However, things haven’t gone as smoothly as the Bombers would have liked in the season’s early going (4th in the AL East, 8-10) as much of the team has caught the injury bug. 19-game winner Chien-Ming Wang began the year on the disabled list, reliable Mike Mussina joined him after straining his groin against the Minnesota Twins, and Carl Pavano, who has pitched only 19 times in his three years of wearing the pin-stripes, decided that three was company after complaining of right forearm stiffness.

But despite the endless woes in the pitching rotation, the real story has been Rodriguez. Although he put up great numbers in 2006, batting .290 with 35 homers and 121 RBI, many were skeptical of his ability to come up with the “big hit” in clutch situations, something that they have come to expect from team captain Derek Jeter.

This year, though, A-Rod has answered all the critics, all the haters, pretty much everyone in the world for that matter, and oh by the way, he’s off to the best start of his career and rewriting the record books in the process.

Rodriguez began the year with four hits in his first three games as he carried his sweet stroke from spring training into opening day. On April 7, though, his walk-off grand slam against Baltimore Orioles’ closer Chris Ray marked the point when he caught fire.

His hot hitting continued game in and game out, and on the 19th of April, he proved to be clutch again, this time blasting a game -winning three-run homer off Cleveland Indians’ closer Joe Borowski.

Then came the Yankees’ nemesis, the Boston Red Sox, as most of the world, at least the northeast, tuned in for the “heavyweight bout”. Though the Yanks got swept at Fenway for the first time in 17 years, Rodriguez showed up to play. He hit two homers off Boston ace Curt Schilling, and while striking fear into the hearts of every Red Sox fan, A-Rod gave hope to every Yankee fan in attendance and watching at home, each and every time he stepped up to the plate.

As April now winds down, let’s reflect on what A-Rod has done, and is still doing. Dating back to last season, he has a 23-game hit streak. After crushing two homers against the Devil Rays on Monday night, he has 14 for the month. This feat ties him with St. Louis slugger Albert Pujols (who set the mark last year) for the most homers hit in the month of April. Rodriguez has also batted in 34 runs, which is just one shy of April’s record of 35, held by Juan Gonzalez. With seven days remaining in the month, he will surely have both marks before all is said and done.

Yankees manager Joe Torre said before Monday’s game that in all of his baseball experience, he has never seen a better stretch of offense for any hitter. To top it off, Rodriguez is currently batting .400, and at this pace, A-Rod will hit 121 home runs, and have 324 RBI at season’s end (not likely but hey, Yankee fans can dream). One thing is for sure though: the man is on fire and is swinging a hot bat. I know that I’ll be watching to get a glimpse of greatness, and see with my own eyes what Alex Rodriguez does next.