Friday, April 20, 2007
The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the iniquities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he, who in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother’s keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who would attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. AND YOU WILL KNOW MY NAME IS THE LORD WHEN I LAY MY VENGEANCE UPON THEE.
Fairly or unfairly (and it’s my firm belief that it’s unfairly), Alex Rodriguez has suffered severe criticism from the media and fans—both locally and nationally. The particularly unfair part of A-Rod’s treatment is while there’s usually a reasonable response to every criticism leveled, there’s always a response to that response—and often an unreasonable one.
He doesn’t stink in the clutch, he has a career .887 OPS in “Close and Late” situations. He doesn’t fold in the postseason, he’s got a career .847 OPS in the playoffs—and it was .977 before his last two Octobers. He doesn’t pile on the numbers when the game is a blowout—his best hitting comes when the game is tied or the margin is one run. He’s not “Mr. April”—his best month is August, he’s carried the team offensively the last two Septembers, and he’s been mediocre in two of his first three Aprils with the Yanks.
The problem is one of expectation and exaggeration. The critics see Rodriguez put up dominant numbers overall, and expect him to match or better those numbers in important situations and important games. A fair criticism would be to say that Rodriguez is often not as good in the clutch as he is normally—that he is unclutch in that his performance declines in the big spots. Instead they call him unclutch, period. They cherry-pick stats—almost always with sample sizes so small to render them irrelevant—to paint him as a terrible performer with the game on the line. To say he’s not as good in the clutch as he is normally wouldn’t get much attention—but saying that the Yankees would rather have anyone else up in those spots but him is something you can write and say over and over again, and it will keep selling.
Rodriguez is blamed for the Yankees’ blowing the 2004 ALCS to Boston, and losing in the first round in each of the last two postseasons. Anyone who either paid attention or goes back and looks at those series knows that, while A-Rod didn’t help, he wasn’t the main cause of the failures. They say that with his salary, Rodriguez should have higher expectations than other players, and while that’s fair, it goes to far when people say that the team would somehow be more likely to win the World Series without him.
There are people who root for and cover the Yankees who came into this season hoping that A-Rod would exercise his out clause and leave the Bronx this offseason. They hope he’ll do it because they feel he can never succeed in New York, but in fact if he leaves for reasons other than financial, it will be because nothing he ever does is good enough for these fans.
It’s obvious that they expect the unreasonable from A-Rod. He came to New York the reigning MVP, an award nobody on the Yankees had won in 20 years. When he went on a tear, the fans cheered wildly, but the problem was (and is) that they expect him to do that all the time. As great as A-Rod’s been this season, there is an unwarranted feeling among Yankees fans that “this is what we paid for”. No, it isn’t. Unless it’s 2001 or 2002 and the player is Barry Bonds, you can’t expect this. You can’t expect anything like this.
But, nonetheless, the Yankees have been getting it. Alex Rodriguez is having the best first three weeks of a season he’s ever had, and few players have ever been hotter—at the season’s start, or any other time.
The bizzare thing is that most of A-Rod’s numbers are right in line with what’s reasonable to expect. The .351 batting average is high, but he hit .358 in his first full season and has a career .306 average. The .418 OBP is higher than his average, but below that of his 2005 MVP season OBP. He’s on a pace for a pedestrian (no pun intended) 81 walks, as well as on a pace to set a career high in strikeouts. He’s not stealing a lot of bases, he’s not seeing a lot of pitches (just 3.28 per PA so far), but there is one statistic that’s totally out of whack.
A-Rod has 20 hits this year. Half of them have gone over the wall. His Isolated Power is an insane .614. He’s not hitting the ball more often, he’s just crushing it whenever he does hit it.
It’s still ridiculously premature to talk about where he’s going with this. He still has to hit 40 home runs to be the first Yankee since Maris to hit 50, has 51 to go to tie the AL record, and would have to hit 63 home runs in 148 games just to tie the all-time record.
But if A-Rod cracks 50, or 60, or 70—or even if he stays in the 40s but continues to come through dramatically, and perhaps wins the Triple Crown—we’re possibly approaching a situation where regardless of any adulation he receives, A-Rod has to opt out, and the Yankees have to try to re-sign him. The money would be just too crazy.
