Lupica angered by ARod success.

"Incidentally, I'm happy that A-Rod is a little looser at No. 2 in the order.

But he wasn't brought here to hit No. 2.

He was brought here to team with Gary Sheffield and do for the Yankees what Manny Ramirez and Papi Ortiz are doing for the Red Sox."

I challenge anyone to make sense of this attempt to criticize ARod.

For one thing, without Giambi in the lineup, it has been apparent for a long time that the Yankees need to tweak the lineup, and even if they had a strong 3-4-5, they would need more punch from the top two spots in the lineup. Jeter is playing better lately, but his on-base% has been poor for most of the season.

Bernie batting first or second? Lofton leading off? Cairo leading off? No good.

So batting ARod second, after Jeter, is not a good idea just because it has worked out so well in the short term. It's a good idea just because it's a good idea. All you have to do is watch the games and this is obvious.

But Lupica doesn't think .300, 40 hrs, 110 rbis (maybe not quite, but close to those numbers) is good enough for ARod. Because ARod is batting second instead of batting fourth. He wasn't supposed to bat second, how dare he? On top of batting second, please don't forget that ARod also strikes out as much as Alfonso Soriano.


What if the Yankees lose in game seven of the World Series but ARod hits .500 with six homeruns in that World Series? It would not really be ARod's "fault," would it?

Yes, it would be. Mike Lupica knows, because Mike Lupica can look into the Future:

"I asked one of the inside guys on the Yankees who's going to get blamed if this becomes four years in a row when the Yankees don't win it all.

The guy said, 'Torre. Cashman. A-Rod. In no particular order.' "


The Yankee starters had eight quality starts in a row before Brad Halsey and the godawful Javy Vazquez (we're complaining about ARod, but not the guy with the 9.99 era in the pennant stretch?).

How does Mike Lupica interpret this recent stretch? With clarity.

In Lupica's diseased mind, the Yankee opponents "keep scoring a touchdown or more" against the Yankees.