Goodness Gracious.

The customer is always right.

"One day. That’s all I ask. Please, for all that is good in this world, give me a 24-hour moratorium on the breathless talk about Major League Baseball’s television ratings and the doom they portend."

How meta of you.

It's like one of those infinite mirrors.

A man writes about a 24-hour moratorium on the talk about MLB's television ratings, thus ending said moratorium.


"In the middle of the most compelling World Series in a decade, one of the overriding themes is that nobody is watching.

And to those people, all I have to say is: Sorry, suckers. You’re missing something great."

I definitely don't believe this is he most compelling World Series in a decade, but that's not really the point. A sporting match is compelling if you have an emotional interest in the outcome.


"Earlier this week, in an interview with Bob Costas, commissioner Bud Selig said television ratings 'are always a concern.' To which I reply: Why? Why does anybody aside from Rupert Murdoch and his minions at Fox give a thousandth of a whoop about how many people watch the games?"

Well, Bud Selig should care, for obvious reasons.


"Why does baseball insist on comparing itself to the NFL?"

You've got a point there. NFL wins in America.


"Should MLB continue on its current path, where national TV viewership stagnates, hopefully the league will learn to embrace its strengths and not concern itself with indicators that don’t reflect the game’s true state. It has labor peace. It has great storylines. It has fantastic players. It has a wonderful product.

If people don’t want to watch, fine. Their loss."

I agree with some of the points, but I don't understand the contempt for the fans.

Of course Selig wants to have high ratings. Low ratings may be a portend of bad things to come. But it's not the people's fault for being disinterested.

If people don't want to watch, not fine.

If enough people don't want to watch, Jeff Passan will need to find a new job.

Jilted sportswriters are amusing.

Albert Pujols, the best player of baseball on planet Earth, makes an error:

"At the center of it was a cutoff throw on which Pujols whiffed. The ball slipped away, allowing what would be the winning run to advance into scoring position."

Yep. He made an error.


"Pujols mimicked the ball, showering, dressing and dashing before the clubhouse doors opened."

The baseball showered, dressed, and dashed out the clubhouse doors?


"Part of stardom – perhaps the hardest part – is accountability."

In Pujols's case, the hardest part is the uncanny ability to hit a baseball thrown toward him from 60 feet away, moving 90+ mph, with a wooden cylinder, 8 players with gloves in the field, etc., etc., etc.


"Pujols is not accountable to the media. This is not about that. Nor is it about his accountability to fans that may or may not want to know how he spit the bit in a crucial game. Pujols, more than anything, must be accountable to his teammates, those he ostensibly leads."

Meh.

He's the best player they'll ever see.

When he's ditching a press conference early, they should warm up his car.

Ode to a sac fly.

Though, to be fair, the Yankees would have sold their kingdom for a well-timed sac fly.

Not so much in game two.

"Maybe he's a long-lost relative of Anatoly Karpov. It's possible he grew up with Boris Spassky. Or maybe he just ran into Garry Kasparov at a chicken dinner someplace.

But once again Wednesday night, that noted grandmaster of the emerald chess board, Mr. Tony La Russa, checkmated his way through the World Chess Championships of October, at his Karpovian best.

'You know, I've never seen him play chess,' said La Russa's hitting coach, Mark McGwire, after the Cardinals had finished outfoxing the Rangers, 3-2, in Game 1 of the World Series. 'But I'll tell you what. He's running a hot hand right now.'

Wait. He's never seen the guy play chess? Isn't that exactly what the Cardinals' zoned-in manager has been playing for about three decades now -- for 5,097 games and counting?

Of course he has. But it's very possible that never, ever, has Tony La Russa maneuvered those chess pieces better than he has over the past three weeks.

Maybe there's been a hotter managerial hand in somebody else's dugout back in some other time, some other place, some other October. But let's just say none comes to mind."

I think Stark is being serious.

LaRussa is a good manager. He is not a genius.

Things That Will Not Happen.

Though the Yankees maybe could pay Ortiz $10,000/month to provide clean urine for ARod's drug tests.

Joe Posnanski writes what I was thinking.