Thus A-Rod, and we will come back to him.
Despite all that A-Rod has done, the Yankees came into yesterday’s game just 7-6. Their opponent was Fausto Carmona, who won the first game of his major league career last season, and was 0-11 with a 5.81 ERA since. It seemed like easy pickings for the Yankees’ lineup, but instead the Yankees were shut down completely. Until Jason Giambi’s sixth-inning homer, Carmona had allowed just 5 singles and one run, and was lifted with a 5-2 lead in the seventh.
Before the top of the seventh, however, the Yanks looked to be sneaking out a win. Darrel Rasner started pretty well, got into and out of trouble in the fourth, and left in the fifth in a tied game. Giambi’s homer gave the team a 2-1 lead, and the way the bullpen had pitched this season, it looked like it could hold up.
But Luis Vizcaino couldn’t hold it, giving up two walks, a double and a three-run homer to put the Yankees in the hole, and the lineup showed no signs of getting out of it. In the top of the ninth, Sean Henn tried to keep the deficit at three, and failed. The game went to the bottom of the ninth 6-2.
And I turned it off.
Yeah, you read that right. I turned the computer off (York, PA—gotta watch on MLB.tv), went out for a walk, got some lunch, watched a little TV, and then around a quarter to six I noticed my phone had a forwarded instant message from Sean: “Jeter up as the tying run”. Uh-oh. I’d done something stupid. I went back to the computer and saw what I had missed.
Now, I’ve missed stuff before. In 1998, a friend asked me to work for him because he was hung over, and when I called my father to let him know where I was, he informed me that David Wells was three outs away from a perfect game. A year later, just out of the hospital and staying with a friend without access to the games, I found out from a newspaper in the store that David Cone had pitched another perfect game the afternoon before.
Some luck. Probably not as bad as my friend Jeff, who in 2001 turned off Game 4 of the World Series early and went to bed. I woke him up with my phonecall when Tino hit the homer off of Kim, and he was at least able to see Jeter’s homer. The next night, with the Yankees down by 2 again with two outs in the ninth, he rationally concluded that they couldn’t possibly do it again, and as he went to turn the TV off he jokingly figured I’d call as soon as he turned off the television. And as soon as he turned off the television, the phone rang.
So this wasn’t as bad as that, but still… I missed it. But believe me, even knowing what happened it was spine-tingling to see unfold on the MLB.tv replay. Waiting for the file to become archived, though, was excruciating.
For those of you who for some inexplicable reason wait until I write a recap the next day to find out how the game turned out and who also either are incapable of inferring the obvious from what you’ve already read or randomly started reading this at the last paragraph, here’s what happened. Also, the Yankees won the AL East in 2005 and 2006 but lost in the first round both years—sorry I didn’t write about it earlier.
Much like the Saturday game against Baltimore earlier this season, the Yankees quickly recorded the first two outs against Joe Borowski. Josh Phelps wasn’t exactly the guy you wanted up to start a miracle rally, and when he hit it over the left field wall you had to believe that he probably could have picked a better time for his first home run. But by not making an out, Phelps brought up the Yankees’ big guns, starting with Jorge Posada (who never gets a real day off with the backups they stick him with). Borowski got to two strikes on Jorge, but a base hit to center kept things going. Damon faced a 2-2 count as well, but managed to work a walk, and suddenly Sean was sending me the news I got too late: Derek Jeter was up as the tying run.
Now a comeback was realistic. Jeter hasn’t homered yet, but he both can homer and has homered in big spots. He didn’t homer this time, but did single into left field to make the score 6-4, and bring Bobby Abreu up with a chance to tie it with a double. Instead, Abreu hit another single to left, which brought up GOD ALMIGHTY.
When A-Rod came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded against the Orioles, I hoped for a hit, or a homer, or a walk. I dreaded an out, especially a strikeout, because it would bring even more wrath down upon Alex. It wasn’t that I expected it, but that I was fixated on it. I imagine a lot of people were, especially with the count 1-2.
But since the homer, A-Rod hasn’t just gotten big hits in big spots, he’s been avoiding failure in general in those spots. Walking, hitting sac flies—he’s either gotten positive attention or kept the spotlight off of himself, and the fans haven’t booed, because there is no cause. And it keeps the memory of the homer alive, and it continues to enhance his image in the eyes of the fans. But it wouldn’t last. It was, after all, just one walkoff homer.
