On the Yankees beat

KAT-
Would appreciate an update on Carl "bag a balls" Pavano. THANKS

Get Pavano off this team and cut your losses.

Let's extend the winning streak to 2!

I guess it would be just too 'girly' to say I love Wang.

Besides, it's too early in the game.

how come there are so many sox fans at the stadium??? it's like an away game!

GO DOUG M!!!!
3 RUN HOMER!!!

Okay...

In the last 24 hours I've seen Kei Igawa throw a 2 hitter over 7 innings. Farnsworth goes all 06' season on us in the 8th. And now I think I'm halucinating.
Doug goes yard 3 run shot?

I CAN NOT WAIT FOR THIS RIDICULOUS MONTH TO END!!!

Diane

You go ahead and be "girly." I too have love for Wang. However I only have room for one "mancrush" Alex had me 14 nomsayin...Speaking of which it would be cool to see him break that record today but I think a little bit of the stat concious Alex has resurfaced so it's probably not gonna happen. His last couple at bats he looks like he's a little anxious to hit one out.

Is anyone else as worried about Abreu as I am?

WHAT IS GOING ON WITH HIM!!

Certainly doesn't resemble the guy who showed up last year and was an automatic onbase machine. I can't remember him striking out last year not once. Now it seems he's become Adam Dunn.

wang

some brave posters already wrote it in spring training and got trashed (sadly i wasn't one of them) - wang is NOT an ace. he's a great pitcher and i love watching him because he works fast and throw strikes and has a strong mentality, but he should be a no. 3 guy ideally.

abreu

let's say you had a really bad week at work, dropping the ball on several projects. but your boss still believes in you and gives you a big presentation to deliver. what are the chances you're going into that board-room chuckling?
i just don't like the fact that abreu was laughing as he walked to his at bat.
first of all, it's fake appearence of confidence, because obviously he's lost right now.
secondly, you're 1 run down against your biggest rival. you better have your game face on.
and i remind you that he's batting 3rd, where oneil used to bat. i am beginning to see why they hated him in philly.

torre

when you pull your starter after 84 pitches with an off day before his next start allowing extra rest - don't cry about your wasted bullpen.
on friday francona sent dice-k back for a full inning having thrown 99 pitches. yesterday he sent wakefield out after throwing 100 pitches.
torre is a complete idiot and must be fired.

i want to remind you that we WERE in a one-run close game, and the sox have papelbon shutting down the 9th.
this 5th run is huge, and it's ALL on torre. i really hope this is his last weekend as a yankee manager.

GIL L
I'm scratching my head on that one too ! Proctor can't be going out there every game ,giving up his usual 1 run per appearance.

Joe Needs to go

Wang's at 84 pitches and you take him out.

Does this **** ever end?

You have to be impressed w/ Okajima.
Makes you wonder what the Yanks were thinking when Okajima publicly stated he wanted to pitch for NY?
Villone and Myers ?

I BELIEVE THE YANKS HOLD THE RECORD FOR USING 5 PITCHERS OR MORE IN A GAME FOR 9 STRAIGHT GAMES

soon to be 10

this is simple ridicolous.
the sox bullpen is far superior to the yanks.
they score on our bullpen at will.
and wang threw 84 pitches...

i think cashman should take some blame for the mess the yanks are in!!!!

Wish we had that Japanese pitcher in the Red Sox bullpen who already is haunting us!

Think Torre gets fired tomorrow, with the Yanks losing 8 of 9? Even yesterday's rare win wasn't exactly sweet.

torre apologists - at least be show some honesty!

after last week's sweep you all wrote that we did our best as the sox sent their no. 1,2,3 pitches and we had a broken apart rotation full of rookies.
whatever.
this weekend: the sox sent no. 3,4,5 (no 5. is not even a starter but a reliever subbing until lester returns). we sent no. 1,2,4.
what's the excuse now? weather? injuries? at least we tried?

Mike, Michael Kay just said it was 10 straight games.

