The American Spectator

The Spectacle Blog

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...

topics:
Major League Baseball