The first pitch was wild, and suddenly, with a base hit, A-Rod would win the game. But a single, while decisive, would only be remembered as part of a team comeback (which this was, of course, anyway). There was only one way to make this moment an A-Rod moment, perhaps the “True Yankee” moment that some nitwits have been waiting for.
When A-Rod hit the ball on the 1-0, the game was over. You didn’t have to wait for a single to hit the outfield grass, or see that deperate throw towards home plate to try and nail Abreu. You didn’t have to see if that deep fly was going to hit the wall or go over it, or if the outfield would chase it down for the out. There was no suspense. He swung, Yankees won. Before it had even gotten to the fence the fans were on their feet jumping up and down, the team was leaping out of the dugout onto the field, and the bat was already flung away, A-Rod’s arms spread high and wide, with a huge open-mouth smile on his face, almost as if in awe of what he himself had done. Over the second wall it flew, instant victory. An A-Rod victory.
In the aftermath last night the media didn’t talk about his past clutch failures, real or perceived, but compared him to David Ortiz, the clutch idol of the day.
To be forever free of the criticism in New York, Alex Rodriguez has to win a ring, and be a major player in winning it, not just be along for the ride in October. The tenth month is where is salvation or damnation in the eyes of the mainstream lies in New York, and we’re nowhere near that yet.
But what this home run may have done is give him temporary immunity. When he slumps—and he will slump, because while he is our Heavenly Father, this earthly form he has chosen is fallible—the fans might not boo him, they might not criticize him, because they WILL remember this.
A week and a half ago the Yankees left New York 2-3, yet to have a starter pitch into the sixth and facing the defending AL Central Champs, the defending AL West Champs, and the team picked by many to win the Central this season all in succession. They came through that stretch 6-3, and could have come out of it 9-0 if they’d hit Ramon Ortiz, thrown Kyle Farnsworth off the plane somewhere over South Dakota, and if Mariano Rivera had just gotten that last out. But 6-3 is good enough, and now they face perhaps the best team they’ve played this year: the Red Sox. The pitching matchups heavily favor Boston this weekend… but c’mon, does that really matter? Not that they will, but this lineup can hit anybody. As long as the Red Sox don’t score more than six or seven off of the starters, the Yanks might win.
Yeah, this lineup is crazy.
Comments
I’m sad to say that I turned this game off with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth. Two outs! I had chalked it up as a loss, my friend even asked me what happened, and I just said that they went down in order in the ninth. Of course, at this point it was near 11 pm here, and it was getting time for me to head home from my friend’s place. I still haven’t seen it, I’ll watch it after I’m through with my appointment in an hour.
We’ve all probably abandoned games too early, probably multiple times. Just last year I shut off the ridiculous 14-13 9th inning win against Texas, only to see highlight cut-ins at the bar after it was over.
Also - wow, A-Rod. He’s become my one of my favorite players, largely because of the undue criticism, so seeing (or not seeing) what’s happening just makes my month.
Great post Larry, my all time favorite by far. I listened to the game in the car on the way home, switching back and forth from Sterling to Mike and the Mad Dog as they followed along too. It was classic. A-Rod Almighty
At this time I would like to once again take partial credit for the idea of putting A Rod covers on the front page. Actually, my idea was just to count the covers, you took it to a ho nubba lebel.
“I turned the computer off (York, PA—gotta watch on MLB.tv)”
Come on, man, you have to pony up and buy DirecTV.
“—we’re possibly approaching a situation where regardless of any adulation he receives, A-Rod has to opt out, and the Yankees have to try to re-sign him. The money would be just too crazy.”
ARod is making 27,708,525 this season, and the Yankees don’t pay all of that. If ARod opts out, which everyone seems to say he will, the team that resigns him is going to have to pay about $30 million a season. To put that in perspective, Barry Zito is only making ten million this season. J.D. Drew, $14.4. Beltran, $13.5. Colon, $16.0. Outside of other Yankees (Jeter, Giambi, etc.), ARod would be making twice as much as other high priced players.
