a-rod hasn't driven in a run in his last 10 postseason games and is 5-for-40 (.125) in his last 11 postseason games. He's 1-for-8 with four strikeouts in this series.

I just want him to do well so bady but he doesn't really give fans much to work with

i know this sounds absoloutly nuts but if i was joe torre i wouldnt even want a-rod on my post season roster. he sucks in the post season or when the game is on the line. period.

As much as A-rod's sucked in the playoffs, i don't think you boo your own players. I think other teams' fans would love to have him

Alex Rodriguez is terrible, he has no backbone and can't admit that it would have been a much better situation in Boston.

The way ARod plays in October, Yankees fans would probably rather have Drew Henson playing there. Oh wait, that overpaid Yankee 'phenom' is looking for a job on a CFL practice squad...

Jeter sucked when he needed to do it most. A blow out game of hitting is fine and dandy but M.V.P's do it when the game matters most like today.

A-Rod is a scapegoat. Jeter never gets any blame when he blows like he did today.

As talented a player as Arod is, I wouldn't take him on my team. His comment about not doing well kinda says a lot-"..not a problem, we won the game," on his 1-4 showing in game 1. It IS a problem but he seems to ignore his responsibility. I've seen this type of behaviour in spoiled kids-they get it in their mind that is is always someone else's fault. Just my 2 cents.

I see the baseball elite on Baseball tonight and how they feel about A-rod. Conclusion: they don't watch him enough. He's worse than his average.
One day John Kruk is saying that the yankee fans are too tough on him and the next day he's telling him to "shut up". It is irrelevant whether or not the Yankee Fans boo him or not. In fact, in the past it was not uncommon to "call someone out". Someone should call A-Rod out. I'm not so sure that all this gutless spineless, politically corect new age school of thought will help A-Rod. Did it help this year when the Yanks fan STOPPED booing hin. In a word, NO! For being such a "bright" man as I've heard A-Rod called he's not all that bright. If he is not intelligent enough to get just mad-dog mean then he's not much of a man at all. Some well-timed anger could really help him. First, it would make him stop thinking about his technique, which invariably involves over-thinking. And that would seem to me, a fan who watched 150 Yankee games this year to be his achilles heal.

Even if A-Rod was having a decent series, we'd still be hearing all the smack about A-Rod being anti-clutch. Considering the magnitude of his stuggles on the grandest stage there is, the only way we'd stop bashing A-Rod is if he hits the game winner in Game 7 of the World Series.

ARod needs to change his attitude. He's wound up tighter then that dude in Ferris Bueller. He need an image overhaul.

This is a repeat of Barry Bonds' post season stats until ths last post season he was in.

A-Rod has only had a bad postseason when when arrived in New York. In Seattle, he was playing great ball during playoff time. He has been the best player in baseball for the past 10 years and we have to give him a break. For the sake of his career, I would hope he moves to a new team and forget about his stint in New York.

puhleeze, i'm so sick of jeter apologists, which is what anti-arod's are. when they bash a-rod, they think it makes "captain" jeter better. jeter's overall playoff #'s are not as good; if jeter was such a great captain, he'd have made the a-rod transition easier, especially this year; if jeter was such a great team person, and all about winning, HE'd have given up the SS position and gone to 3rd. could jeter have completely switched positions like a-rod and still be an all-star caliber performer. please. i played high school short stop, you sorround me with a $200 million payroll, and i'll play in enough playoff games to make "spectacular" plays as well. jeter's an over-rated, annoying selfish puss.

You seem to have some
Jeter-haters here, whom
obviously are disgruntled Boston
fans. Funny, how obsessed Boston
fans are with New York. Us New
fans, could care loss about a lot
of chronic whiners that call
Boston their home, or their team.
It's all about penis-envy,
basically with Boston fans.

I could care less one way or the other about A-Rod. The Yanks will win both games in Detroit and Boston Fans will find yet another team to root for.

Why does it have to be about what the Yankees did wrong rather than what the Tigers did right? The Tigers did win 95 games this year, only 2 less then the Yankees. When the Tigers pitching is on they are very tough to beat and today they were on. Not many major leaguers would have hit Verlander or Zumaya today.

Go Tigers!!

I could care less one way or the other about A-Rod. The Yanks will win both games in Detroit and Boston Fans will find yet another team to root for.

the guy is anticlutch. i saw his nonclutchness when he first played in the playoffs in seattle and i've seen it ever since. some people call him slappy mcblue lips and i'm not sure why, but it sounds pretty funny.

Apparently Torre's move to drop K-Rod to sixth did nothing to inspire the quarter-billion-dollar man.

Batting .125 with 4 SOs and leaving 6 LOB is not a good sign.

Sit him. Pack his bags for Anaheim. His stay in the Big Apple is over... and now the question becomes whether or not his ineffectiveness costs them their best shot at a World Series title in a long time.

Batting 6th hasn't seemed to help K-Rod...Torre should move him to the 10th spot.

New York Yankee fans are the rudest fans out there. They don't deserve an all around player of character and talent like Alex. Who boos their own players? Who literally seems to want their player to do badly just so they can continue to get down on him and when he does well, it's still not enough? Hopefully Alex will leave next year and go to a city where the fans actually know what class is.

As a Tiger fan, I would take ARod in a heartbeat! Move Guillen to 3rd and have Inge as our utility again. Ppl can say what they want about ARod, at least he has struck out more than anyone in Post Season History like Jeter. If Jeter was in Milwaukee, would we even talk about him? I think not. He came in at the right time and got LUCKY! He has no range, and this whole thing about being hte LEADER? It doesn't seem like many Yanks follow his direction.

Imagine the pressure? Come on now!

Yankee fans relax, any other team in the playoffs would love to have him batting 3rd or 4th in their lineup. He's just a victim of unrealistic expectations. Just because you pay him 25 mil doesnt mean he is going to go 4/5 every night in october. Relax, he'll be fine.

I'm so glad he chokes every time up there. Did you see the rookie Verlander strike him out in the first inning. Priceless. Go Tigers!

My Tigers are going to shut all the Yankees own, spcially Kalamazoo's last favorite son, Derek Jeter!

I like and respect Arod and I actually feel for him because as bad has he has looked, he isnt alone.

Sheffield, Matsui, Cano, Posada, Jeter and pretty much everyone else didnt get it done today, but they just ran into a solid starter in Verlander and a guy with the sickest stuff I've seen this year in Zumaya.