Manny just hit a home run and we're down 7-3. It's pathetic. We're just beginning to get some decent starting pitching, enough to keep us in the game, but the Yankees offense is practically catatonic behind the plate, especially with men on base. Now Boston has the awesome bullpen while our bullpen is spent. I don't know about anybody else, but I'm about to call it a year. I'm more mentally exhausted than they are.

you all know how careful the YES guys are about saying anything critical about the yanks, but earlier the play-by-play guy asked leiter about wang's way premature removal, so leiter says:"well, seeing that they don't have an off day before his next start...",
p-b-p:"yes they do", leiter:"oh, well, still,..."

Mike Fl
Wang can't get a scrub like Cora out ? You blame Cashman? Torre refuses to see if Wang has another 10-15 pitches left in him and you blame Cashman ?
The Yankee starting pitching has been decimated by injury,which no one could have predicted and you blame Cashman?
Torre is doing the best he can under the circumstances,but the fact is we need someone who can do better.
This push button managerial style just plain sucks !

Gotta love Damon's quote of saying his back only hurts when he stands. That could be a problem when you're playing baseball.

how H-U-G-E are the runs given up by the bullpen after derek's homer????
please george - fire torre tomorrow!!!

ruse,

no one could have predicted pavano's injury? are you serious??? and mussina, a 39 year old with several DL visits in recent years. you don't think that if these are your starters you need to make sure your rotation + bullpen are deep enough to sustain injuries?
don't you think that in a 12 men bullpen you need at least ONE long relief guy?
i think larry has it right. cashman has done a terrible job building this team as a 25-men roster.

Gil L

Granted Pavano's injury was percentage wise a predictable one .I honestly thought Mussina and Wang would not have spent time on the DL right out of the gate .Did you predict that ?
If they had been starting from the get go we would not be talking about a burned out bullpen.
If Cashman is to prove his worth he needs to go out and find a starting pitcher and putting sentiment aside fire Torre.

Fire Torre once this one is over.

I don't know if I can go a whole year like this. I'll stay loyal till I die but this is really starting to hurt.

Phucker

The Yanks won't stand pat.Changes will be made.Keep the Faith !

Guys, I just got word: Steinbrenner will (finally) be firing Torre tomorrow, if not sooner! He's seething and desperately wants to make a change. No one will talk him out of it this time! Press conferernce tentaively scheduled at 1. Mattingly in to replace him, Bowa as the bench coach to help him out.

Bye Joe!

Ruse

I know but I'm kinda terrified about the Boss is gonna do. I would be really sad to lose Hughes or Cano but they seem like the only chips that could bring back what we need. Girardi isn't gonna pitch or hit for Bobby Abreu.

I'm not religious but I was raised catholic.

I'll talk to you later see if I can't make a late mass nomsayin...

I've got blood in my sock and my back only hurts when I stand, but I'm gonna "man up" and post. (OK, tomato sauce)

Phucker:
I'm with you on Abreu. It's a contract year but he may have decided Hey, I've got 30 mil in the bank - who needs the aggravation?

Gil L:
Agree on the need for a long reliever. Probably Rasner. In the '50s and '60s, the era of a 4 man rotation, all teams carried a "mop-up-man" (that was the term!) who would make spot starts, e.g. in doubleheaders (we had lots of twin bills back then). Instead of using 4/5 guys to pitch an inning each, your long guy pitches 3 or 4 or even 5.

Ruse:
You're right on Okajima. He wanted to come here, but of course we were all stocked up with Villone and Myers, so we didn't need him.

Lucy:
I'm also very close to calling it a year. It's painful. As the old Brooklyn Dodgers used to say, "Wait 'til Next Year!"

I'm not gonna defend Torre's decision to pull Wang after 84 pitches. If he was healthy, that's a another dumb decision. Every third of an inning logged by the starters helps the bullpen. If, however, a blister was raised (the trainer looked at Wang's finger in the 6th) then you have to give Torre a pass. Still, he's created much of the mess he's now in with his relievers, using too much conservatism with his starters.
Don't blame Cashman for this. He picked up Vizcaino who logs many innings. At the beginning of the season, the odd man out among Karstens/Rasner/Igawa and Henn were going to pull long relief duty.
Injuries have greatly affected that plan.
And for all the "armchair GMs" that post on this Blog, I doubt if there were much more than 5% who didn't say the bullpen was solid and better than last season's.

