Rodriguez looking to “be in the mix somehow”
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It was a pretty large group that gathered around Alex Rodriguez in a Metrodome hallway this afternoon. Some wanted to know about last night’s game. Some wanted to know about facing Carl Pavano. Some wanted to know about being ahead two games to none.
Rodriguez wanted us to know that, despite the fact he was the only player interviewed outside of the clubhouse or the press conference room, this wasn’t about him.
“I think the most important thing for me is to go out and be in the mix somehow,” he said. “Get good at-bats and keep doing what I’m doing and not really worry about results.”
The highest-paid, highest-profile player in baseball wants to, “be in the mix somehow.” This is what writers and reporters are talking about when they say Rodriguez is more relaxed this postseason.
This afternoon, he talked about David Robertson (without being prompted to talk about David Robertson). He talked about Mark Teixeira (again without prompting). He said nice things about Pavano (obvously someone asked about Pavano). But Rodriguez said very little about himself.
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on Saturday, October 10th, 2009 at 4:56 pm by Chad Jennings.
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Sam Borden
A complete 180 from the past few years. I said in spring training that I thought the steroid stuff could be the best thing to happen to him. He could now quit worrying so much about his image and just play ball
I have to say I’ve never been so excited to sit in the last row of a stadium as I was last night when A-Rod hit that ball. It was unreal, and definitely the loudest I’ve heard the new stadium get. Stay in the mix, Alex!
Eric in Queens I concur, it was pure bedlam where I was sitting last night (LF bleachers) when A-Rod touched that ball off, and the crowd’s noise definitely created a groundswell that rocked the Stadium.
We are our own worst enemies. Al sure seems to be making great strides in conquering himself. Who knows… he might finally break out his inner “Reggie” this postseason.
My first reaction was to conclude that aliens had abducted the real A-Rod and left one of their own (a really good baseball-playing alien) in his place. If I am wrong, and Alex really has turned it around, then this former A-Rod hater is only too glad to welcome him to adulthood, the real world and to the insanity that is the Yankee universe.
Buy the ticket, take the ride.
Alex for Psychological Comeback Player of the Year. Good for him. We all want to like him, but there have been times where he has made that difficult. Luckily things are different now.
Good for Al – I’m really happy for him. People that aren’t going to like him aren’t going to like him, so why try to please them? They aren’t that important……..strike that, they aren’t important at all. I love how he mentioned Robertson without prompting (and Tex) – that will make the kid feel good.
I’m still not going to crown A-Rod.
Let’s see what he does against the Sox in the next round. He owns the Twins, that is the only team he has ever hit in the postseason. Let’s see him do it against a tougher opponent with more pressure on him like against Boston next week.
“Alex for Psychological Comeback Player of the Year.”
Haha. So true.
Kevin October 10th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I’m still not going to crown A-Rod.
Let’s see what he does against the Sox in the next round. He owns the Twins, that is the only team he has ever hit in the postseason. Let’s see him do it against a tougher opponent with more pressure on him like against Boston next week.
Skip Bayless is that you?
Arod may be calmer this year, or in a better place mentally to handle the playoffs. It may just be that things are evening out. He is too good of a player to go 1 for forever, or whatever his numbers have been.
The thing I don’t agree with is this theory being spouted by the national media: “Arod is hitting because he doesn’t feel like he needs to do it all by himself this year.” When has that ever been the case with the Yankees? It wasn’t exactly Arod and the 7 dwarfs before this year. The ‘07 team scored over 1,000 runs. He had ‘Murderer’s row plus Cano’.
He is hitting because, if anything other than the fact that he is a great hitter, he is at peace with himself, not because he suddenly trusts his teammates. I think that has always been there.
Kevin
October 10th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I’m still not going to crown A-Rod.
Let’s see what he does against the Sox in the next round. He owns the Twins, that is the only team he has ever hit in the postseason. Let’s see him do it against a tougher opponent with more pressure on him like against Boston next week.
****
There really is no pleasing some people. What more do you possibly want this man to do???
I’ve had some success at trial in my career, won a few I should have lost. There is always personal satisfaction in pulling it off. People will say that such things are real-world important, meaningful and that’s nice to think about. But when I’m daydreaming, I cannot imagine anything better than jacking that ball out of the park, a no-doubter, deep into the cool Bronx night, keeping the Yankees in a playoff game that they would go on to win. What an amazing feeling it must have been. And Alex looked like he was really loving it for all the right reasons.
Are they going to celebrate with champagne if they win this 1st round series?
