize them and marvel at what they do,” Los Angeles Dodgers third base coach Larry Bowa said.

The Orioles wound up winning a home run derby Saturday night, beating New York 12-5 in a game featuring seven balls over the wall. Swisher and Johnny Damon each hit their eighth homers, tying for the lead.

Rodriguez went 0 for 3 in the loss. He did not hold a pregame news conference, as he did before his first game in the majors since hip surgery. Maybe he was following his own advice.

“The less talking I do, the better,” he’d said.

Taunted by a dozen fans who held up giant, foam syringes behind the backstop, Rodriguez delivered Friday night. He connected on the first pitch from Jeremy Guthrie, sending a loud crack reverberating throughout the yard.

Suddenly, it seemed, all was right in Yankeeland.

No more worries about whether the wobbly Yankees would ever win again. No more criticizing manager Joe Girardi. No more talk about juiced players.

“It was storybook,” Swisher said Saturday. “There was a completely different aura in the dugout.”

Guthrie was amply gracious after the game.

“What a hitter. What a player,” Guthrie said following the Yankees’ 4-0 victory. “To come off the DL like that, I throw that fastball on the black inside, and he just takes it for a home run. … It’s a real special at-bat for him. He stepped up in the big moment right there, center stage, and does what he does best.”

On Saturday, he sounded philosophical.

“I’m not the kind of person who believes one at-bat can fix a season, or that 50 at-bats can ruin a season,” Guthrie said. “But a home run like that, it’s always the thing that gets people excited.”

Indeed, one of the Orioles’ local radio commercials lists a bunch of nicknames of home runs — jolts, jacks, etc. — and offers, “I love the longball.”

Minnesota fans cheered this month when Joe Mauer returned from the disabled list and homered on his first swing of the season. Tampa Bay fans celebrated this week when Carl Crawford and Evan Longoria hit the first back-to-back homers off Yankees closer Mariano Rivera.

Dodgers fans were anticipating more shots into Mannywood before Ramirez got suspended. He’ll return July 3 at San Diego, and no doubt he’ll come out swinging.

Not that Guthrie had any regrets about his pitch selection.

“Coming off a long period on the DL, his first at-bat, I went with my best,” Guthrie said. “If he can hit my best fastball, then I tip my hat to him. If I hang a slider and he hits it out, then I’m kicking myself.”