A few days late with the link, but this is exactly what I was thinking ... except, of course, I hadn't conducted the historical research:

"Up to that point, Verlander had pitched six innings and allowed two runs. Even if you ignore No. 1 and No. 2 -- THAT was supposed to make me reconsider Verlander as an MVP? Six innings, two runs? Of course, by the time I actually saw the message, Verlander had given up two more runs -- a walk, a hit-by-pitch and a double by Brett Gardner scored those two runs. That made seven innings, four runs. Sure: Can you send me back my MVP ballot?

This was a disappointing start by Verlander -- I don't really see how you could see it any other way. Sure, he had dazzling moments. Sure, he struck out 11. Sure, he was fun to watch. He's always fun to watch. And anytime a pitcher in 2011 goes eight innings, you tip your cap. But when a pitcher gives up four runs in eight innings (which is what Verlander did), he usually loses. Since 2001, pitchers who go eight innings and give up four runs in the regular season are 44-86. You want the stat of the day? In the history of the postseason, before Verlander, pitchers who allowed four runs in eight innings were -- get ready for it -- 1-14.

And yet, it sure seemed like everybody kept on clinging to the 'what a stunning and amazing performance by Verlander' story line. It seemed like, based on what people on TV were saying and what some people on the Internet were writing, that Verlander had just thrown an 18-strikeout, one-hit shutout against the '27 Yankees.Tom Verducci interviewed Verlander like he was the clear-cut hero. More people messaged me to make their after-the-bell Verlander for MVP case. The announcers and analysts went on and on about the guts, the courage, the fortitude of Justin Brooks Verlander. It was plain weird."

The Giants are the current World Series Champions and they're not even in the playoffs.

"Lately the progression goes like this: Win World Series in 2009, lose ALCS in 2010, lose in first round in 2011. But George Steinbrenner as much as he wants to act and sound like a boss (lower-case 'b'), still called his team's season 'a bitter disappointment.'

Actually, it is quite normal, if you put it into current historical context."

Right!

Derek Jeter has lost in the first round more ofthen than he has won World Series.


The Yankees insult their fans when they label successful seasons a "disappointment."

A 97-win season, best record in AL, milestones for Jeter and Mariano (if you're into that kind of thing), the emergence of Ivan Nova and, to a lesser extent, Jesus Montero.

Granderson led the league in runs and RBIS.

Robertson brought back memories of '96 Mariano.

The 2011 Yankees have strong candidates for MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, and Cashman even deserves consideration for GM of the Year considering how he reacted to the "loss" of Cliff Lee.


"The Yankees always win a ton of games during the regular season and make the playoffs every year out-spending the competition by a lot - every year - and then are more likely to lose in the first round than they are to make the World Series. It is the way they are built and will continue to be built because Hal Steinbrenner seems perfectly happy to watch the money roll in under the current management."

YES!!!!

Lupica finally GETS IT!!!!

The Steinbrenners make so much money, they can afford personal acting lessons from Javier Bardiem. That's how they are able to convincingly act sad when they go in front of the cameras and pretend the season is a disappointment.


By the way, using this all-or-nothing criteria, no major American sports entity is "successful."

• The Yankees have won only 27 Championships in 98 seasons.
• Jack Nicklaus lost more often than he won.
• Michael Jordan only won 6 rings in 15 years.
• Tom Brady has lost in the playoffs more often than he has won the Super Bowl.

"Somehow that management still talks as if it is 1996-2000 and Joe Torre is still the manager and the Yankees of that time - still working off a blueprint created by Gene Michael - always seemed to find a way to win the game they lost Thursday night to the Tigers.

Only this team is not that team despite the way they always invoke the spirit of the dead Boss. This operation is not the old one that actually built a Yankee dynasty."

Bleh.

For one thing, the Torre Yankees always seemed to find a way to win close games, except when they lost close games. Like when they lost in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2006.

The Yankees' dynasties were actually built by outspending their opponents.

Ruth and Berra didn't have to deal with three rounds of the playoffs.

"If it was the old operation, maybe there would be more accountability for the 'failure' to reach a goal that they make sound like an inherited right:

The winning of the World Series. And that means winning more than one in 11 years.

But the most dramatic thing the Yankees do, other than sign more free-agent stars, is change pitching coaches once in a while. They make the playoffs with amazing consistency, year after year. Make boatloads of money. Then they make the Series about as often as a lot of other people in baseball, even as they talk about how special they are."

Now Lupica is getting funny.

Is he baiting the Yankees to make dramatic roster changes?