I would have liked to see Arod swing at the pitch in the 1st with the bases loaded to at least put the ball in play, but as usual Alex will take all of the blame when he doesnt deserve any more than any other Yankee who came up empty in 8 at-bats with runners in scoring position.

Will some of you posters quit saying "I could care less"? You are saying that you care to some degree when you are trying to say you don't care at all. "I could NOT care less" is correct. Thanks.

I thought this post was about A Rod, not Jeter, but since a lot of people want to pop off about Jeter, how many World Series Rings does A Rod have anyway? How bout World Series MVP's? Jeter gets a pass with "most" Yankee fans when he doesnt have a good game, because invariably the next 3 games he kicks ass. ARod on the other can't make that claim. Dont blame Jeter for ARod's apparent inabilty to handle the NY pressure. I KNOW ARod's a hellauva player, but when you make the kings ransem as he does, and as reigning MVP, we as Yankee fans have a right to expect more.

Funny how someone said that Boston fans care so much about the yankees and we have an obsession with them. When i read the posts there is no place that it says anything about Boston fans. Im pretty sure that, in this case, its yankees fans being envious of a world series ring this century. I mean you are the one who brought up the sox yanks rivalry. Stop being so anti boston that you turn everything that says the yankees wont win into a "penis envying" boston saying.

Still have not washed out the taste of that "Most Monumental Choke in Sports History"--2004 ALCS?

Sorry to make you cry.

At least Boston fans welcome Bucky @#$%! Dent . . . now.

Let it go . . . let it go . . .

Yankees Fans, about Jeter and A-Rod...

Go to your history books and see Mantle and Maris 1961.

Yankees can't even buy a championship

Let's see who has better career postseason stats between A-Rod and Jeter in a couple of key batting categories:

OBP: A-Rod, .393 to .379
SLG: A-Rod, .534 to .463

Hmmmmm.

A-Rod's career postseason OPS is 85 points better than Jeter's, and yet somehow Jeter is Mr. Clutch while A-Rod is a pariah.

Thank God Seattle doesn't have him anymore....he sucked for us in the post season as well.

The curse of "BamTino" still lingers with the Yanks, even though they brought him back a few years ago.

Stieney should have never let an Italiano go like that...it's bad luck!

i think that arod gets to much of the heat since the yankees had plenty of opps to win this game and no one came though and much and people say it the yankees blew this game and i am a tigers fan.

Well - how about the fact that cleanup hitter struggled too? and Giambi? And Cano is also having a miserable two games. How about mentioning that $19m Moose didn't pitch well either? Giving up four runs in 7 innings and then expecting a win every time out isn't possible, is it?

A-Rod gets a lotta flack all season because of his strikeouts and shaky third base. Still, the guys numbers are very impressive. Over 30HR's and 100 RBI's is a very good season, but in the post season he has been nothing short of terrible. You don't need numbers and stats, just look at how he swings and stands in the box, he looks so uncomfortable in his own skin. The Yankees do NOT need that in October. He can save himself from all of this with one game winning post season hit, but the chances of that happening are very, very slim right now.

Trade him to the Braves and they can put him as the 3rd base coach not ..that suites him beter

Luft says he isn't into Rodriguez
bashing and then proceeds to do
exactly that.

hes not a clutch player and it has become wayyy to obvious to many, including me who used to like Arod, but now its time for Cashman to see which teams will take Arod during the offseason, wheather the yanks win the WS or not.

"It is irrelevant whether or not the Yankee Fans boo (Rodriguez) or not."

Not booing one of your top players (who had an excellent if uneven season and is likely to have some big clutch hits this postseason) is a mark of class.

Then again, "class" and "Yankees fans" don't really belong in the same sentence.

I'm a big Yanks fan. While my friends would trash this guy I would always defend him. I'm done. This guy sucks and I'm sick of him choking in big situations. Melky Cabrera had bigger hits this year more often than Rodriguez!!!!! Pathetic!

Is amazing how Derek Jeter seems to do no wrong. Why can't people just appreciate the fact that we are witnessing one of the if not the greatest player that ever played the game. I hope the Yankees are foolish enough to trade Alex so he can go to a town that will really appreciate him for the player that he is.

please jeter is not that great of a captain. he stood for knockblock for jason and yet he cant stand up for his teammate alex. im tired of yankee fan thinking jeter is god. and this from a real YANKEE FAN.

arod would be having the same issues in Boston, as he is in NY. Jeter had key hits in there 8-4 game one win. I would not call that a blowout, especially with the way the bullpen was pitching. that HR to make it 8-4 was key. it was the final touch on a great game. sure, he did not play that great today, but they only had a few hits. I am more worried about Cano right now. he needs to get some hits.

For those people who think A-Rod should be traded, please let us know who you would rather have at 3rd base. Someone that will hit .290 35HR and 121 RBI's. I don't want to hear that bull about its all non-clutch or runs that don't count. If you use that as a basis, you can manipulate that stats of any player on the team.
The abuse of A-Rod has been media driven, especially b/c they had nothing bad to write about the team over the past 6 weeks of the regular season, as well as the fact Yankee fans are intimdated that A-Rod will steal the glory from Jeter which is pretty sad.

The booing of A-Rod by the fans is pretty pathetic.

I don't know about disgruntled Boston fans, didn't they win it all in 2004? This is about New York and Detroit. A-Rod did struggle today, but Verlander and Zumaya threw some nasty gas that nobody could have caught up to. Let's give some credit to Detroit's young pitchers and look forward to what appears to be shaping up as a classic series. The percieved underdog against the big dogs from Gotham. A-Rod's slump is perplexing, and now that the Tigers have made this a series, does the pressure rest soley on the men in pinstripes? As a Tigers fan I'm just as concerned with the lack of production from our Rodriquez and Ordoniez as Yankees fans are of A-Rod's struggles. Tommorow night should be a faboulous contest in a city that is just thirsting for playoff baseball.

hahaha, you all are pretty funny. Baseball is a game of 9 hitters so it's funny how all the blame goes on 1.

Watch a real sport, FOOTBALL BABY !!!

It is true that Arod has great numbers. And maybe it is unfair that we judge players by their performance in a hanful of games, i.e., the playoffs. But life is unfair. And looking at body language, Arod cannot get a meaningful hit (when the Yanks really really need it, like his AB against Zumaya today). It's unfair, but Arod needs to go somewhere else, maybe the West Coast, and resurrect his career. And the Yanks need some decent pitching, a starter and middle relief. How about Ervin Santana and Scot Shields for Arod?

