Image Source: (Danny Wild)
BY TOM MARTIN
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It’s happening again: Alex Rodriguez still can’t buy a hit in the playoffs. As a result, his Yankees are on the verge of an early postseason exit.
“Alex Rodriguez struggling in the playoffs. That has happened before. You spoke with him tonight, what can you tell us about him, Is he pressing, what's going on?”
“Alex said he felt like he had really good at-bats tonight and felt like he was seeing the ball. But as he said, when you don't get results in certain situations, it's not going to work out well for the team and certainly is something that has to change for the Yankees if they're going to turn around the series.”
Rodriguez went 1 for 14 against Detroit in the 2006 playoffs -- relegating him to the eighth spot in the Yankee batting order. This year, he’s hitless -- oh for ten. A Yankees blogger on WasWatching says it’s time for another change.
“If [Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman] had a pair, they would bench Alex Rodriguez … in Game 4 of the ALDS … But that’s never going to happen … It’s way too much money to send to the pine.”
So they can’t bench him. He’s the highest paid player in the history of the sport. But as New York Magazine’s Joe DeLessio (dee-less-ee-o?) writes, there could be another issue:
“There’s an added wrinkle to A-Rod’s struggles in this series: It’s not so much a question of whether he can hit in the clutch … but a question of whether he can physically hit at all right now… It’s a fact that he’s had issues with his knee and thumb this season.”
Yankees fans have already answered A-Rod’s struggles; they booed him at home during Game 2. A writer for Yankees blog Pinstripe Alley says that’s unfair:
“Derek Jeter's postseason [on-base percentage] of .269 since the start of the 2010 ALDS hasn't warranted a single boo? How about Mark Teixeira's meager [.168 batting average] in postseason games with the Yankees? No boos quite as extreme as the ones aimed at Alex Rodriguez.”
Fans will be fans, but what do opponents think of A-Rod’s decline? According to the Wall Street Journal’s Daniel Barbarisi (bar-ba-ree-see?)-- in Game 3, Detroit nearly did the unthinkable:
“Postgame, [Tigers manager Jim Leyland] admitted that he nearly walked [Robinson Cano] in order to pitch to Rodriguez—and the primary reasons he didn't do it had more to do with the rainy weather than any fear of the hitter formerly known as A-Rod.”
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Transcript by Newsy.
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