ARod is monstrously good, but I just cannot see any team, even the Yankees, willing to give ARod $30 million (or more!). That’s a significant chunk of money that can go towards at least three other quality players.
ARod’s contract is leaps and bounds beyond anything else in baseball. No team is crazy enough to try to top that.
Problem for the Yankees is if he opts out then Texas is off the hook for the $11M a year they are paying. ALl the Yankees can offer is to extend him for 3 years at $25M per. The extension would start in 2011. Of course A Rod still has opt out causes every year until then. And if you extend him, what of his new best friend Jeter?
By the way, though, in case it didn’t come across (which it didn’t), I enjoyed the article.
I left work during the top of the ninth, 5-2 Indians. I walked to my car and started driving home.
Halfway there, I thought “well, sure they almost certainly lost, but let’s just make sure” and I turned the radio on… and immediately knew something odd had happened. Sterling was still on the air and I could hear what sounded like the reverberations of madness in the background. At first I thought maybe he was doing the recap and that was Giambi’s homer. But no, he’s babbling about one of the greatest comebacks in MLB history…
I’ve watched that rally on replay several times, including the encore on YES. It’s incredible.
I almost never listen to the FAN, btw, but hearing Mad Dog absolutely melt down about it was pretty funny.
I was “watching” on Gameday and with 2 outs in the bottom of the 9th and my shift at work over, I turned it off and headed home. A little while later I get a voicemail along the lines of “Hey, I was calling you to see if you heard about the house yet, and then A-Rod just completed the craziest comeback *trails off*”. Confused, I ran home and was much pleased to see what had happened.
I LOVE Pulp Fiction... but my question is this:
Is A-Rod the righteous man, and is the bat his shepherd - protecting him from the valley of darkness?
Or is the pitcher the righteous man, and A-Rod is the shepherd protecting him from the game that’s selfish and evil.
Nope… the pitchers are weak and A-Rod is the tyranny of evil men.
Of the Evil Empire, no less 
I always enjoyed being a fan of teh hated Yankees. Whether it was the 1980’s when they were bad or the late 1990’s when they were good, I enjoyed being a fan of “The Yankees” who everyone hated and secretly envied. However being in the trenches of this verbal war with friends, and having to bear overexposure to ESPN and WFAN, the last few years have worn on me. I have war fatigue. I am getting bitter and jaded and long for a crop of likeable home grown players to squash the rest of the league and all of these Yankee haters. This ARod drama gets spun around in so many different directions it takes the joy away from ebing a fan. I am a fan who realizes that ARod may be the greatest player of the modern era but also a fan who hated the guy before he wore pinstripes- because of his personality, not his play- from his days in Seattle and Texas. I have not been happy with his post-season play but I think he will come through eventually. Still, I can’t take that much joy in his extreme success since it leads me to think forward to when he opts out and signs with Boston or The mets or Cubs and bashes NY and Yankee fans, becoming the epitome of obnoxious self-righteousness that Mets and ReSox fans have become. The reason Yankee fans haven’t taken to ARod is that he’s become the symbol of Yankee greed as spun by the ever-popular self-righteous anti-Yankee contingent and we are tired of fighting this annoying war of words. I want ARod to do well, but not well enough to validate a massive contract in excess of his current one. Please no .340, 65 HR, 150 RBI. Just give us .295, 38 HR, 120 RBI and a huge playoffs and WS win. Is that wrong?
The reason Yankee fans haven’t taken to ARod is that he’s become the symbol of Yankee greed as spun by the ever-popular self-righteous anti-Yankee contingent and we are tired of fighting this annoying war of words.
while the true symbol of Yankee “greed”, Jason Giambi, forever skates by unscathed b/c he hit a HR in the rain one time.
Wow Pags, that rant surprises me coming from a long time fan, the popular train of thought is that it is the new spoiled Yankee fans who only know winning championships that are hardest on A Rod. Guess it’s more the personality type. In general it has been much harder being a Yankee fan since the raised expectations after the dynasty and dealing with the October disappointments (since Bush was elected and 9/11 for conspiracy theorists).