In defense to A-Rod, a righthanded hitter, wouldn't it be more appropriate to lay some of this bashing at the lefty bats in the Y's lineup? Outside of Damon and maybe Matsui, nothing. Reggie's three home runs against Dodgers, all righthanders. Percentages do matter.

Wow, this is your way of removing blame from the team. "The Team (Yankees)" did not win the game. That means he was 1/9th of the loss. What about the rest of the multi-millionaires? Did A-Rod make them play bad? Jeez, just take the voodoo dolls away from him then. Yankee fans suck.

Please do not refer to A-Rod as K-Rod, there real K-Rod is the best closer in baseball. Yankee fan, if I was you I would worry, the Tiger offense will finally show up in Mo-Town againts suspect starting pitching.

ever since vtek stuffed him he hasn't been the same.....

Se pueden ahogar todos los jugadores de los Yankees junto con el idiota e inmaduro de ARod. A Real Dominican said.

In A-Rods defense (for today only) the Tiger pitching was NASTY. Ruth, Aaron, and Bonds in their primes would likely have gone a combined 1-12 against that heat (which also moved about 6").

Why does AROD deserve a free pass for bad play. Have you seen Arod lay a bunt down or move a runner to scoring position for the guy behind him...NO!!! Arod can hit...he just can't do anything else. Yes, Arod is a better hitter than Jeter, but he's not a better baseball player. There is more to the game than padding your stats with meaningless hits.

a-rod had better numbers than jeter during the monumental, unprecendented collapse the yankees pulled off in '04. where was cap'n clutch then?

jeter: 6 for 30, .333 obp, .233 slg

a-rod: 8 for 31, .378 obp, .516 slg

jeter blew that series for the yanks more than a-rod did. the pressure must have hit him like a ton of bricks, poor ol' mr. intangibles.

So predictable...A Rod gets a cheapie single in game 1 when it doesn't matter, and then has nothing in a tight Game 2. Regardless, it's truly enjoyable as a fan of a "small market" team to watch the yankees fail in yet another attempt to buy a world championship...

No! The greatest choke in baseball history has to be what preceded the
1st Boston massacre: the Blosox blowing a 14.5 game lead and of course, of much more recent joy to Yankee fans, the 2nd Boston Massacre which, as I recall, happened just a couple of months ago. The yanks will win the series and all you whiners who
have no other reason to live except to route against the Yanks (since Boston choked "BIG TIME" in the latest Boston Massacre) because your team collapsed, baby. Hurts don't it?

Ohh please stop the bashing.... All you Boston Redsuck fans wish Arod would have joined your third place team...Arod will come through and then and only then will you slimy creatures crawl back into your shells.

No! The greatest choke in baseball history has to be what preceded the
1st Boston massacre: the Blosox blowing a 14.5 game lead and of course, of much more recent joy to Yankee fans, the 2nd Boston Massacre which, as I recall, happened just a couple of months ago. The yanks will win the series and all you whiners who
have no other reason to live except to route against the Yanks (since Boston choked "BIG TIME" in the latest Boston Massacre) because your team collapsed, baby. Hurts don't it?

If the Yankees hate A-Rod so much, can my A's sign him for cheap? We have an open spot at shortstop right now.

Yankees four thorugh six in the lineup are a combined four for 20. We're talking a .150 batting average. Don't just blame ARod. I don't see Giambi or Shef making a difference.

I think the Boston fans who rail the most against Jeter... really, really, really, I mean really LIKE him. I mean... really.

i'm of opinion that the whole a-rod can't hit in clutch thing was sort of invented to find a scape goat for poor yankee play the last two post seasons. problem is the media latched onto it and started a completely unwarranted character assassination of a fundamentally decent guy having an off year. i think a lot of writers jumped on the a-rod bashing bandwaggon just because it's so much fun to tear down a superstar. (are you reading this, tom verducci?) well congrats, people. looks like you tore him down. his confidence appears shot. hope you all are proud of yourselves. wish you'd save your criticism for people who really deserve it, like george bush, et al.

Boston Fans really have not earned the right to speak... their front-office blunders, their routing at the hands of the Yanks.

Those that rail the most against
Jeter... tell us the truth... you really, really, I mean really LIKE him, don't you know. I feel so sorry for you guys, because you redefine what the quintessential loser is and ultimately what it means.

Jeter should not even be in this conversation. 4 rings and WS MVP speaks for itself. Have you seen he highlights on Jeter in the post season. No matter what you think of the guy, his game does the talking. I don't think Jeter is a clutch player...he is a consistant player. If you look at his stats he plays the same in the playoffs as he does in the postseason. That is what seperates him from others. While great regular season players tighten up under the preasure, Jeter simply plays the game the same way. You can look at the numbers all you want. But the numbers do not tell the story. The best comparison I've seen said comparing Arod to Jeter is like comparing Marino to Montana, or Manning to Brady. Marina had way better numbers, but Montana had all the hardware. Same with Brady. If anyone reading this would honestly say the would take Arod over a proven winner (Jeter) at this point in their careers is full of BS.

As well as being the most jaded fans in sports, does it always have to follow that Red Sox fans are also the least intelligent? Wake up guys. Your season's over with! HELLO!!

A-rod is the greatest player when the stakes are low, when the heat is off, basically when it doesn't matter - he's just Superman.

But, in the clutch? In the post-season? His testicles shrink to the size of tic tacs - he's basically a total pussy.

To all y'all who want A-Rod on their team, consider this:
Seattle won 116 games after A-Rod left them.
Texas went from 71 wins to 89 after trading him to the Yankees.
The Yankees have yet to reach the world series with him.
You can't tell me that's a coincidence.

first, a-rod didn't get his rep based on his performance this year. He's been playing for the Yankees for what, 6 years, now? Who in MLB gets a pass on their performance for their current team and expects other teams to just look at his performance with his previous teams? He's 6, 7 years older now. He should be at or near his peak...oh wait, but he just won the MVP. The year that NY choked and wrote history in Boston :)

so it's a wash. It's not just A-Rod. But he is competing on, and against, in a way, a very good team, obviously.

Detroit on the other hand just one their first game in their last 6. They've got to do much better than that or they will be just a footnote in the Yankees' year.

And there is no recovery for Boston fans this year, so why not let them have their crumbs. No matter what the Yankees do this year Boston is begging for leftovers. "Last year was last year", no joking about that now.

Just an aside, count the number of former Red Sox players (and managers) in the playoffs this year.

how's the Peyton Manning of baseball treating you Yankee fans ?

You will never win anything as long as that putz is wearing pinstripes.

I hope he stays in NY for the rest of his career.

