The Spectacle Blog
Another Opportunity to Tweak A-Rod
Curt Schilling retired yesterday, and the Boston Herald's Gerry Callahan couldn't pass up the opportunity to pile on the Red Sox fans' most hated player, Alex Rodriguez, who plays for their most hated rival.
Curt Schilling retired yesterday, and the Boston Herald's Gerry Callahan couldn't pass up the opportunity to pile on the Red Sox fans' most hated player, Alex Rodriguez, who plays for their most hated rival:
Amazing how things turn out sometimes: The Sox got Schilling. The Yanks got A-Rod. The Red Sox won that offseason (2004) and have been winning ever since....Schilling did as promised, delivering a World Series championship in his first season with the Sox and another one three years later.
Rodriguez has been, in so many ways, the anti-Schilling. A two-time MVP for the Yankees, he has shrunk to the size of a bobblehead doll in October. Lots of players struggle under the postseason pressure, but rarely has a player this good been this bad when the games mean this much. You think we’re exaggerating? In his past 59 postseason at-bats, A-Rod has eight hits. During that time, he has come to the plate with 38 runners on base and driven in none. When the pressure is on, the best player in baseball hits like Obama bowls.
But you have to give A-Rod credit for one thing: He has found a way to divert attention from his pathetic performance in the postseason. Actually, he has found a few ways: Confess to using drugs. Lie. Cheat. Blame your cousin. Reportedly hire a hooker. Leave your wife. Ignore your kids. Tear up your hip and go in for surgery. And oh, yeah, kiss yourself in the mirror while a renowned photographer captures the image for all the world to see.
Does that about sum up A-Rod’s offseason? Gee, why didn’t Bill Buckner think of that?
I so envy Callahan's enormous stockpile of pointed barbs...
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Pingback| 3.24.09 @ 3:00PM
Another Opportunity to Tweak A-Rod — But As For Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
astorian| 3.24.09 @ 3:45PM
The Red Sox "hate" A-Rod, and yet they tried their level best to get him, right before the Yankees did.
astorian| 3.24.09 @ 4:01PM
Another thing: personally, I do not believe there is any such thing as a "clutch" player or a "choker," and that fans/writers who use such terms are unforgivably ignorant.
But if one is determined to paint Alex Rodriguez as a star who never delivers in the clutch, let me describe another player who never delivered in the clutch.
This man was a Rookie of the Year, a batting champ, an MVP, and a first ballot Hall of Famer. His lifetime batting average was .311, and he had a lifetime on-base percentage of .409!
In the post-season, it was a VERY different story, however. He appeared in the World Series six times, where he batted a feeble .234, which is why his team (unquestionably the best in baseball) perennially came up short in October.
If you believe in "clutch" performers and "chokers," this guy HAS to be regarded as the greatest choker in baseball history, right?
His name was Jackie Robinson.
Hmmm... suddenly the idea of "choking" seems ridiculous, doesn't it? After all, Jackie Robinson, was the bravest man who ever played major league baseball. He batted .342 while listening to racist taunts and death threats. The idea that he'd perform poorly in the World Series because of nerves is just silly!
Say... could it be that, in a short series, ANYTHING can happen? That a small number of at-bats is a pretty silly basis for judging a player? That MAYBE anybody who'd call Al Weis and Don Larsen "clutch" players is spouting nonsense? Or that A-R0d has been merely unlucky, rather than a choker?