However real fans just care about the baseball not the drama around it. Real fans realize that last year was a success even though the ending was awful. Real fans accept all their players for what they are doing today and what they did yesterday, tomorrow has no bearing. Real fans (to quote Jerry Seinfeld from my hometown) root for the laundry. Real fans love their team through ups and downs. Real fans think of baseball as more of a religion than a TV show. Real fans watch almost every game like many of us did even in 1990. God bless America, the Yankees and A Rod Almighty.
if only A-Rod was as good as Mike Pagliarulo.
So this is a good of time as any for Arod to say something stupid to ruin the goodwill, right? Let the countdown begin.
I was upset when Giambi was signed by the Yankees because I thought the way he yelled at Tejada in the playoffs against us was not a “Yankee” thing to do. Then I observed that he could hit 40+ HR and have an OBP over .400, and I realized he was what is known as “a very, very good player.”
ARod is like Giambi, but he can play defense and run. ARod is what is known as “a very, very GREAT player.” Yeah, it’s not fun watching the circus, and it bothers me that he could leave because of idiot fans and the media, but there’s no way I would want lesser players just so I can live in the comfort of not having other fans yell at me for being a Yankees fan.
In fact, what bothers me most of all are these numbnut fans that never even watched the Yankees before 1996. They take up the seats and muddy the reputation of true blue fans. I’d much rather get rid of them than ARod.
I grew up in 1980’s NYC loving The Yankees organization and want them to attain nothing but unrivaled success both for and in NYC. Living in NYC, I always pictured The Yanks as our team and The Mets as the LI team no matter how the Mets tried to market themselves. I don’t just want the Yankees to crush The Mets in the standings but also at the box office, in the tv ratings, and in the hearts and minds of NYC. Although I’d estimate the ratio of Yankee hats to Mets hats at 5-1 or so, I remember a few years ago when it would be 10-1. I root for NY to be Yankees town the way LA is the Lakers town. Although the Yankees are still the big fish, the scale isn’t as tilted as I’d like. The big part of it is this perception, whatever the degree of validity, that the Yankees are greedy, cheating, corporation and the MetSox are likeable heroes fighting for the little guy. The fact that all three teams play in huge $ markets (Bahston is a crappy town but the RedSox have the New England mkt to themselves) with only The Yankees consistently excelling is apparently irrelevant. Just like Microsoft, which Bill Gates built from his garage, people come to resent a winner. I understand that but what I don’t understand is people’s love of ineptitude- specifically the Mets and Sux who have done little with the same opportunities. If you’re gonna root against the big guy, why not root for the little guy, like KC or Detrot or Oakland. Like corrupt politicans who promise the world, MetSox fans are frauds. What dies this have to do with ARod? He gives them fodder and will continue to be a thorn in our side if he leaves next year. Thats why I wish him success- moderate in teh regukar season and substantial in October- but not enough to make it financially wise for him to opt out. Because it’s in the long-term interest of the Yankees and their fans.
Like all of you and I am loving watching A-Rod on this streak. I’ve said this before, but every time he comes up, I feel like he’s going to do something good.
A quick question for those of you, who, like me, have to deal with the run of the mill baseball/Yankees fan. A lot of what I’m hearing from is that people
‘are happy’ for A-Rod and say that he deserves the good fortune he’s having now. I suppose that’s preferable to mindless booing and razzing, but it’s still missing the mark. Some defensive struggles and a high K rate last year, A-Rod has been the good to great in every year since he’s been on the team, and the reaction that I’m getting implies that he hasn’t been.
The ESPN/WFAN spin is also bothering me - they’re showing reluctansce to finally embrace him by saying things like “it won’t matter until he does it in October.” Well, as we all know, while he didn’t hit 2 walk off HR’s in the postseason for us, he was a monster in the 2004 ALDS and the first 4 games of the 2004 ALCS (after which, BTW, the whole offense basically took a coffee break.)
Actually - believe it or not - I think a big year (capped with a WS victory), may make it MORE likely ARod will return. Why? I think ARod is starting to think about his legacy, and how we wants to be remembered. If he has an MVP year and is embraced by the fans, and leaves, there’s a good chance that he will NOT get a plaque in Monument Park. However, if he stays for three more years after that, he will pretty much be guaranteed that plaque.
So, money or legacy? Boras wants the money, I think ARod may want the legacy. Perhaps Boras will convince ARod to try for both (opt-out and plan on the Yankees being highest bidder), but I think he’ll stay, since he can always opt-out later. We’ll find out sometime in November, I guess.