As much as A-rod's sucked in the playoffs, i don't think you boo your own players. I think other teams' fans would love to have him


They can have him!

still A-rods problems begin and end with that contract, and going to the Yankees has just squared the problem. In a way it made his contract make more sense. But still he's pulling in $25M a year. He can't just hit 350/35 and say he's earned that money, not on the Yankees. And to say, "oh well, God didn't give me what it takes to get great hits today" when his talent isn't enough is definitely the wrong way to go. 99% of the US doesn't have the talent that he has. We all have to make it on effort. Few if any people are going to mollycoddle a guy who says "if my body doesn't do it, that's how it is" you have to find a way to make it happen.

That is A-rods' problem. He tries, but if it doesn't work out, he has no "Plan B". "He's in a rut, that's all there is to it", and it becomes a self-induced truth until his body kicks out of it. He'll never get any sympathy with that approach. In life, often, a person has to will themselves to perform...has to perform when the body says "no", when the mind quivers and says "I can't do it" we have to find a part of us that says "I *will* do it" and gets it done. A-rod doesn't have that. He's never had to have it. He's always been great...at everything but the highest level. And never had the team, before, to get him to the highest level, where it became obvious that he lacked the Right Stuff to perform there.

Whereas Jeter came from the other school, he made himself what he is today by hard work. That's why when the going gets tough he has what it takes to excel. A-rod probably just closes his eyes and swings, trusting in God and his talent to get a hit. For him to actually work at it, would mean that he doesn't have much faith in God, or his talent.

That also makes it even more of a problem for owners and management because if A-rod isn't "working", there's nothing that can be done to fix his problem. "He's A-rod. He's great. A-rod is not a bad player". And most of the time, that's true. But when that mantra fails, there is no fixing it. You just have to wait until the pressure is off him...until the expectations are gone...then the talent blooms again.

Perhaps that is why he has always seemed to be an overachiever. Most people don't expect much from him and when they do he just shuts down, mentally, until they stop expecting him to perform well. Then he can easily make them happy just by performing at all. And then he hits .500 with 15 homers a month.

Forget talkin' bout A-Rod. He'll do fine where ever he ends up next year. So will the Yanks. It's great to see Bosox fans comment (even when the question does not remotely revolve around the Red Sox "Nation"), and it is great to see they're still carrying 2004 on their shoulders. I believe their were a lot of Yankee fans rooting for the Bosox to win in 2004 after the ALCS. And I think that is what differentiates the Yankee fans from Bosox fans. Bosox fans don't seem to rally around their division or own divisional teams. It is so personal and provincial with Bean towners that they can't seem to get out of their own snobbish ways. I hope A-Rod goes to Boston and then we can see how much these "great" fans appreciate him there. He seems to be more like a Bosox fan when you think of it......

Anybody ever notice how A-Rod teams have better seasons after he leaves? The Mariners won 116 the year after he left (2001) and the Rangers won 89 (up from 71 the prior year) and legitametely fought for a playoff spot the year A-Rod went to the Yankees.

The reason the yanks haven't won the series in four years is because Torre refuses to bunt with no outs man on first and the catcher up in the bottom of the ninth inning. The catcher then strikes out.

Step aside from the pissing contest. The point is that AROD had a legitimate chance to be the one to step up today b/c everyone else didn't. That is the problem - he can not come through on his own.

By the way - anyone who bashes Jeter is an idiot. Especially if you are a Yankee fan.

Whether A-Rods overall carrer playoff stats are better than jeter's is not the point; what has he done in the last 3 years is. All I know is that in the last 10 games in the playoffs he has a total of 5 hits when Jeter got 5 in Game 1. Yes Jeter had an off day in game 2 but it was one game where A-Rod has not been able to buy a hit in years.

for the moron above commenting on a-rod's teams getting better after he left, you can guaran-damn-tee they would have been even better WITH a-rod.

As bad as ARod is in NY (and that is not all that bad in the REGULAR season) he would have been worse in Boston - NY is the biggest stage but Boston is so much more under a microscopr than NYC - what the hell happens in Boston? The Patriots can win 19 Super Bowls in a row but the Sox news is ALWAYS page 1.

"Poor" A-Rod can't seem to justify his Yankee existence sometimes, especially when it counts. I think the NYC market has too much pressure for him and that he needs to go to Boston, which is more like the Seattle/Ranger markets.
He's a good match for Boston. He'll do well with another team next year. THe fans elsewhere will treat him better and he'll play better for them, where ever it may be. As a Yankee fan I hopes he does play for Boston. The Yankee - Bosox rivalry is the best thing for baseball. And with A-Rod with Boston, we can get back to watching this great rivalry play again in October. For those real baseball fans in Boston it is great to have dialog with you. For those "johnny come lately" fans, you are the phoniest of all phonies. You wouldn't know the value of the AL East if it smacked you in the face. Real Red Sox fans would root for their divisional rivals in the playoffs. I would put up big money that most Yankee fans were rooting for the Bosox's in 2004 after the ALCS. I don't see much class coming out of the "Red Sox Nation". I hope you get A-Rod. It will make watching ball a lot more fun next year.

That is why its called a rivalry. There should be mutual dis-like, I would think it would have been weird to know Yankee fans that rooted for the Sox in the 04 WS. You don't see Carolina fans rooting for Duke when UNC isnt in the Final Four.

I was at the game today...the fans really want to embrace A-Rod, but he come up empty soooo often...Torre should free him up at the plate and not make him take so many pitches, it works for the team but not A-Rod...first pitch was at 1:09 and at least half of the stadium was empty, it filled up by the 6th.

I watched the Yankees on TV this year and watched nearly every Arod at bat. Arod very, very, very rarely got the BIG hit. Repeat....RARELY. Unless he turns things around dramatically his performance thus far can only be characterized as the ultimate choke. The funny thing is....I have been defending Arod all year.....and.....he was my favorite player up until recently. I am growing weary of making excuses for him. He needs to get the BIG hit....the headline.....the RBI that wins the game. If he does not do that now........I say trade him.

It's more the strikeouts than anything else. He is not even putting the ball into play and seems frozen at the plate. With Jeter today some better breaks (a bunt that got popped up and a fine fielder's choice) he would have had a better OPS but at least the ball moved. So in last 2 years in playoffs A-Rod is up to how many strikeouts?

