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Nineteen different players, including David Ortiz, had homered at Yankee Stadium this season before Alex Rodriguez hit his first there, and it was a rather meaningful blast in the Yankees' 7-3 win over the Red Sox Wednesday.

Those who were booing Rodriguez after Tuesday's loss to Boston cheered him and his teammates on to victory a day later. Rodriguez had two hits in the triumph after going 0-for-10 in his prior three home games.

Some think Rodriguez is rather sensitive to criticism and that's the reason for his struggles at home so far in 2006. But Harold Reynolds said he saw some signs in Rodriguez's swing that this could be the game that turns his season around. Up next: Trying to figure out why Fenway Park gives Rodriguez trouble.

By The Numbers
Alex Rodriguez's stats as a member of the Yankees:
	vs. Red Sox at home	vs. Red Sox on road
Batting average	.347	.228
Home runs	6	4
RBI	12	9
Games	20	21
* Regular season

• Brandon Webb improved his record to 6-0 in Wednesday night's win against the Pirates. He also started 6-0 last year. He's the first National League pitcher in 54 years to win each of his first six decisions in back-to-back seasons.

More from Elias

Despite beating the Giants Wednesday, the Cubs have endured a horrible stretch of games of late. And I don't think they can quickly fix their problems because they've lost so many players to injuries.

Name another team that could lose their best hitter (Derrek Lee) and two best pitchers (Mark Prior and Kerry Wood) and still be a contender. I mean even in spring training before these injuries occurred, this team still was going to have to battle extremely hard to win its division.

My main hope with this team is that the front office realizes that manager Dusty Baker hasn't had a healthy team and won't pull the trigger and fire him. Baker is doing his best, and is a darn good manager and shouldn't be fired because his best guys keep getting injured. In fact, if I was a member of the front office, I would wait for Wood and Prior to come back healthy this season, watch them pitch a couple of games to prove they were back and then trade one or both of them.

Can you imagine what they could get for one of these guys? You can't tell me that Yankees' general manager Brian Cashman wouldn't listen if the Cubs called up and offered Prior for Robinson Cano. That would possibly be a great trade for both teams because the Yankees look like they are going to need a frontline pitcher and the Cubs could finally get the second baseman they've desperately needed since Ryne Sandberg retired.

A trade like that would also allow the Cubs to go into next season and beyond without two question marks at the top of their rotation. It has to be incredibly frustrating to know you have two supremely talented pitchers, but not knowing how many innings you're going to get from either one of them because they are always injured. It might be time for the Cubs to turn the corner and go in a different direction.

The great George H. Bambino Ruth might be about to lose his spot on the all-time homer list to Youknowwho. But we want you to remember this: He's still Babe Freaking Ruth.

So trust us. You are not going to forget Babe Ruth. In fact, there's still a lot better chance you'll forget what your wife just asked you to pick up at the grocery store than there is that you'll forget that Ruth guy.

And that isn't changing, no matter how many more home runs Barry Bonds hits than him.

• More from Stark's blog

• The Brewers recalled LHP Dana Eveland from Triple-A Nashville after placing RHP Ben Sheets on the 15-day DL because of tendinitis in his right shoulder. Eveland was 3-1 with a 0.75 ERA in six starts for Nashville.