A-Rod hits Strangest home run in World Series History - 11-01-09 Video

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=ApMTzyjZnb3pOjb7rpFJeRx0fNdF?slug=ge-arodhomergamethree103109&prov=yhoo&type=lgns Alex Rodriguez hits one of the Strangest home runs in World Series History - 11-01-09 -

PHILADELPHIA The camera usually finds Alex Rodriguez (notes). This time, A-Rod found the camera, although it took the first use of replay in postseason history in the New York Yankees 8-5 win over the Philadelphia Phillies in Game 3 of the World Series to confirm what the umpires missed in real time.

With a runner on first base, the New York Yankees slugger hit a fourth-inning drive just inside the right-field foul pole that struck a TV camera perched in the first row of seats above the 330-foot sign, the ball bouncing back onto the field. Rodriguez stopped at second base with an apparent double, but after manager Joe Girardi came out to challenge the call, the much-maligned umpires left the field to review the play on a TV behind the third-base dugout and returned to rule that Rodriguezs ball had cleared the wall for a home run.

I wasnt 100 percent sure, but our coaches started yelling they thought it hit the camera, Girardi said. My eyes arent great, so it was hard for me to see.

Umpiring crew chief Gerry Davis said that the umpires had already determined while inspecting Citizens Bank Park prior to the game that a ball hitting the camera would be a home run. Because we cannot control what the cameraman does with the camera, one of the specific ground rules is when the ball hits the camera, home run, he said.

It was a bizarre way for Rodriguez to snap out of a World Series slump that had begun to tarnish what had been a spectacular postseason. He struck out six times in the first two games against the Philadelphia Phillies, but the blast against left-hander Cole Hamels(notes) triggered an offensive outburst by the Yankees that gave them a two games to one lead.

The homer was A-Rods sixth of the postseason, tying him with former Yankee Bernie Williams(notes) (1996) for most in a single postseason. The Yankees trailed 3-0 at the time of A-Rods blast, but they scored three more times off Hamels in the fifth to take a lead they would never relinquish.

I think it was a big hit, Rodriguez said. I think it woke up our offense a little bit. It was a little weird to have the first home run and the replay and the whole nine yards, but it felt really good.

Right field umpire Jeff Nelson said he was unaware the ball hit the camera. The ball hit something hard, solid, and it was in my judgment it was the top of the fence. And then when Joe came out, Joe just said, We think it hit a fan. I said, It didnt hit a fan, it hit something solid. But well talk about it.

The reversal of the on-field decision will undoubtedly strengthen the case of replay advocates who have recited a litany of umpire errors this postseason as evidence that baseball is foolish not to use available technology for reviewing calls.