Boston's bullpen looks great right now because they haven't been exposed. There starters are doing a fine job going deep into games, thereby minimizing the innings pitched.
Wakefield is a valuable link because he always gives them innings a keeps them in the game (4-5 runs).
When the season progresses and age catches up to Schilling and Wakefield, hitters get to see Matusaka and Okajima (who has nothing special) - you'll see a different bullpen.
It's still April folks!

Plus, the elephant in the room that none of us has mentioned for the last few games.

Where's Alex?

ruse:
this team is a mess! yes i blame cashman! who put this "old" team together? and torre is not a good handler of the bullpen! the pitching staff is old the bullpen overused and the starting nine old.if not for arod they would only have about 4-5 wins! one other point, this team looks lifeless. it resembles the manager. i also think mattingly is not the answer. we need joe g or even larry bowa. its too bad the yanks did not go after lou before he went to cubs!

Re: Wang's finger, just heard something about middle fingernail on pitching hand being 'split', 'turned sideways'. They were not certain whether he'll be able to make next start, but he seemed to downplay it.

Diane:
ARod was bound to cool off somewhat after his torrid start. Just think what the Yanks record would be without his numbers and heroics so far. They are in a quandry right now. The Team was averaging 7 runs a game for a stretch and couldn't get pitching. Yesterday and today the hitters have left several RISP.
They WILL get better!

Yes, Joe, I wasn't meaning to complain -- he's been great -- just wanted to see if anyone had ideas about what's up there. I was afraid I was sometimes seeing that 'old Alex' expression and really just hoping that I was wrong.

one example personifying the yanks vs. sox these days.

yesterday crisp was called out on a strike that was way off the plate. he got mad, threw away his bat & helmet, and obviously got tossed.
today in the 8th damon got an identical bad call. nothing, just walking quietly to the dug out.

it's not that i champion angry reactions as an ideology, but i am looking for passion. sports is about passion, desire to succeed and frustration of failure. there is just much you can take, so much you can achieve, when your team, 1 through 25, is of the "well mannered, polite, emotionless" brand.

everyone writes how lifeless the yanks look. it's mainly this numb look and robotic behaviour that leads to this impression. also notice how many close calls the yanks lose, especially bang-bang plays at first. why? because subconsciously umpires know that the yanks will take any call lying down.
the same way opposing hitters feel comfortable against our pitchers, so do the officials, and the worst of all - now opposing fans feel at home at yankee stadium.
sox fans completely dominated this weekend, and this lack of energy has now affected the crowds.
i mean, you could here "let's go red sox" loud and clear today.

it ALL comes from torre's personality or lack there of. the team has become the face of the manager - stoic, emotionless, lethargic. you cannot overstate how lucky torre was to have oneil, girardi and tino on the team of 96-00. intense players who could light a fire under anyone, get in an umpire's face, challange an opposing player.
in the last 7 years he has been exposed for te nothing that he is. a kindergarden teacher / grandfather who just wants to make sure everyone's having fun and acting in a polite and appropriate manner.

please, please, please...
FIRE HIM!!!!!!!!!

I love Baseball !!! So unpredictable ! Let's see if the Yanks can get off the mats !
All is dependent on starting pitching.
Pettitte failed on friday and even said he felt "embarrassed".
Igawa who everyone had just about written off pitches a little gem on Sat.
Tavarez who we were certain to score 15 runs against did just enough for 5 innings.
Wang has to step up,he's been so-so in 2 starts.
And we do have a good bullpen w/a little rest and a bucket of spirolina they should be fine,provided we get 6-7 inning starts.

I think Alex became too focused on breaking Pujols record and was trying too hard at the plate. Vying for individual records seems to distract from teamwork, in my view, and my feeling is that he fell victim to the pursuit.