Gee, by now I would have thought that Yankee fans were already resigned to the fact that A-Rod would under-perform during the playoffs. The Yanks have more than enough hitting to overcome A-Rod's disappearance. Cano's slump is a bigger concern right now. If everybody else hit reasonably well, A-Rod can go 0 for whatever the rest of the year and the Yanks still can win it all. Why would anybody, after nearly 3 years of watching A-Rod perform with the Yanks, be under the impression that he would ever become a factor at all?

Gee, by now I would have thought that Yankee fans were already resigned to the fact that A-Rod would under-perform during the playoffs. The Yanks have more than enough hitting to overcome A-Rod's disappearance. Cano's slump is a bigger concern right now. If everybody else hit reasonably well, A-Rod can go 0 for whatever the rest of the year and the Yanks still can win it all. Why would anybody, after nearly 3 years of watching A-Rod perform with the Yanks, be under the impression that he would ever become a factor at all?

Man, you guys are brutal - but also rather juvenile. Has it EVER occurred to you Yankees fans that perhaps, just perhaps, the Tigers WON today, not that the Yankees blew it? They did have the best record in all of MLB for a majority of the season.

So ARod didn't do well against Verlander and Zumaya today - who the hell did?! Barring injury, those pitchers are likely to be Big Unit and Rivera in a few years! Cut the Yanks (AND the Tigers) some slack!

The media has a man-crush on Jeter while A-Rod is the villian. You know what, though? I don't really care. I'll only have to put up with this for a few more days until the Tigers are playing somebody else.

You've got to give props to Zoom Zoom Zumaya. When a guy is throwing 103 MPH and locating it well the hitters have no chance.

Also, I think Giambi owes us all another apology. He should be sorry for always looking like a fat, sweaty pig.

The moronic comments in this blog are staggering.

I can't figure out what fans are defending A-Rod. Cardinals? Angels? Cubs? Mariners? BoSox? I personally wouldn't care if he got traded. If he stays, fine. He just needs to clean his defense up.

I watch nearly every Yankee game.. and A-Rod does well.. but seriously, he is playing WORSE than his numbers indicate. He had a career high in strikeouts and whether or not you OUT OF TOWNERS WHO DON'T WATCH ALL THE GAMES want to believe it or not, he seems to always have really tight and nervous at-bats when the game is on the line, and he fails. I've watched this guy for 3 years now and I don't care what he did in Seattle, I don't get Mariners games where I live and that was 7 years ago. Go by what he's done, and he really and truly does pile up numbers when it doesn't matter. This was his worst season with us, mostly because of his defense. Okay? He made what? 22, 25 errors? Stop acting like we're jumping on this "unbelievable" player. We have 4 other guys who put up the same damn numbers as A-Rod and don't make bone-head defensive plays.

Stop dragging Derek Jeter into this mess. Jeter has already won many post-season games for us and has made so many important plays in big spots that it is just stupid to bring up OPS. When is the last time OPS won a damn game? No, a game winning hit wins a game. Jeter doesn't need to compare himself to Alex-friggin-Rodriguez. Jeter has rings. So just stop.

And about today.. A-Rod got bested by nasty stuff. Period. It wasn't his fault, so this article was just dumb, Luft. But you gotta fill space right?

I'm tired of this damn argument. Jeter has done so much for this team, hit so well so consistently and yet people still detract. Just stop it already. He would play this way no matter where he was. No Yankee fan ever says Jeter is the SOLE reason why we win. It takes more than one guy to get to the playoffs every year. But more often than not he's the guy coming up with big hits and big games in big spots. Why the constant denial of reality?

What a way to end your article. As if you don't know the answer. It is because of people like you! You kept on putting people down by exerting more pressure on them. Why focus on one person even if he's receiving the highest salary? He isn't th whole Yankee. How about Giambi's and Sheffield's performance on Game 2? I'm no A-Rod fan but I'm a big Yankee fan. They've lost Game 2 because the WHOLE team underperformed and that's the end of discussion.

i think jeter is the most over rated clutch player in baseball. ill admit that hes relatively good at continuing or starting a rally but he never gets the game winning hit. he lacks big papi heroics. o yea and hes gay, annoying, cocky and fake. how many walkoff hits or homeruns did jeter have this year? i dont recall any i mean atleast a-rod had 1 (against the braves) for god sake.

To everybody dragging Red Sox fans into this (full disclosure: I am a Red Sox fan), you have to realize that we could care less anymore about hating the Yanks as our boys won rings in '04 in the most monumental collapse/biggest triumph in sports history. The script couldn't have been written sweeter, and we will feast on it for years to come.

Its not about that though, this is about A-Rod. You can't come to terms with how bad he sucks in the post season. The Jeter/Brady vs Arod/Manning analogy is spot on --> Arod sucks in the clutch, and that's not acceptable to Yankees fans - especially given that the team is expected to win a WS every year. When A-Rod has 4 rings, the Yankees fans will be grateful. Sorry A-Rod, but as a Red Sox fan who lives in the Big Apple, this is how it is down here especially after the Yankee dynasty was tarnished by the Red Sox under your watch. It is what it is - welcome to the Big Apple.

Before we crucify ARod here, tell me who DID come through for the Yankees today. Apart from Damon's HR, none of the Yanks could touch Verlander or Zumaya. I almost hope New York does trade ARod, so hecan come back and crush them out of the playoffs and let the boo-hho-ers have something real to cry about.

why am i not a yankee fan? one of the biggest reasons: look at the comments from you jackasses! jeter and a-rod are both hall of famers, and if you would get some intelligence and look at the big picture, you might realize that. a-rod is struggling. do you remember jeter's funk last year! give 'em a break. you have enough talent on the $200 million payroll to win without either of them! i hope a-rod goes 4-5 the next two games and you go home losers! then what will you whine about? the red sox? get a life!

This is coming from a Washington fan, so I don't have a lot to cheer for, but I would gladly cheer on A-Rod. Yankee fans are spoiled and overdemanding. I'm not defending Rodriguez for his massive contract but you people don't seem to realize you're booing one of the best all-around talents in the game. I would take him over Jeter any time, playoffs or not. In summary, the Yankees fans don't deserve to have A-Rod, and they don't deserve to win. You're all poor sports. This coming from a guy who cheers for a team that barely won 70 games this year, but at least we appreciate our players rather than try to degrade them.

A-Rod should be the cheerleader for the team. Someone forgot to tell him that he has to swing that bat in his hand...idiot

He needs to be traded; he just doesn't fit in and he has teamates worrying about his well-being rather than worrying about the game. The better Jeter does; the worse A-Rod does. He won't be happy unless he is kingpin.

Here's my thought. Would you rather have A-Rod play for you, or against you?

