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It’s like clockwork. Every year around this time the Yankees new free agent signee is having a rough start and the media jumps on the story like they would if a cute, little blond girl got kidnapped. It happened with Jason Giambi, Mike Mussina and even Bernie Williams when he re-signed with the team. Now, Alex Rodriguez is getting a tutorial on the over-reactive tendencies of the New York press.
After a dismal series against the Red Sox in which he went 1-17 from the plate and made a key error in the final game, Rodriguez has everybody with an opinion questioning whether he has the mental makeup to play in the Bronx, whether he is past his prime or even if the Yankees would have been better off with Alfonso Soriano.
Even the normally calm and level-headed New York tabloids have jumped on A. Rod’s case. Today the New York Daily News has a back-cover headline of “A-Mess: But Yanks aren’t worried… yet.” And the Post has A. Rod on both the front and the back with headlines that read “Awful A-Rod” and “Alex in Blunderland”. I bet A-Rod never saw headlines like that in the Arlington Morning News.
Rodriguez is in a slump. That’s it. Because it happened against the Yanks arch-rival and since it is the beginning of the season, the slump is magnified ten-fold. But it’s much to early to be evaluating A-Rod’s performance.
He’s not the reason the Yanks lost three of four to the Red Sox. Mike Mussina and Javier Vasquez should be getting the brunt of it. But because A-Rod has the big contract and came with so much hype, all the criticism goes his way.
It’s probably unfair, but when you have a contract that pays you a quarter-billion dollars and you choose to go play in the city that would criticize the pope if he fumbled a groundball, then you have to take it.
A-Rod will get out of his slump soon. He won’t finish the season batting .160 with a .280 slugging percentage. And he won’t be a liability in the field either. He might not have 50 homeruns or win a batting title, but once A-Rod finds his swing and gets back his confidence, he will go back to being what he has been for last five years: one of the best players in the history of baseball.
Damn.