The phrase "it's only April" can no longer be used after today. The next time the Yankees play, it will be May. Hopefully, that's a good thing -- maybe not for A-Rod's record-breaking efforts, but for the team as a whole.

Gil L

Your right ! Passion is lacking and it's true teams sometimes take on the personality of the skipper.
Maybe a little chaw and kicking dirt on the umpire would do it.
But until the Yanks start winning 3-2 5-3 games all the histrionics won't mean a thing .
Please let some of us refrain from looking for an AROD angle,he carried this team for a month.
Now Abreu Cano Damon Matsui need to step up.

The bullpen is a mess thanks to Torre and his "panick" hooks of starters. Sometimes a Mgr. has to leave a starter in, just to save the "pen". Billy did this when necessary, Torre refuses to do likewise. Girardi is the perfect choice to straighten this situation out, as he showed last year with Florida. "The Boss" hired and fired Billy numerous times, so there is no reason he will shy away from the outspoken Girardi. The sooner this move is made, the quicker Girardi can get the Yanks straightened out and into 1st place.

ROY

My choice would be Girardi and I'm sure he's stomping at the bit to let at it .

Gil, those were terrific points. I feel you're hitting the nail on the head when comparing the Yankees to the Red Sox. Boston has so much passion and fire; they antagonize and intimidate; they look like they want to win and will do anything to achieve that goal. Personality-wise, getting rid of Sheffield may not have been such a great move after all (despite the funk he's in now). I'm surprised the Red Sox didn't pick him up. He fits right in with his fierceness and death-defying attitude at the plate. We need some frighteningly aggressive players to spice up the team

RUSE-
Hopefully, Girardi is content with all the other coaches on the staff. I think Torre should be the only one "canned". If any other coach wants to leave, so be it. I don't think we need to shake up the entire operation.

Nobody is criticizing Alex, Ruse. I just didn't realize analyzing A-Rod's sudden coolness was off-limits. Maybe we should set some rules before we post. Thou shalt not talk about A-Rod in other than glowing terms. Got it.

Redsox talk show reporting.....

Joe Torre will be fired tommorrow and RedSox Nation are taking special pride in the fact the redsox destruction of yankee the last 2 weekends was the direct result. One commentator says it's not going to be the same without Yankees in pennant race this summer. He said "But I think I can live with it". Then the 2 of them started to laugh hysterically and high-fiving each other.

Lucy

AROD hit the ball hard today,didn't he have 2 hits? It's up to 5,6,7 hitters to pick him up a bit.
You can't expect that kind of production from one player all year.I'm not telling you something you don't already know.
Please I apologize if you felt I was directing my displeasure entirely at you.Maybe I was a little bit ! I'll try to be more supportive!

their are no rules lucy!
you should be able to exress what you think regardless of what others think! for the record i agree with you about arod. he tried to ahrd to break the record.now its may and maybe he can get back to what he does best,hitting to right and centerfield.

can girardi really happen?

i think that cashman will not drop himself on a sword for torre, but girardi is another issue. it will be a complete vote of non-confidence since he is grooming donnie to be the next manager. if girardi is chosen donnie will most likely quit, and i feel cashman will look at the situation as if his power has been usurped and threaten to quit too.

by the way, i believe GS has every right to lose confidence in cashman or at leaast to over-rule him, but cashman is just crazed with this battle for power within the organization.

my wishful thinking is that step 1 torre goes. however, if donnie replaces him i'm not sure we've accomplished much - a guy with 0 experience and a similar personality.
but let's not get ahead of ourselves. let's get rid of torre, then see.

gil:
thats what i keep saying about mattingly! he looks like he is sleeping right next to torre and has no experience with a pitching staff. if this happens then we went from bad to worse

"Quote from Spiceman_86 - A Redsox Fan in Espn boards"

"One bright spot for the Yankees

http://boards.espn.go.com/boards/mb/mb?sport=mlb&id=bos&tid=789094&lid=1

Right now, they are lined up for the 4th pick in the 2008 June rule 4 draft. I know it's only April, but only 1 day left in the opening month, they are the 4th worst team in baseball winning % -wise"

http://boards.espn.go.com/boards/mb/mb?sport=mlb&id=bos&tid=788095&lid=2

Spiceman_86

"And the Yanks had their best..pitcher going against our worst! Man, I fear the Tampa Bay Double A's more than the Yankees right now. Horrible pitching staff"

EXEXOSox

I would take the D-Rays top two starters over the Yankees any day.