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like an easy answer. A guy that consistently hits 30+ homers, and 100+ RBI, even on a down year is nothing to sneeze at. To those who say he can't play in New York; who was last seasons MVP again?

Just stop talking about Derek Jeter.

STOP IT.

It's not Jeet's fault A-Rod can't handle the pressure.

Seriously folks.. Varitek would never have face-mushed Jeter. Jeter would never have pansy-slapped that ball out of Arroyo's hand.

Personally.. I mean, his numbers were amazing last season, but A-Rod was not our MVP last year, Mo Rivera was. You other teams think we're spoiled? Yeah, that tends to happen when you LOSE THE WORLD SERIES MORE TIMES THAN MANY TEAMS HAVE EVEN MADE THE POSTSEASON.

And alot of the haters pointing out that the Yankees have "failed" in their quest to "buy" a championship this year? No, they haven't. Detroit didn't win anything other than won game. Both teams in this series need 2 more wins to advance, so let's wait till that happens before we go opening our big, uninformed mouths, k?

And fellow Yankee fans, stop bringing up Boston. They're cool with one WS win in the last hundred years and a decade of finishing 2nd. Those scrubs didn't even make the playoffs and their "MVP" begged for the award while he simultaneously sold out his teammates. They've disgraced themselves enough this season, just let sleeping dogs lie.

Why should A-Rod even try to impress Yankees fans anymore. They guy was the AL MVP last year and the Yankees have arguably the greatest lineup ever put together. As I Tigers fan, we will take you any day A-Rod, so come to a city where you will be loved regardless and forget about the most undeserving fans in baseball.

...these little town blues.

Ah, New York, New York. You always seem to serve some humble pie. A-Rod has alotta raw talent...fit for Seattle or Texas or Florida or Cleveland or......

wow even the boss is angry:

"I didn't like him that well," Yankees owner George Steinbrenner said.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/baseball/20061005-1453-bba-a-rodschances.html

This isn't going to help a-rod perform better it'll just make things worse

Alex Rodriquez will go down as the greatest player to ever wear a major league uniform. Unfortunately (and significantly) he is nothing more than a paper tiger come postseason. Great players have great postseason resumes. Derek Jeter is wondrous example. A-Rod, to date, is a horrific failure when the games count the most.

Hey,
Give the Tigers credit. They figure out how to pitch him, they get him out,and throw some pretty nasty stuff on the way (you go guys!).

A-Rod should go see a shrink; it´s all in his head. If he could concentrate better on his game, not his fears, or what "people" will say (or think) I dare to say -given his natural talents and abilities- he could be what the Yankees had hoped for back when they got him.

I wouldn´t want to see the Yankees write him off. But it really hurts to watch him struggle with his game like he does.

Hey, SI Senior Columnist John Donovan: Where's that Yankees sweep you predicted? Loved the "analysis" that concluded Detroit's starters were a worn-down crew inferior to the Yankees' rotation. When an article begins with such an obvious falsehood, all pretenses of objectivity go out the window. Today everyone saw how the Tigers won 95 games with a lineup that might have all of four above-average hitters: starting pitching, solid relief, and some blistering power arms.

Game 1 was the only clearly favorable pitching matchup the Yanks are going to see in this series. Get ready to sweat, New Yorkers. As the man said, "He don't know it's a damn show. He thinks it's a damn fight."

Yankee fans aren't alone. St. Louis is revered around the league for having the best fans, and there was a big controversy about them booing Encarnacion at the beginning of the year.

To the extent that Pujols had to speak out in the media.

Over Juan F'in Encarnacion.

I speak for many Jeter hater/Met fans who watch every Yankee game, and know that the essential difference between the pair is that Jeter is so more than the sum of his statistics, while A-Rod is so much less.

You think A-Rod puts up great numbers? Sure he does. But for many, it's not about the money, it's about his talent. The guy is terrible in big spots, and Superman when no one is on in an 8-2 game. When the Yanks were up big late in Game 1, I totally expected A-Rod to hit a shot. Meanwhile, Jeter will go 1-5, but his one hit is with two outs in the bottom of the 8th against a Zumaya type that drives in the tying and winning runs. He'll make some errors, has no range, but then will make an over-the-shoulder catch to save a game.

The big problem with A-Rod is that he throws his teammates under the bus, and takes no responsibility. He's also too political and just not real.

Torre needs to not coddle him, and the SI piece was a good start.

The problem is, his teammates will give him so many chances with their production, that eventually he's going to have a big HR in a huge spot or what have you.

yankee fans want arod to do well, just listen to how they cheer him before each at bat. but the bottom line is that ever since the boston series he hasn't shown up in the post season. you could bring up the fact that he hit the ball very hard in game 1 or that he faced nasty, nasty stuff today, but arod has greater expectations because he's so talented. new york will show him the love if he just lets his skills take over.

Legends are made in October.
Billy Hatcher, Luis Sojo and Adam Kennedy are going to remembered (and loved) more than Limp-Rod because of that fact.
You can give Pay-Rod credit for one thing though. When he strikes out or leaves tying and go-ahead runners on base in the playoffs, he sure looks good and stylish with his perfect grooming and his cool guy shades when he does. That is what $250 mil gets you folks.......

A-Rod will retire a legend. There are plenty of legends who have suffered in the postseason. There are also plenty of Hall of Famers who had fans that didn't appreciate them when they were around. A-Rod is one of the greatest ever. If he strikes out swinging on a 103 mph fastball, that doesn't make him anti-clutch, it makes him human. Come on Yankees fans, you remember what that is right? And, for the record, he may have the highest salary, but he isn't the Yankee paid the most by Steinbrenner. For instance, Mussina gets a bigger check from George, why don't you burn him a little. Way to get burned by a lead off hitter that can barely make contact Moose.

perception has completly overwhelmed reality--what has gary sheffield or hideki matsui done recently in the playoffs? but for some reason, it's all on a-rod

a-rod is the most talented, versatile player in all of baseball. He has proved that. But he can't play in a hostile environment. That's just terrible mental makeup. The difference between him and Pujols. In fairness, though, A-Rod had a great regular season, and is the reigning MVP. The Yankee fans never gave him a fair shot.

the funniest part of the situation is i bet arod would have found his way out of the rut hes in if new york fans didnt boo him.

I am neither an A-Rod Hater or Supporter, but I can see the pressure on him is mounting. I would use him in a situational DH role. No outs with 1 on, 1 out with 2 on type situations. I feel badly for him, yet his struggles do not surprise me. He has just gotten bored and wallet fat.

