If A-Rod is gone, he leaves a baffling playoff legacy

Will Alex Rodriguez return to the Yankees and their tradition, or go to a team where he can be the No. 1 guy? Al Bello/Getty Images

World Series Coverage   Monday John Donovan: Rox, Sox built to last Albert Chen: Ellsbury an unlikely hero Joe Sheehan: Scenes, notes from clincher Red Sox celebrate World Series victory Sunday Sox clip Rockies 4-3 to win World Series John Donovan's Report Card for Game 4 Jon Heyman's 15 Greatest Mr. Octobers Lowell takes home Series MVP honors Dynasty in the making for Red Sox? Clock strikes midnight for Rockies' ride Time.com: Red Sox are the new Yankees Saturday Red Sox down Rockies 10-5, take 3-0 lead John Donovan's Report Card for Game 3 Tom Verducci: The Sox are superior John Donovan: The Coors Field factor Jon Heyman: Four keys to Game 3 Friday Melissa Segura: Corpas gets his wish John Donovan: Rockies' lumber slumber Jon Heyman: How the Sox got Beckett Joe Sheehan: Electric night at Fenway Thursday Schilling, bullpen shut down Rockies 2-1 John Donovan's Report Card for Game 2 Tom Verducci's five cuts for Thursday Albert Chen on the Red Sox's bullpen John Donovan: Rockies turn to a rookie Joe Sheehan: Postseason drama lacking Tale of the Tape: Rockies vs. Red Sox World Series Fungoes Joe Lemire on Rockies-Red Sox Schedule/Box Scores Game 1: Red Sox 13, Rockies 1 Game 2: Red Sox 2, Rockies 1 Game 3: Red Sox 10, Rockies 5 Game 4: Red Sox 4, Rockies 3

If this was the last time Alex Rodriguez wore the uniform of the New York Yankees, and he did his flat best to leave open that possibility when he spoke to the media on Monday night, then his final 59 postseason at-bats as a Yankee will be one of the more confounding, odds-defying trends in the history of great players. In those 59 at-bats, Rodriguez:

• went 8-for-59, a .136 batting average.

• batted with a total of 38 runners on base and left every single one of them on base. Not one did he drive in. He went 0 for 27, including 11 strikeouts, in at-bats with runners on.

• went 0 for 12 with a total of 17 runners in scoring position, driving in none of them.

The streak dates to the fifth inning of Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS. The Yankees went 3-14 in that stretch.

It simply doesn't compute. Even a lousy hitter will run into a mistake once, the pitched ball arriving directly in the path of the hitter's swing. A bloop falls in somewhere. A ball takes a bad hop. Something. Anything. How could it happen?

"At the end of the day my job is to help the team win a championship," Rodriguez said. "I have failed at that. Whatever blame you want to put on me is fair."

It makes no sense. He's too good. He's too good to strike out twice on six consecutive pitches from Paul Byrd, as he did in his first two trips to the plate on Monday night. We're talking fat pitches. Pitches down the middle. Eighty-seven miles an hour. His whiff in the first inning -- one out, two runners on, the Yankees already down, 2-0 -- was debilitating.

Of course, Rodriguez wasn't alone. Derek Jeter made 10 outs in his last nine plate appearances of the series, a double play machine. Jason Giambi wasn't good enough to take at-bats away from Doug Mientkiewicz. Jorge Posada, Bobby Abreu, Melky Cabrera all popped up with runners on.

No, don't hang this on Rodriguez. Most of the blame, if you are one to apportion it, must be put on the starting pitching, as has been the case in New York for four years. Rodriguez stands out simply because he's too good to look this bad against the Paul Byrds of the world October after October after October. His home run in the seventh inning reminded you of his gifts, showed you what's been missing. But then, he's too good to be out there, before an elimination game, taking extra batting practice on the field for all the world to see, exposing ... what? His work ethic? His uncertainty?

Will he remain in New York? Know this: The guy just completed one of the greatest seasons ever by a Yankee and it has done nothing to make the Yankees think it improves the odds of him coming back. Nothing.

"I don't know," GM Brian Cashman said. "I can honestly say I don't know."

Rodriguez has until Nov. 10 to opt out of his contract. Cashman said he might begin as early as Tuesday morning to talk to ownership about a plan for the Rodriguez negotiations. The Yankees are steadfast that if he does opt out they will not attempt to re-sign him. Their theory is that if Rodriguez opts out it means that agent Scott Boras already has arranged a landing place for him before he jumps.

"My guess is Boras is already in contact with the Red Sox, the Angels and the Giants," one Yankees source said. "It's going to take $300 million to sign him. That's a lot of cash."

A perfect storm has developed around the Angels. They are wasting a great bat and a cheap superstar contract in Vlad Guerrero year after year, and it was hammered home in an embarrassingly weak offensive showing against Boston. Rodriguez is exactly what they need.

"The guy there [owner Arte Moreno] is dying for a franchise player," said a friend of Rodriguez's, "and Alex is his perfect franchise player. Alex loves New York, but he also loves being the No. 1 guy. And he knows as long as he's a Yankee he can't be the No. 1 guy. The Angels can give him that."

But really, no one knows what is in Rodriguez's heart. The Yankees will find out soon enough. They will offer him tremendous riches, and with it the opportunity to stay long enough to have his number retired, be honored with a monument in the new Yankee Stadium and return the career home run record to the franchise. A picture of Babe Ruth, autographed by one of the Bambino's granddaughters, hangs in his locker. He knows the history.

He is either seduced by all that, or the sweetness of a deal elsewhere, flitting about to his fourth team. If he leaves, the Yankees immediately will reallocate the dollars toward prying Johan Santana from Minnesota, putting together a package of young players and boatloads of cash. It may not be the worst possible scenario for either A-Rod or the Yankees.