JogaFooty

Scott Kazmir is pretty good actually. He would be a great number 5 starter for the Sox, but we don't need him now that Lester is coming back

Were Mattingly and Guidry JTs or BCs choices ? The one thing I like about
Girardis credentials is he knows how to handle a pitching staff.
The Yanks wouldn't have invited him to hang so close to the team if there wasn't some in house favoritism going on.

hey ruse!
we finally agree on something! girardi can and will take care of our fragile and worn out staff.

Mike, thank you for your support.

Ruse, I appreciate your support as well, and I definitely agree with everything you just said. To clarify my original point, I wasn't referring to A-Rod's performance in general, but I was referring specifically to his home run streak. He was on a roll and then he stopped at 14 (tied with Pujols for the MLB record). As an inquiring mind, I want to know why (it happens to be an idiosyncrasy of mine.)

One of the YES commentators said he saw a distinct different in the way A-Rod was hitting the ball, that he was shifting his hips too much, giving him the impression that he was trying too hard to hit a home run. He went into a whole big analysis of Alex's body movement. I can't say enough about how A-Rod carried the team, but I'm an analytical person by nature, so I do tend to look for the rhyme and reason behind just about everything.

Typical of some Red Sox fans to celebrate another World Series win in April. Do they really think they're going to stay on top forever? As a Yankees fan, I've come to realize that being on top all the time comes with distinct disadvantages. When you fall, it's harder to take. When you gloat, you feel the sting much greater when your nemesis inevitably rules your world once again. You'd think these overzealous Red Sox fans would have learned this lesson by now. I guess they're just not used to being on top all that often.

First off, you cant take anything red sox fans say seriously. They still get a much bigger thrill over beating the yankees than yankee fans when we beat the red sox. They will always have this inferiority complex when it comes to the yankees, so thats #1.

Now I persoanlly like torre and don'k think he should be fired this early. However, I think the best points made on this board about him (particularly in the post by Gil), are the fact that he is comatose on the bench. This was brought up last year in the tiger series when he neglected to argue a couple calls that went against the yankees that were questionable. This has always been my biggest gripe with him, in that he never, ever shows any emotion. You can even go back to last sunday night agaisnt the red sox when matsuzaka hits a-rod and jeter and not one of the pansy yankee pitchers throws inside on manny or ortiz. This also goes back to torre, as this has been an ongoing trend over the last 4 years with yankees getting hit by red sox with nothing being done about it. Then of course last year agaisnt the tigers, this team showed no fight in them whatsoever when they were going down (with the exception of jorge posada), and its happening again with the ship sinking. In my opinion this all goes back to torre, and I don't know if a managerial change is the answer, but this team needs someone to light a fire under them, and I dont know if torre can. Now it is still only april and there is plenty of time left, as the cliche goes, but this team is not only losing, but getting embarassed and its time someone stepped up.

Although if he were to get fired...why not larry bowa? He would get in these players faces and hold them accountable at least.

Lucy:
The commentator analyzing ARod's swing was John Flaherty, a career .250 BA/.290 OBP/.377 Slg Pct. batter. What does this guy need to catch a break? He had 2 hits today and yesterday only a great catch by Ramirez robbed ARod of a baseloaded shot to left field. He's only batting .348 with 14 HRs, 34 RBI and a 899 Slg. Pct. He's fine! He can't carry the team each game and shouldn't have to!