“The pitching matchups heavily favor Boston this weekend… but c’mon, does that really matter?”
Heh. It matters every bit as much as it did on Thursday, when all of Sox fandom looked at “Tavarez vs. Halladay” and cringed in unison.
Ought to be an interesting weekend… enjoy it, everyone.
I had to stop watching the game after Vizcaino gave those 4 runs, because of work. But I knew A-Rod was comming to bat soon, with this crazy lineup around him.
And for the FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE I had an inner conviction that A-Rod was going to tie this game with a HR. I was so convinced that when I had the chance I ran to the computer to see how he did it, and there I found the miracle!!!
And I now have this strange feeling of confidence of him batting against Schilling, Beckett, D-Mat and Papelbon. For the first time.
I believe the toughest match-up for the Yanks will be Wright vs. Matsuzaka. The Yanks have had success against Schilling, who is nowhere near as good as he used to be, and they have repeatedly shelled Beckett. Moreover, it’s not like this team is slumping (except defensively). Mainly, I’d just like to see Pettitte give the team seven innings tonight so that the pen is rested for Karstens and the other left-handed Texan.
Who would you rather see the Yankees shell: Curt The Shill or Matsusaka? As much as I detest FakeBloodySockGuy, I’d rather see Matsusaka get lit up (say 2.2 IP, 7ER) because (1) it will send a message and (2)Sawks fans have already annointed him the next Pedro and are euphoric over Theo’s brilliant $100+ “heist.” I’d like nothing more than for this hero (which is what he is in Boston right now) to become a bust (4.7+ ERA) and get booed relentlessly. That way Sux fans will show what self-righteous shills they are.
The pitching matchups in this series tell me only 1 thing: Cashman is resolved in his plan for the season and for the pitchers in AAA. No one is being rushed, no stupid moves are being made, unlike this one, courtesy of BR:
Doug Mirabelli - Transactions
May 1, 2006: Traded by the San Diego Padres to the Boston Red Sox for Cla Meredith, Josh Bard, and cash.
Bard in 06 with San Diego: .338/.406/.943
Mirabelli in 06 with Boston: .193/.261/.603
Mr. Bard seems like he would have come in handy down the stretch. Woops.
Some good reading as usual today. I agree with Mike K that a complete year for A-rod may make him want a repeat in the Bronx. Don’t forget that he is aware of the new venue rising across the street. The legacy thing will be important to A-rod and the opportunity to surprise the world that maybe money isn’t his god, afterall. Boras is a problem for sure, but if Yankee fans show him the love all year, I believe there’s a good chance he will stay. To win the WS would make it more certain, and since that has been lately a difficult proposition, it’s not a lock. BTW, a Boston writer is predicting that this year they will boo A-rod but next year they will be cheering him. What egos some of those guys have!
I’m one of those who felt Cashman shouldn’t have made a strong league team stronger by trading Shef to Detroit. I don’t think that trade is looking so great at this point. I would have thought that his (Sanchez) damaged elbow would have been something to scare them. Isn’t that why they didn’t keep Andy in 2003?
Larry, you know how I found out about yesterday? I listened to 8 innings via my XM traveling home from a meeting. When I arrived at the office, I immersed myself in business. Like the other guy, I just had to know the final, and instead of checking espn, I went to this site and scrolled down, little by little, checking your commentaries. (or your pro-longings) What fun to discover the bottom line and a big win.
You know what scares me, Mo hasn’t thrown since Sunday. I don’t like this fact going into the Fens. He certainly wasn’t sharp last weekend. I will admit that the Cleveland series didn’t lend itself to using him, but he needs work.
Let’s wish Donnie Baseball a Happy Birthday today. When I see him in his uniform, it’s hard to believe he’s 46.
As much as I hate Schilling, I’d love to see Matsuzaka get absolutely hammered for the reasons Pags gave.
Also, I think we have a better shot winning a 4-2 type game tonight with Pettitte going, and Sunday would be more of the 11-5 variety. Therefore, hopefully shell Schilling too, but if I’d have to pick 1, it would be Matsuzaka.
Sorry for double-post, but clicked submit a little too early accidentally.