What sort of dramatic changes does he envision for a 97-win team?

The "old" operation ... and I'm going back to 1980 ... may have indeed over-reacted to a tough ALDS loss. That's really the only way to ruin the team.

The best reaction is to sound like you're panicky and angry ... probably an attempt to empathize with the fans ... and calmly make roster decisions.


"They are a playoff-making dynasty. Just not a Yankee dynasty. It means they are the modern version of the Atlanta Braves of the 90s. Only those Braves made the Series a lot more than the Yankees have over this past decade."

Lupica meant that as an insult.

"The Mets of the 90s." That would be an insult.

The Braves of the 90s were one of the best teams ever.


By the way, the Braves of the 90s were the modern version of the Braves of the 90s. Because the 90s were, like, only twenty years ago. Which is still modern. Many of the Braves of the 90s are still alive. Some of the Braves of the 90s are still playing baseball. One of the Braves of the 90s is still playing for the Braves.


"The guy continued, 'You know what they need? They need more guys like Brett Gardner. More tough guys like that. But they keep getting away from the essence of who they were once. They can't wait to get rid of old guys like Posada and Jeter. But when they're all gone, and Rivera is gone, they'll be further away from their essence, the thing that made them great in the late 90s, than ever.' "

Right.

Brett Gardner and David Eckstein and Don Mattingly and David Dellucci and Wil Nieves.


No one knows what the Yankees "need." Brett Gardner might hit .000 in the playoffs next season and Teixeira might hit 12 HRs in his next 5 playoff games. In the regular season, you can only win the regular season. You try not to get picked off in the playoffs.


Let's play a mind game to support my point. Let's replace the "albatrosses" ARod, Sabathia, and Teixeira with Longoria, Shields, and Kotchman. You save a lot of money and you might be grittier, I suppose.

Does that less expensive Yankee team win the World Series? You can guarantee that this team beats the Tigers in the first round?


In fact, you can pick any 25 players you want in all of baseball. Pujols, Halladay, Lee, Valverde, Lincecum, Verlander, Beltre, Brett Gardner ... and this team isn't guaranteed to win the World Series. This team isn't guaranteed to win a weekend series vs. the Astros.


Ryan Howard just hit .100 in a playoff series. Joe Dimaggio hit .271 in the playoffs. Ted Williams hit .200 in the playoffs. Willie Mays hit .247 with 1 HR in the playoffs.

Go ahead and pick Brett Gardner (.246 playoff BA and 0-for-10 in the World Series, by the way, so an unusual choice) over all of these players. I'll cross my fingers that the superstar opposing pitcher will make an occasional mistake ... my HOF batter will hopefully connect and hit the ball very far.


"The season wasn't a bitter disappointment at all. It was perfectly normal for the Yankees. Somebody should have given Levine a cigar when it was over."

Yup, they should have given him a cigar. The "boss" (with a lower-case "b"). Celebrate the so-called lost decade where you made $1 Billion (with an upper-case "B").

The Yankees and Red Sox were good teams in 2011 and will continue to be good teams.

An annual off-season ritual is to gaze into the Yankees' dystopian future:

"On the surface anyway, the Red Sox's historic September collapse and the quick extermination from the playoffs by Jim Leyland's Detroit Tigers could lead one to think there may be hope after all for the other three, less-affluent clubs in the American League East, particularly this year's feel-good story, the Tampa Bay Rays."

One might think that if one is foolish.


Break down this reasoning: A well-timed Russell Martin sac fly and the Yankees advance to the ALCS ... and, because of this, the Blue Jays lose all hope?


The Red Sox underachieved to 90 wins. They were in the playoffs until the last play of the season.

The Yankees somehow cake-walked to 97 wins.

Despite the AL East's so-called "early exits" from the playoffs, the AL East is the best division in baseball.


"In the Yankees' case, we're talking about a veteran team that got by all season with a patchwork starting rotation that will now require an infusion of even more millions, between the necessity of adding another No. 2 or No. 3 starter and the re-negotiation with CC Sabathia when he opts out of the four years and $92 million remaining on his deal."

A lot of veterans.

Also, a lot of young players: Robertson, Joba, Hughes, Nova, Gardner, Cervelli, Montero, Romine ...


"In the meantime, the Yankees are strangled by the $143 million remaining on Alex Rodriguez's insane contract, which runs through 2017."