Has anybody looked up A-Rod's CAREER post-season stats? His .508 slugging percentage and One-base percentage of .386 (OPS of .894) compared to Jeter's CAREER "slugging percentage of .480 and One base percentage of .383" (OPS of .863) (majorleaguebaseball.com for all stats) So A-Rod has done BETTER than Derek Jeter and he has had 126 Postseason at-bats. Say what you will about the glittering singles or doubles that one gets at opportune times, mixed in with a baseball-wide consensus average fielding, and you have a highly overrated, 192 million dollar for 10 year player. (Jeter) Conversely, A-Rod is perhaps the best player of our generation and may be the best ever. He can't control the fact that he played on substandard teams. In regards to his defense, he did win two gold gloves at shortstop and I think that almost any manager or anybody with baseball KNOWLEDGE would pick A-Rod over a Derek Jeter at shortstop. Please, stop berating one of the best players ever; you can say what you say, but the STATS don't lie. Objective entry.

Sincerely,
Daniel Fong

Boston fans will "feast on 2004 for years to come," not because it was the most monumental collapse in basenball history (see 1986 world series, see 1st Boston Massacre), but because they have nothing else in their long sorry ass history worth eating.

This is ridiculous -- I am a Red Sox fan, but I can still be objective about this. Jeter is a hall of famer -- deservedly so. He is the heart of that team. Sure, he may have pulled a bit of a boneheaded play in the first inning, but he was great 2 days ago. A-Rod is a detriment to that -- and ANY -- team. He gets paid more than the whole Marlins -- who would you rather have ARod or Miguel Cabrera and Hanley Ramirez? By the way -- not only does ARod choke at bat, but he does it in the field and on the basepath, too.

A-Rod is an amazing player. If he is not getting done in the play-offs, it's because we have been beating him up about not being clutch. A the beginning of his career, he was very good in the play-offs. Random error is probably responsible for his struggles, anyway.

A-Rod is underachieving. Yes he continues to struggle and the Yankee fans lovs to boo him because they love telling him that they are better than he is. What I really wonder in all this is where is Jeter? I mean where is the captain, the man who would sacrifice his life for the good of his team? Why isn't he defending A-Rod. yes A-rod has bashed him a little. So what. Yes I said so what. A-rod's struggles are hurting the team and it is Jeter's duty as the captain to step in and try and help. And that means coming to the guys aid, no matter what was said or done in the past. Jeter is a great player and a clutch player (whatever that is worth) but now it is time to show that he is a great leader also.

hey, let's admit it. we all thought that the yanks would breeze on through the tigers, neglecting to remember that this team had the very best record in baseball for much of the season, playing in one of the toughest divisions in baseball no less. while the game 1 victory was nice, it did reveal some flaws in the yanks, namely the bullpen. you just do not have that feeling w/ proctor and farnsworth (amongst others) like you did w/ nelson and stanton. diff team though, along w/ the 21st century's murderor's row. but after game 2? the bats are nice but i am not feeling overconfident. johnson needs to put in a decent effort. rogers? he is ripe to be pounded. if he does not get pounded (best of all by our man arod who is overdue for some hits, especially against someone that i believe he is 10 for 19 against career wise...), then we had better worry. this CANNOT be a pitcher's duel. the yanks need to have a laugher and reassert their dominance. baseball is all about momentum. the yanks ceded some of that to the tigers. they need to get back some control of the alds.

the mutts are rolling w/ their piecemeal starting pitching. the yanks starters are superior on paper. i'd give the nod to the mutts bullpen. and their line-up? not as potent on paper, but they deliver as a team. the yankee offense needs to gel as a unit: 1 through 9. the yanks collectively need to start believing the hype.

and although lufts' original post started out w/ arod, you cannot but help to chime in on jeets as well. jeter is above reproach. he IS the man. he does deliver when they need him to. he is not invincible however. look at his game 2 stats. none of the "awesome" yankee bats really delivered but for matsoo. that HAS to change.

and as much as i admire and value jeter as the Captain of the yankees, no one is above criticism. no one is perfect. jeter's most glaring imperfection? arod. sure arod should probably have said, in public, that he was sorry he insulted jeter. "i recognize that my ego got the better of me. i am a pretty good baseball player. jeter is a well. i was wrong to speak about him the way that i did. i can only hope that he will forgive me one day and allow us to resume the friendship we once shared. it would make me a better person." arod won't do it though. his EGO is too big. he does believe the hype about himself. but jeter is THE captain. a captain leads. a captain looks to get every member of the team involved. no one is left behind. a captain defends all of his team members. jeter defended chuck knochblauch, he defended giambino... arod? fuggedaboutit. could not be bothered. i can understand jeter feeling offended by arod's criticism of him ("a number two hitter..."), but a captain has to put their feelings aside and try to make the team stronger. it is obvious that the better jeter does, the worse arod will play. it does not have to be that way. jeter is a phenomenal player, but that does not mean jeter is above criticism. we can all aspire to better. jeter should make a point of saying something supportive about arod. it does not have to be a hug and a kiss, but it can be a short sentence to the effect "alex is a great baseball player. he has it within him to deliver for us. he can do it." but he won't. jeter has now locked arod out, even if it means arod continues to struggle, even if it means the yanks struggle as result.

the yanks need to come out strong later tonight. put the doubts to rest. the rest of the al and nl both look weak. there ARE flaws in all of the teams. maybe it is not like the alcs vs cleveland in 1998 where the duke came up big, but it IS a short series. the yankees in 1998 were starting to doubt themselves, but el duque did what needed to be done. the yanks need to believe and look to regain some momentum. the tigers were starting to doubt themselves. not as much anymore. they are a mediocre lineup. they press too much. they do not take pitches. they can be exploited. the yanks hitters are phenomenal, arod included. they just have to relax and do what they know how to do best. i have my worries, but i believe they can close this thing out w/ the next two games in detroit. this past year, they took 5 of 7 from the tigers, and the 2 losses? mariano was not available for both those losses and which should have been victories. if the tigers score 3, the yanks should score 4. the tigers 7, the yanks 8. that is the way they did it back in 96, 98, 99 and 00. they can do it again. sure it is a new season, but this is the same tiger team exposed by a sweep to the lowly royals on the last weekend of the season, when those same tigers could have won the al central. if winning your division does not motivate you, what does? 14-1 this season vs. the royals until that last weekend. the tigers still have doubts. yanks need to club them unconscious. show 'em who's the top dog. let's reawaken some of those doubts. zoom zoom zumaya? $#@%& 'em. does not matter if you throw 103 mph when your TEAM is being pounded by the best lineup in baseball!

