But why would a grown man, in his dislike for another man, subvert his own intelligence? Essentially, this article is not an attack on ARod so much as a revealing assault on Mike Lupica's lack of mature thought processes:
"On Thursday, day before Game 6, they were asking Alex Rodriguez about the Rangers series, and he said something about how if the pitches weren't there, he was willing to take a walk and 'pass the baton.'
Even in this baseball culture where we're supposed to carry players around on our shoulders because they work the count and take pitches and sometimes do everything possible NOT to swing a bat, it was a pretty amazing admission from somebody who's supposed to break the all-time home run record someday."
On the rare occasion when ARod has peformed poorly in the postseason, it has been because he swing at too many bad pitches.
Yes, it's an amazing admission because it demonstrates that ARod is a baseball genius, even though he's a moron every time he opens his mouth off the baseball field.
"Somebody else, maybe Reggie Jackson, ought to explain to A-Rod that big Yankees don't look to pass the baton at this time of year, especially when their Yankee team is up against it. Especially if the big Yankee we're talking about already has 600 home runs in the big leagues."
Swinging at bad pitches doesn't help ARod or his team.
"One year after A-Rod carried the Yankees in the postseason, he was almost as soft a hitter this October as he was in all his other Yankee Octobers and his one November before last year."
Keep lying about ARod's postseason career. It's good journalism.
"Rodriguez talks about passing the baton, even after Robinson Cano was hitting in front of him. Really? Who did he want to pass it to, Nick Swisher?"
Yes, Nick Swisher. Because Nick Swisher batting with runners on base is better than Nick Swisher batting with runners out.
I mean, this is basically a guy who sits behind a keyboard telling Alex Rodriguez how to hit a baseball.
Not even chastising the results, questioning the strategy.
"No, he is also fascinating because even as good as he is, and even though people still seem to think he is going to get to 800 home runs, the Yankees had to go get Mark Teixeira to hit in front of him. It means they needed a $180 million switch-hitting star to come hit in front of him, as a way of taking pressure of him."
I challenge any human being on the face of the Earth to dig their way out of the erratic logic of this sentence.
Mike Lupica is claiming the Yankees acquired Mark Teixeira to take the pressure of Alex Rodriguez in the batting order.
Like, the main impetus was not to get another good player to help win baseball games. It was to take the pressure of Alex Rodriguez.
It's also probably why the Yankees acquired Lou Gehrig way back when, to take pressure off Babe Ruth. They acquired Reggie Jackson to take pressure off Thurman Munson. They acquired Roger Maris to take pressure off Mickey Mantle. They acquired Good Player to take pressure off Other Good Player.
"So this year he had Teixeira in front of him, Teixeira coming on after a bad start, putting up big numbers of his own until he hurt his thumb. And A-Rod had Robinson Cano having a career, MVP-type year. And still struggled to get to 30 home runs at the very end, despite big RBI numbers."
Uhhh ... so you're saying ARod is awesome? With his 30 HRs and 125 RBIs, and ARod is obviously going to get 500 HRs in his career?
"He is always going to be a numbers hanger, at least as long as his body holds up. Just not the numbers he had in Texas."
Right! Because he's awesome.
"Not the 54 home runs he hit after he got to New York."
Of course not! But he'll easily get to 800 HRs, right? Despite a bum named Mark Teixeria batting .250 in front of him in the regular season and .000 in the ALCS?
"Ask yourself a question: If A-Rod had hit like Hamilton in the ALCS and Hamilton had hit like him whose team is going to the World Series."
I actually don't know.
Hamilton had 7 hits in the World Series and 4 HRs (bringing his career postseason batting average up to a whopping .237, by the way). If ARod had hit 4 HRs and Hamilton had hit 0 HRs, I certainly can't guarantee the Yankees would have won the series.
It's kind of a pointless mind exercise, don't you think?
ARod is the best player on the field based on his career. It doesn't mean he will perform the best every game, every series, every year. It also doesn't mean he should swing at everything trying to hit HRs.
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