If the Yankees are strangled by ARod's contract, then how can they afford to re-negotiate with Sabathia AND also afford a No. 2 or No. 3 starter?


"Right there, that's about $65 million per year in payroll the Yankees will have committed to three players for the next five to six years – three players who only figure to regress and, thus, will be virtually untradeable."

Trade?

Madden thinks the Yankees are going to trade ARod, Sabathia, or Teixeira?

So even if the Yankees signed Pujols for first base, they couldn't even use Teixeira as an overpaid pinch hitter?


"But the Red Sox are in just as bad shape in regard to bad contracts, which figure to severely cramp them in the coming years."

The bad contracts figure to do nothing of the sort.

To extend the metaphor, think of the big payroll as Midol for the severe cramping caused by bad contracts.


"Granted, the Yankees and Red Sox, more than any of the other 28 teams, with their seemingly unlimited stadium and marketing resources, have the ability to eat their losses on bad contracts and move on."

Granted.

So your argument is kaput.


"But there's a reason neither of them are playing more baseball this year, namely that their highest-paid players didn't live up to the money they're getting paid."

Of course this is true.

Player X is highly-paid and underperformed and this causes anger.

The problem with the proposed fixes, though, is that they incorrectly presume that an inexpensive replacement would play better.


"The Rays have the best young starting pitching in baseball, one of the best managers in baseball in Joe Maddon and, in Andrew Friedman, one of the best GMs in baseball - and most everyone agrees the Rays are a couple of quality, productive bats away from being the best team in baseball."

The Rays have one good, young starting pitcher and his name is Jeremy Hellickson.

Which is not to say James Shields isn't good, but he's not young.

Which is not to say David Price isn't young, but he's not good.


The Phillies' #5 starter was 11-3.

The Rays are a good team. I think the Rays have been disrespected and under-appreciated for four years. But they're not one or two bats away from being the best team in baseball.


" 'It won't be my decision, or solely my decision, but eventually Major League Baseball is going to vaporize this team,' Sternberg said. 'It could go on nine, 10, 12 more years, but between now and then it's going to vaporize this team. Maybe a check gets written locally, maybe someone writes me a check (to buy the team). If I had $80 million to put out there, we'd be moving along in life. We just don't have $12 million to put into a hitter.' "

I'm calling shenanigans on this whole line of thinking.

I know a high payroll is beneficial. It's why the Yankees and Red Sox will succeed in 2012.

But when Madden mentioned "diminishing returns," he should also understand how that applies to baseball payrolls.

Tampa is reaping the benefits of lots of last-place finishes. They got lots of high draft picks, which allows them to (briefly) stuff the roster with young players, who are productive at pre-free-agency prices.

But the Rays GM would be surprised at how little extra production he'd get for $80 million. The benefit isn't linear. Put it this way: If the Rays doubled their payroll, I guarantee they wouldn't win 182 games next year.

Mark Teixeira finally emerges from the shadows and rightfully claims his goat horns.

"Alex Rodriguez may have made the final out in both last year's ALCS and this year's AL division series - and taken most of the heat from the fans - but Mark Teixeira's invisible bat has been equally responsible for the Yankees' postseason failures over the past two years."

Equal?

ARod is batting .255 in the playoffs since joining the Yankees and .277 overall in the playoffs.

Teixeira's comparable numbers are .170 and .207.

Some analysts don't like statistics. Some analysts REALLY don't like statistics.

"Again, not that A-Rod can’t or won’t be a productive player in the future; it’s just that his days as A-ROD, THE ALL-TIME GREAT (you know, 50 homers, 140 RBIs, .325) are over."

.325, 50 homers, 140 RBIs? In one season? ARod has never done that.

He batter over .325 one time and that was in 1996. (This was arguably his best year, but it depends how you look at it. I'll take .358, 54 doubles, 36 HRs. I think he simply changed his style and focused on HRs. But, wow: .358, 54 doubles, 36 HRs.)

140 RBIS? Twice in his career. Yankee fans were treated to one of these seasons, in 2007: .314/54/156.


"Plus, there was that interesting play in the bottom of the fourth when, with A-Rod on second and one out, Jorge Posada (boy, is he going out with a bang) lined a hard single to center. A-Rod, rounding third, was held up by third-base coach Robbie Thomson. The Yankees wound up not scoring in the inning."