I think A-Rod will want to stay, not just for legacy reasons, but because he wants to be loved. He was a fan favorite in Seattle, chased the money and is hated there, Texas fans view his contract as the reason for their mediocre rotation so they don’t like him either. (On a side note, they went on a slide in talent there from A-Rod to Soriano and then a precipitous drop to Brad Wilkerson. Ouch.) If, hopefully, we win it all this year and A-Rod comes up big, or even comes up decently, he will continue to be one of the fan favorites, and who knows, 5 more years of greatness with some championships thrown in and #13 might get retired. But if he leaves for more money, and especially if he winds up in Boston or Queens, there’ll be a much larger, more vocal fanbase that will hate him.
Nice post, Larry. I turned off Game 4 of the 1996 WS in the middle innings, missed Leyritz’ tying HR off Wohlers and Boggs walking in the winning run, and have regretted it ever since.
I’ve found myself occupying a middle ground between the A-Rod defenders and the mindless stadium booers. Last year especially, the numbers aside, there seemed something not-quite-right with him, an emotional fragility, a jippiness. It was the inconsistent defense, in a way, that I found most enigmatic and disturbing.
But whatever. Yesterday will go down as one of my most satisfying experiences as a Yankee fan—maybe the most memorable non-post-season moment. I was following on-line, and as I saw the “5” in the Yankees’ run column swich to an “8”...my first thought was: “Naw, he di-int.” I was wondering this, and Baseball Tonight finally answered—2001 season (Pirates over Astros) was the last time there was this big a comeback with 2 outs and nobody on in the 9th.
This weekend, of course, will still be tough. I don’t think we should let the exhiliration of yesterday trump up expectations. Avoiding a sweep, as I’ve said here before, would be a moral victory of sorts.
Just wondering…has there been any head-scratching about why the Tribe didn’t walk A-Rod after the wild pitch? Facing Giambi’s certainly no picnic, but surely an argument could be made. Especially if they had another lefty in the bullpen to bring in—did they?
Other thoughts:
RLYW livebloggers and commenters, it seems to me, have been unduly harsh on Mientkiewicz. He’s obviously not league-average offensively for 1B, but the sample size is topo small to take drastic measures. Can’t this lineup carry his weak stick? How sub-par is Phelps’ defense? Maybe Phelps could get the call against some righties on the days when Jorge sits, so the bottom third isn’t quite a black hole.
Speaking of which, how long before Cashman starts poking around for a more viable backup catcher? Just as he did last year—dumping Stinnett for Fasano.
Haven’t seen it commented on here—H. Sanchez out for the year with Tommy John surgery.
Understanmd joeln’s point about strengthening the Tigers, but there was no room for Sheff, and I thought it was pretty innovative of Cashman to do the “sign-and-trade”. I think ultimately we’ll squeeze value out of that deal, just not in ‘07.
Lost in all the hoopla yesterday was Josh Phelps hitting a HR off a right handed pitcher. What’s the chance Torre noticed, and actually lets him start against a few RHPs? At least those games where Posada isn’t playing so that the bottom of the lineup isn’t such a hole.
Personally, I think Mientkiewicz will probably put up somewhere around his career averages by the end of the year. If Phelps can put up the 921 OPS he has now all year, that means that Minky is a late-inning defensive replacement. If Phelps drops down to around 840 or so, then maybe a platoon is still the best bet. Especially if the splits back that up.
I would start Phelps tonight though, since he is the hot-hand, and see what happens.
I would start Phelps as well even though Schilling is pitching. I think Phelps chances of using the green monster to his advantage are better than a lefty Minky actually making any contact off Schilling.
B-man, a lot of the criticism of Doug is purely for entertainment. However, its not like the guy has been a great hitter and is in a slump right now. His career OPS of .760 seems a bit low for a starting 1B on the Yankees.
I have Lilly starting tonight against StL. Unfortunately he’s carrying my staff while ARod carries my offense. Just like Bronson Arroyo I suspected he’d improve in the NL. The statistical analysis done on this site is amazing- I’d love to see the effect that the NL<->AL move has had on ERA/WHIP. I look at ElDuque and John Maine and Pavano and Clement as well as Pedro and Clemens and wonder just how much effect the league has on pitching statistics. Also, within the league, the division must have a huge impact, as well as the bulpen (inherited runners).