I hope they do..
I hope Kate is going to the games in Minnesota. I think she is a good luck. lol
Rockks October 10th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
Are they going to celebrate with champagne if they win this 1st round series?
I hope they do..
*******
Of course. I wonder if they shipped the champagne with them.
jennifer
October 10th, 2009 at 5:23 pm
Of course. I wonder if they shipped the champagne with them.
***
They probably get it shipped directly to Minny or buy it there
Kate Hudson would relax me too!
“I suspect it’s no different than fans. I’s no different than, there’s a resentment of, ‘He’s making all of this money and we need him.’
“I’ve seen players lose perspective, too. They wouldn’t want to be judged that way, either. I’ve seen some of the players who judged him harshly also get hurt. And they didn’t get the same treatment. Where they wouldn’t want that same treatment.
“I remained objective. I went down with him. He took a lot of crap, and so did I. I never lost my perspective on what really happened. It was a move that didn’t work out because he didn’t stay healthy. Do I blame him for it? No, I don’t. I don’t think he laid down on us.”
**************
When is Cash finally going to be honest and say the pos laid down on the Yankees. He has a 4 year contract in NY and pitched in what 30 games? all of a sudden he can pitch 30 games in one season. He never wanted to pitch in NY. His mother did. I don’t believe his injuries were real. And you know what I don’t believe he had TJ surgery. I think everything was bs.
When Michael Jordan came to the bulls.Phil Jackson had the hardest time getting Michael to share the ball.He would do most of the shooting,and the other 4 players would set back and wait for Mike to win the game.This was great for Mike’s personal stats,but lousy for his team.
Michael Jordan became great,when he became a team player.He has told this story many times.He had his best games when he brought his team with him,passing,blocking,assist,shooting etc.
Alex came here working on his personal stats too.After all he was the big fish from a small pond in Texas,and the highest paid player in baseball.
This year he became a team player,putting himself behind his team mates,accepting that there’s no I in team,greatness comes when you are self less.I think he was humbled with the outing of roids usage and got real.
You want to see what he does against the Sox next week?
Well, personally, I don’t care if he plays golf against the Sox players during the ALCS off-days next week, as long as he hits against the Angels on game day.
My first reaction was to conclude that aliens had abducted the real A-Rod and left one of their own (a really good baseball-playing alien) in his place.
Yeah, because Alex has been a really bad baseball player prior to last night.
YanksinCA
You ole’ dog you, hehehe!!!
murphydog,
I loved the shot of Arod turning to the dugout and pumping his fist, letting everybody know it was gone-when the ball wasn’t even halfway out yet. What a feeling that must have been. The rest of us, including most of MLB, can only dream about having that kind of talent.
maybe it is psychological and he’s taking a better mental approach, but you would be surprised how relaxing it is to have a swing that you can count on.
he really does have a much better high contact swing than he had before. that’s probably a direct result of the hip injury which forced him to not have the all out swing he had before.
i think the surprise he’ll find is ,like last night when he was just, as he said, trying to hit the ball hard somewhere, he will hit more than his share of home runs.
alex and teixeira in the middle of the line up have the potential to just take over games.
“he really does have a much better high contact swing than he had before. that’s probably a direct result of the hip injury which forced him to not have the all out swing he had before.”
God works in strange ways, they say. Or, if you like, think about it in a Zen way: Alex learned that less is more and he made lemonade out of lemons. Sometimes it all comes together when you least expect it.
That swing he has is a thing of beauty:
http://www.gettyimages.com/det.....ages-Sport
Mark, I just got back home you mean this one?
http://i34.tinypic.com/30uygt0.gif
Al just wants to be in the mix? Who is this guy and how did we land him this season?
Anyway be back later. Long night ahead.
Mark in Tampa:
“The rest of us, including most of MLB, can only dream about having that kind of talent.”
Yup, that’s some rarefied air he breathes.
Alex was never a bad ball player,he wasn’t a team player,it was always about him before.He’s seen the light.
I think that’s what they’re saying.He would hit many HOMERUNS a year,when either the game was won,or too far lost to matter. That’s when the no clutch tag started.
I use to get emails from friends,that would tease me,about him hitting a runs in a Yankees games when they were routed.
Staying away from controversy and concentrating on baseball has been a difference maker with Alex.
He’s seen enough limelight to last a lifetime and finally mixes in well with his teammates along with erasing some demons.
Most noticeable has been his willingness to move runners along or a simple base hit. With his swing and conditioning, the home runs will come by themselves.