Right.

ARod is hurt. He basically can't run, field, or hit.

I really don't think a 36-year-old world-class athlete is finished physically. This is actually the first season in his MLB career that ARod wasn't productive and this lack of production was mostly due to injury.

"After the game, A-Rod took the questions and, essentially, stated that he has to get his health back.

But, make no mistake, the A-Rod you are watching today is not the A-Rod of yesterday. Whatever the reason, whether it be no steroids or too many injuries or age or whatever, is irrelevant. "

Well, the reason is very relevant.

If it be "no steroids," then he's not getting it back. If it be age, then he's not going to get younger. If it be injuries, then he will likely get healthy and drive in 120 next year.

It's the difference between being drunk or ugly. Tomorrow, the drunk will be sober.


"The reality is that the new 10-year contract he signed after opting out (which, by the way, was opposed by GM Brian Cashman) will be an albatross around the neck of the New York Yankees for years to come."

Most observers seem to misundrestand the concept of an albatross. It's not merely a foolish decision, it's not merely a large expenditure, it's not merely a large expenditure with insufficient returns.

ARod's contract may be all these things -- though I'm not sure if the Yankee gravy train would be rolling quite so furiously the past four years -- or if they'd have won the WS in 2009 -- if they'd saved $20 mill per year and played Mike Lowell at 3b every day.

(Adrian Beltre at half the price would have been a wise choice in retrospect, but, you know, that's just not how it works. Also, it's unclear whether a productive player sans star power could fill the back pages and the $1,000 seats at a plushy new stadium.)

ARod's contract would be too expensive baseball-wise even if he was putting up .325/50/140 every year.

This is not unique. Every long-term contract will eventually overpay for an old player.

But even that's not an albatross.

An albatross is specifically concerned with missed opportunity costs.

An albatross is a liability that is holding you back.

Jayson Werth's contract may be an albatross. Jason Bay's contract may be an albatross. If you're the Royals, Billy Butler's contract may be an albatross.

If you're the Yankees? No albatross.

The Yankees have been so burdened by ARod's contract, they subsequently lavished long-term contracts to Teixeira, Sabathia, Granderson, Rivera, Jeter ... and tried give another $100 million to Cliff Lee.

The idea that ARod's contract is holding back the Yankees is like saying Soros needs to cancel his Netflix subscription on account of the rate hike.

Insight into the ALDS.

I'll bet you didn't know why the Yankees lost in the ALDS. According to Ken Rosenthal, the Yankees lost because their pitching didn't hold up. The reason you thought differently is because Ken Rosenthal is wrong:

"Just play it out.

The Yankees’ likely Game 1 starter would have been right-hander Freddy Garcia, who shut out the Rangers for six innings on April 16, but no longer is anyone’s idea of an ace.

Left-hander CC Sabathia probably could have started Game 2 after throwing 37 pitches in 1 1/3 innings in his first career relief appearance on Thursday night. But Sabathia looked gassed in the postseason and at times down the stretch. The Yankees might have pushed him back to Game 3 in favor of — gulp — righty A.J. Burnett.

And Game 4? Righty Ivan Nova, who left the Division Series clincher with tightness in his right forearm, probably would have been done for the postseason, creating an opening for righty Phil Hughes.

The Rangers would have trashed such a collection. They won’t trash Verlander and fellow right-handers Doug Fister and Max Scherzer."

Maybe the Rangers would have pummeled the Yankees. Maybe the Rangers won't pummel the Tigers.

I know, for a fact, that the Yankees' pitching was mostly excellent in the ALDS vs. the Tigers.

A.J Burnett (gulp!) pitched pretty good. So did Freddy Garcia, even if he's no longer anybody's idea of an ace. So did Nova ... unsure if his injury is minor ... so it's unclear if he'd have been available for the imaginary ALCS vs. the Rangers that Ken Rosenthal is handicapping in his head.

"But really, what is Sabathia now?

He wasn’t the same pitcher after Girardi twice brought him back from rain delays in Seattle on July 26. In his first 24 starts, he had a 2.55 ERA and allowed seven homers in 176 2/3 innings. In his last nine starts, he had a 4.30 ERA and allowed 10 homers in 60 2/3 innings. He also turned in a rocky performance in his one true Division Series start (not the abbreviated one), allowing 13 baserunners and four runs in 5 1/3 innings."