It's an interesting time in Yankeeland right now. I've never felt that Torre managed a pitching staff well, but he's a standup guy, well respected by his veteran players. He's a master at public relations, too, which helps him win support from the general public when these "fire Joe" crises develop.
I do agree with those that feel this Team has no fire right now. Ironically, the only two that I've seen show emotion recently are Minky (with his hustle) and..... ARod.
I think it would be a mistake to fire Torre right now just for the sake of change and for the sake of "lighting a fire". What kind of negative affect do you feel it would have on the veterans that have been with Joe during the "Glory Years" (Jeter,Posada,Rivera, Pettite)? They make up a significant part of the players that will lead this Team.
Give him another Month, assuming he has a healthy staff. And if the W-L Record is as bad, then maybe its time for change.

I agree that Mattingly is probably not ready to be NY's manager until he's had at least a year's experience. (And please remember that Girardi had no managerial experience when he managed Florida last year either. )
Girardi was leading a team of virtually AAA players. With all the egos on this Yankee ballclub, he would be overmatched by the pressure from the owner, the Front Office and the News Media.
I'd guess that someone like Pena would take over as interim manager for the remainder of the season, if Torre is fired.

That was "bases clearing shot to left field".

Joe, I've thought of that, too -- Girardi led a team of kids and he was the 'old man' who had, in comparison with them, 'done it all'. That doesn't diminish the tremendous job he did with them, but on the Yankees he'd be faced with veteran superstars and even with coaches with more managing experience than he. Not to mention an entrenched group of Steinbrenner cronies in Tampa who seem to feel competitive with the New York management structure. I respect JG's skill and winning attitude and think he would probably be the best next manager for the Yankees if the transition could be arranged favorably. That might mean JT finishing out his tenure, going out with grace and style, and the organization lining everybody up behind the new guy. Because in this situation Girardi would be the kid, not the 'old man'.

The goal is to win the World Series. We can't win this year. They should have signed Mulder, or Lilly, or turne Contreras around. Too many similar type players. No fire. Worn out bullpen, lack of starting depth. Truth is, anything that could have gone wrong, has gone wrong. All those injuries ... what would we have done if these guys had to land at D-Day? We would have lost WWII. The team is not hungry. The lost to the Angels in the playoffs a few years back was the death of the old core, or is it corps or corpse? It's sad to watch, especially for 200 million. I live in St. Louis now and the Cardinals have also had a lot of injuries, but the kids come up from Memphis in AAA and are doing pretty well. Again, where is the Yanks fire?

Again, Latham Joe, as I pointed out to Ruse, it's not a criticism of Alex but a mere objective analysis of what he's been doing differently in the last week. The fact that it was Flaherty who made the comment makes no difference to me, because he was being objective, not critical. Different people approach the game differently. Many people, like me, enjoy analyzing players and situations rather than engage in a game of mental chess regarding players and situations. I prefer to psychoanalyze Joe Torre rather than speculate who might do a better job. It's just one unique approach to the game. It's worth repeating, analysis and psychoanalysis are not equivalent to criticism and no one has been criticizing Alex Rodriguez.

Since we're talking about A-Rod here, this is a great article about him posted 3 hours ago, in case anyone is interested.

Is this A-Rod the real A-Rod? Dayn Perry / Special to FOXSports.com

To say that New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is having a hot month is to indulge in criminal levels of understatement. The Yankees occupy last place in the AL East at the moment, 6½ games behind the first-place Red Sox, but the once-beleaguered A-Rod is on an impossible roll.

Through Sunday, Rodriguez has a batting average (AVG) of .355, an on-base percentage (OBP) of .415, and a slugging percentage (SLG) of .862. As well, he leads the majors in home runs and RBI by comfortable margins. Also worth noting is that his 14 home runs ties Albert Pujols' 2006 record for most dingers in April. If paces hold, Rodriguez in 2007 would tally 99 homers (a record), 239 RBI (a record), 190 runs scored (almost a record) and 232 hits.