My biggest concern for this team next year is losing Matsui’s bat.Does anyone want to face his at bat on another team,like the Angels?
108 stitches October 10th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Staying away from controversy and concentrating on baseball has been a difference maker with Alex.
He’s seen enough limelight to last a lifetime and finally mixes in well with his teammates along with erasing some demons.
Most noticeable has been his willingness to move runners along or a simple base hit. With his swing and conditioning, the home runs will come by themselves.
———–
Exactly. He finally just shut-up and played baseball. Took him long enough, but I think he finally figured it out.
I’ve never been a huge fan of the guy, but you have to respect the season he put together this year. It could have went either way considering the steroid issues and injury from the beginning of the year.
Instead he stepped up his game and it has paid off. At times I think you can be your own worst enemy.
Keep on keeping on Alex!
Despite his troubles 2005-07 Alex has a higher career BA and almost the same OPS as Reggie Jackson in post season play.
Kevin…. do some homework son. Alex hit very well against thie White Sox (.308)and Yankees (.409) in the postseason and would have probably been the ALCS MVP in 2004 if the Yanks don’t blow the lead and finish off the sweep.
I know he has been awful since then, but to claim Minnesota is the only team he has hit against in the post season is just stupid.
That’s the one Brandon.
I”m watching the segment of Swish, CC, and Bruney catching fish for the 20th time and it is just as funny.
I don’t know about you guys, but I think playing the Angels scares me a lot more than playing the Red Sox. Not looking good though for the Sox being down 0-2.
“Does anyone want to face his at bat on another team,like the Angels?”
On the Angels, no. Seattle? No big deal, IMO.
Kevin, you’re wrong. The Twins aren’t the only team Alex has hit well against in the post-season.
Your memory might be failing you because he CRUSHED the Yankees in the 2001 ALCS playoffs. That team was pretty good. If you don’t believe me, look up the numbers…
Sample Size people, sample size. With enough post season at bats A-Rod’s post season numbers will look really similar to A-Rod’s regular season numbers…
There’s no “I” in TEAM, nor in ALEX, it appears.
Has Rod been seeing a shrink or something? Or is Kate Hudson providing some kind of therapy?
Whatever the case, dude seems like a changed man. Speaking softly and carrying a big stick.
I’m grateful.
-Yeah
NO U DI ENT!!
Needs to continue
If he goes 0-17 against the angels, this will not be remembered.
Fans are getting caught up in the expectation trap again. Alex doesn’t need to hit .500 in every series if everyone else hits .290.
This team had the wins it did this year because it had contributions from 25 guys. He doesn’t need to have a great game everyday but if they want to win, someone does.
Alex needs to just “clear the mechanism” like Costner’s character in For Love of The Game. He has so much natural talent that he just needs to let it take over and block out the noise.
Expectations are noise.
Yep it’s another one———–>
Nathan using a foreign substance. Shame on you Joe.
I just got back in town and was watching the game on tivo for the first time. I haven’t been on the boards to read any in game comments from last night and I don’t know if I am the only one who noticed or has commented on this as of yet so I apologize up front. If anybody out there has the game tivoed they need to go back and take another look at this. It is quite interesting. If you watch after Alex’s curtain call and before the first pitch to Matsui, Nathan adjusts the back of his cap once, then twice with his thumb under the front of his hat. The first time he adjusts it you can see his thumb get stuck to something under it as he pulls it away. Again if it was discussed I apologize for beating a dead horse. I had to go back and watch it a few times before I could definitely tell his thumb gets stuck to something. Probably a nice little dab of pine tar is my guess. For those of you who are interested in going back and looking at it, the tivo game time read at 3:32. Somebody else go back and check it out. I’d be curious to see if anybody else caught it.
Kevin October 10th, 2009 at 5:15 pm
I’m still not going to crown A-Rod.
Let’s see what he does against the Sox in the next round.
—-
Spoken by someone who, clearly, has watched the first two games of their series
Ugh, I’m ashamed to share a name with this dude. Glad I started going to the last initial. A-Rod has had post-season success before, even with the Yankees. It looked worse because his final four/five games in each year ‘04-’07 were kind of awful (though he was still getting on base in ‘05), but those seventeen games aren’t in any way indicative of his true talent level, and his true talent level doesn’t change because it’s October.
I love this man to death and I really hope he keeps doing good and shutting them haters down. It ain’t about just one guy but when someone like A-rod is riding the ship.. Trust me Wins will be more easier!!