Sabathia is one of the best pitchers in baseball.


"Don’t get me wrong — Sabathia still is a top-of-the-rotation starter, and if he gets his weight back under control, he almost certainly will be one again."

Sabathia is a top-of-the rotation starter.

If he gets his weight back under control, he will be one again.


Sabathia, is X.
If Sabathia does Y, he will be X again.


"They already are stuck with one albatross of a contract, the six years and $143 million remaining on third baseman Alex Rodriguez’s deal. First baseman Mark Teixeira, owed $112.5 million over the next five years, is showing early signs of offensive decline."

I don't know what any of this has to do with the Yankees' pitching in the ALDS, which performed quite well in the ALDS


No Yankee contract is an albatross. The Yankees make tons of money. They could release ARod if they wanted to, absorb the payroll hit, replace him with Nunez, and still win 90 games.

They missed the ALCS by one whole run.

That failure is clearly on the offense not the pitching.


The Yankees are actually stacked with young talent -- Robertson, Hughes, Nova, Joba, Gardner, Montero, Nunez.

I don't know how they will fill the roster in the future. I am too concerned, frankly, with next week's imaginary ALCS vs. Texas.

A batter who hit .191 with 3 HRs in 68 at-bats since the All Star break.

This observation is not intended to excuse ARod's performance. I'm just acknowledging the reality of the rehabbing player who batted fourth for the Yankees in the playoffs.

ARod as a Concept is a cleanup hitter.

ARod as an Actual Player in October, 2011 is not a cleanup hitter, and probably not even a starting player.

The unwillingness to acknowledge this reality possibly cost the Yankees the first round of the playoffs.

"At 'em" ball. Short for "at them" ball, in which "them" refers to the fielders on a baseball field.

"Smoltz, sensing impending doom, speculated how "talk radio" in New York would be buzzing Wednesday. As Don Kelly stepped in, Smoltz offered Burnett an escape from the mess he was in.

'Here's what he (Burnett) needs. He's tipped his hand. You don't want to tip your hand. You need an atom ball,' Smoltz said. 'And what that atom ball is you don't know where it goes - line drive, robbing a home run - you've got to get an out. You just need to get the ball over the plate and say, 'OK, I've forgotten it. The jitters are gone.'

Almost on cue, Burnett got that 'atom ball.' He grooved a pitch. Kelly lined a wicked shot to center that Curtis Granderson, after taking a step in, retreated in time to make a leaping catch to end the inning.

After that, Burnett settled in, giving up just one run, until Joe Girardi came to get him in the sixth.

Credit Smoltz with some simple but brilliant analysis.

It also marked the first time someone issued an atomic theory from a baseball broadcast booth."

Let's talk about Terry Francona some more.

Yankees are in playoffs. Yawn. Let's talk about the Red Sox instead.

Oh, we can briefly mention the Yankees:

"The Yankees seemed pretty happy to see the Rays make the playoffs this week, and we'll see how that works out if both teams make it to the American League Championship Series, right?"

Weak.

You'd say the same thing about the Red Sox Danger if the Yankees had beaten the Rays, thereby allowing the Red Sox into the playoffs.

You can say the same thing about Verlander and the Tigers, Hamilton and the Rangers, Weaver and the Angels.

The Yankees are better than the Rays.

The Yankees are the best team in the AL.

That doesn't mean the Yankees can cake walk into the World Series.


"It really will be interesting to see how it goes for Alex Rodriguez this October, since there seems to be this notion that because he had such a big October a couple of years ago, he is now in the clear forever."

Well, after two multi-page defenses of Terry Francona in which you chastised the "what have you done for me lately?" mentality, I'd be curious why the same standards are not applied to an injured all-star third baseman.

ARod's postseason OPS is .925 (not including this year's 0-for-5). He has nothing to prove.


Having said that, there are two Yankees I don't trust this postseason. One is ARod and the other is Soriano.

ARod is hurt and not ready to play.

ARod was the only Yankee starter without a hit in Game One. Which doesn't necessarily mean he won't hit two HRs tonight, but he has a mere 3 HRs and a mere 73 at-bats since the all star break.

I don't care about ARod's legacy at this point, I just think the team would be better with Chavez at 3b. ARod should be DHing at most.