Obviously, such a break-neck clip can't possibly be sustained, but those projections speak to his incredible start. "I haven't seen anything like it before. It's like everything he hits is a home run," Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. "I can't relate because I can't do it. It's one of the waves you hope you can ride for a long time." What's also interesting about A-Rod's season is that it's at odds with the image we've gotten of him over the past couple of seasons. Recent conventional wisdom has it that Rodriguez thrives only when the stakes are lowest, that he can't handle the acute pressures of playing in New York and that he lacks a certain inner something or other that's required to succeed in clutch situations.

So which is it — is A-Rod the impossibly elite performer he's been throughout April or the inwardly meek "not when the chips are down" sort the fans and media have painted him as? Well, neither, but the former is closer to the truth than the latter. A-Rod is a two-time MVP, a 10-time All-Star, a two-time Gold Glove winner at shortstop, the most important defensive position on the diamond, and a career .306 hitter. His 478 career home runs rank 24th on the all-time list, and in all likelihood at some point this season he'll unseat Jimmie Foxx as the youngest player ever to reach the 500-homer mark. In other words, Rodriguez is indisputably one of the greatest players in the annals of the game.

So why doesn't his reputation match the numbers? Part of it is a distaste for the way A-Rod (in previous seasons, any way) would sound all-too rehearsed and focus-grouped when talking to media — at times, to be frank, he seems like a bit of a phony. "People keep wanting to know Alex Rodriguez, and my point was, they don't need to know Alex Rodriguez," said his agent, Scott Boras. "Your job is to perform as a baseball player. What people need to know about you, you can choose to not tell them or tell them. Don't feel any obligation to hold up a standard where you have to be something off the field. Your job is to perform on the field." But since we've brought up Boras, part of it is also lingering anger (envy?) over the fact that, back in 2000, A-Rod inked a contract that was twice as large as the previous most expensive player contract in sports history.

And then part of it is how he's performed in the postseason over the last couple of years. To delve further into this latter phenomenon, let's take a look at A-Rod's playoff numbers for his entire career up through 2004 and then from 2005-2006 and see what we can learn:

Seasons: Playoff ABs/AVG/OBP/SLG

Through 2004: 103/.330/.395/.583
2005-2006: 29/.103/.316/.138

As you can see, there's no doubt that A-Rod, as advertised, has been all kinds of awful in the last two postseasons. However, previously he performed at an elite level in the playoffs. And if anyone thinks he can't handle the pressures of Gotham, it should be known that as a Yankee in 2004, Rodriguez batted .421 AVG/.476 OBP/.737 SLG against the Twins in the ALDS and .258 AVG/.378 OBP/.516 SLG (focus on his OBP and SLG; they're far more important than AVG) with a pair of home runs against the Red Sox in the ALCS. So in order to suggest that A-Rod is now ill-equipped to handle the mental rigors of October, one must believe that he lost his mojo at some point between late 2004 and late 2005. Sounds fairly silly, no?

The thing to keep in mind is that over the last two postseasons he's logged only 29 at-bats. You simply can't draw any conclusions from a sample size so small; anything can happen over the span of 29 at-bats. Maybe A-Rod did start feeling the pressure in late 2004, but more than likely he's providing an object lesson in the idea that, ahem, anything can happen over the span of 29 at-bats.

For comparison's sake, consider that Derek Jeter, the "anti-A-Rod" in the mind of many fans, in the 2001 World Series came to bat 27 times and authored a batting line of .148 AVG/.179 OBP/.259 SLG. In other words, in a similar number of ABs, he was just as bad as A-Rod has been over the past two playoffs. Ditto for David Ortiz, Boston's vaunted clutch hitter, who "hit" .095 in the 2003 ALDS against the A's. It's the small sample size at work and nothing more.

So is A-Rod as good as he's been this April? Of course not. No one's that good. Is he is bad as he's been in the post-season of late? Of course not. A-Rod is headed to the Hall of Fame, and by the time he hangs up the spikes he'll be remembered as one of the best ever. It's also quite possible he's toe-deep in the best season of his career. Heck, maybe he'll even be the guy who mounts an assault on Barry Bonds' single-season home run record. He's simply a great, great baseball player. What A-Rod is not, at least according to the current evidence, is a choker.