I believe Phelps has some good numbers against Schilling. Read that on another blog, WasWatching.com.
If Alex opts out he will not return in 2008. The Yankees need to start saving money to pay for the uber expensive new digs. Even the Yankees need to watch their money. Unlike Uncle Sam, they cannot print money at will.
B-man I agreed with the idea of signing and trading Shef, but only to the NL. I would have taken a lesser deal to ensure that and I would bet the farm that some other offers were there including San Diego. Cashman said it wouldn’t have mattered because the Tigers would have signed some other stud, but you never know, and at least if it were a trade, it would have weakened them elsewhere. It just stuck in my craw a little that we would send a very strong bat to the team that had just knocked us from the postseason. At the least we should have gotten healthy players, and Sanchez was already having arm problems a year ago. I think the story they are spinning today is just kind of a cover for a mis-calcualation. As I have said before, Cashman will make mistakes as well as many great moves, no GM is perfect. I think that defense is very important in a game with the starters we have tonight and Joe will rightfully put his best first baseman out there. Phelps will have an opportunity to ph I am sure.
And Don- if anything the new stadium will make the Yanks more flush. If any team can afford a $200 mill payroll, its the Yanks. As younger players begin to replace the older ones, the payroll will go down, but as one voice among many in Yankee fandom, I could care less what the payroll is as long as it’s not so high again that the club passes on a talent like Beltran, or let’s A-Rod walk after 2007.
Don, the Yankees’ payments for the new stadium are deducted from their revenue sharing bill. They were spending that money anyway on something other than players.
I too hope the HR by Phelps made an impression with Torre.
Look, ManCaveItch isn’t THIS bad, that much is obvious. As such, he is “due” to go on a “tear” at some point. A tear that I actually kinda fear, because it may earn him additional playing time his talent does not warrant.
I recognize that Phelps is not a star-caliber player either, and that his glove is weak. But he *can* hit a bit, and ManCaveItch cannot make up with his glove the difference between his career averages and what I hope/expect from Phelps.
If someone could guarantee me that MCI could equal his performance last year with KC, it would be different. That still wasn’t impressive for a AL 1B, but it wasn’t a gaping map of horrible suckage (what he’s doing now, and has done before in his career).
Larry- weren’t the Yanks spending that money on other team’s players? Except for the teams that put it in their pockets for so many years like the Royals.
joeln—see your point. But Sheff is so obviously a defensive liability at this point, that he was less valuable to NL clubs (because they can’t DH him).
IMHO the reason A-Rod isn’t fairly accepted for what he is has to do with his personality. He always sounds kind of phony and self-absorbed, which I think might be insecurity on his part. People can’t connect to him at all, so they start picking him apart unnecessarily. He’s sort of the Al Gore of baseball. Like Gore, (IMHO) if people focused solely on his job skills, they’d probably agree that he kicks ass.
Unlike Doug Mientkiewicz, who genuinely can’t hit.
I doubt Doug M is capable of “going on a tear.” At least, not to the degree the majority of the hitters on the team could. His numbers will likely slowly creep up. But I’m not holding my breath for a Doug M hit parade.
Like Gore, (IMHO) if people focused solely on his job skills, they’d probably agree that he kicks ass.
Manbearpigs are a serial threat….
It’s funny, you know, I never thought A-Rod had a scintillating personality, but he never struck me as a total jerkoff either. Jeter, whom everyone describes as unfailingly courteous and polite—and no doubt that persona is part of his off-the-chart pop culture appeal—comes across to me as little more than a bland, milquetoast cliche-meister.
Manbearpigs
??? Don’t get the reference.
I doubt the new ballpark will make the team more flush. The money for the way over-priced new stadium is a serious matter. Lot of carrying costs there. Thus the salary structure will continue to decline. Abreu’s option will not be picked up. And the team will not pay Alex more than they already are paying him. If he opts out, who will ante up? So I say he’ll not opt out.
None of this even assumes a serious recession, which will most certainly occur, dropping revenue quite fast.
Manbearpigs
??? Don’t get the reference.
Basically the words “Gore” and “kicks ass” do not belong in the same sentence. Unless you take out “kicks.”
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