A-Rod cemented his reputation when he slapped the ball out of Bronson Arroyo's glove. This guy is a bum. Reggie never had to slap nobody's glove because he hit the ball half-way to the moon when it mattered most.

For everyone bashing Jeter here, have you looked at his post-season stats? The man is hitting .315 in the post-season, I don't care who you are, that's good. Yea, the man may have gotten lucky to be on the Yanks, but I think he's made the most of it. He's got a pretty good good Fld % of .975 this season. I mean, the man has had clutch hits over the years and I don't think you can deny it, and if you do, you've been living under a rock for the past 10 years.

Look people, I don't care what anyone says, when a closer blows a lead, what do you do? You boo. When your top player isn't doing well, you boo. For all those saying, we wouldn't boo, you're lying to yourselves. We've seen it in every city that has a pro-team. New York fans are harsh, we know this, we expect alot, and as well we should. But, stats don't lie, A-Rod hasn't exactly been great in the post-season for the yanks. And for the Jeter haters out there, you know he's made clutch plays in the post-season, he's only been doing for 10 years, so quit kidding yourself. I think a .315 batting average, is damn good, don't you?

you yankee jeter apologists crack me up. tell me exactly what "captain" jeter has done? how many rings? he hasn't won anything since he's been captain, or since he's been the club veteran. legacy of winning?? so the yankees won his first few years in the pros. why haven't they won the last few years? either he's gotten worse, or he wasn't the MAIN reason why they won to begin with. so lets follow that logic, somehow he's mr. intangibles and the sole reason why the yankees won when he was a rookie and young player? so what's happened since then? the only common denominator the last 11 years is jeter. they win his first 4 years, but haven't the last 7 since he's been captain and the club veteran. hmmm. these are the facts, and they are not in dispute. turns out that he's a petty petulant puss like everyone else. yep, arod sucks right now, but wonder how captain jeter would do if he had to switch positions . . . in fact, why didn't he switch positions? because he's a better shortstop than arod? eyah, right, lets not forget that 2 years ago, jeter was the 3rd best shortstop behind arod and nomar, and fact is he's still only the 2nd best ss on his team. cracks me up . . . captain jeter. anyway, go cubbies, go bears. cracks me up that new york is 0-2 against the other clutch team in sports, the indy colts. LMAO!!!

Scott Brocious, where are you when we need you. I don't give a damn what you do in the regular season; but a $25M ballplayer better walk, get hit by a pitch, move the runners up, sacrifice, jeepers anything to contribute to your team in the playoffs. Alex is a lost cause and the sooner Torre realizes it the sooner the Yankees will win in the post season. Signed "A fifty year yankee fan"

I am not a Yankee fan, nor a Yankee hater, but a fan of good baseball, first and foremost, so I "so I don't have a horse in this race"; but . . .
Why isn't Bernie Williams in the line-up? This may be Manager Joe Torre's first real judgement error in his years as the Yankee manager.

To all the Yankees fans who are attributing the negativity to some form of Boston penis envy...

I'm from Boston, and a lifelong, diehard Sox fan. This season sucked, but I'm not bitter about it. The Yankees were clearly a better team, end of story. Wasn't the case in 2004, neither of them was great in 2005, and as much as I don't really like to say it, it looks like 2006 might be the Yankees' year to go all the way. That said, Game 2 didn't exactly help their cause.

The Yankees' bread and butter is supposed to be that they can hit virtually anyone, which disguises the relative weakness of their pitchers. Now, before you get started, yes, I know that their pitching was better than the Sox' this year. That's not the point, though, because they're clearly outclassed in that dept. by the Tigers.

Does A-Rod suck? No. It's called small sample size; he'll have a monster game one of these days, and all of his garbage numbers will suddenly look respectable.

I actually like Jeter. He's a very good player, and very consistent at what he does. I just don't see why it has to be him or A-Rod for so many of you guys. You have 2 damn good players, which doesn't, believe it or not, mean that you can't like them both.

I mean, seriously, do you ever hear Sox fans having a heated "Manny or Ortiz?" debate? Maybe a casual one, for debate's sake (I happen to be a Manny guy, myself), but we think they both kick absurd amounts of ass. It really is that easy, guys, so just let the whole 'Jeter v. A-Rod' story go. You'll save yourselves a lot of distress.

Jacob,

Give me a #@$%ing break. An "October rut"? I suppose you've yet to hear about the dangers of making bold conclusion based upon a retardly small sample size...

"Just because you pay him 25 mil doesnt mean he is going to go 4/5 every night in october. Relax, he'll be fine."

REMINDER - The TEXAS RANGERS paid Alex Rodriguez $25MM... not the Yankees. The Yankees are actually paying Alex less than 5 - 6 other players on the team.

But, I digress... I get so sick of the media-fed frenzy with A-Rod. He's a great player, 1st ballot hall of famer, and he DOES have big hits... people forget he had a few walk-off home runs this year. Yes, he has been lost at the plate at many times this year... it happens to everyone. I am HAPPY to have him on my team, and wouldn't want to be facing him in some other lineup. I watched just about every Yankees game this year, and I've seen him come through plenty of times... people always seem to magnify the times he doesn't come through and ignore the times he does.

If anyone watched the first game of the series, he hit the ball hard 3 of 4 at bats... Jeter had similar hits, but his fell in... 2 of the 3 line drives he hit were caught unfortunately. I didn't see the game yesterday because of the early start, so I can't comment on the at bats... from what I've heard, the Detroit pitchers were dealing some pretty nasty stuff. Note, Sheffield/Giambi/ARod/Cano combined 0 for 15 with 7 strikeouts! Where is the Sheffield/Giambi/Cano bashing? Cano doesn't even have a hit in the series... Sheffield only has 1, and Giambi only has 1...

What is it about Yankees fans that make you think that you are the most deserving and superior to all other fans? I'm sure half the people posting on this blog claiming to be Yankees fans are not from New York and probably haven't even been to a Yankees game. Get over yourselves. For all his struggles in the Postseason you cannot question the value of A-Rod. The deal is when putting together a major league lineup you want to be able to protect your best hitters. The Yankees have the best lineup in baseball and A-Rod batting behind whoever gives that person pitches to hit, do you think Giambi or whoever is in front of A-Rod would see anywhere near the pitches they see if they had Scott Brosious batting behind them? Yea right, until teams start intentionally walking whoever bats infront of A-Rod quiet the critism a bit because he is one of the best players to play the game and is the best 3rd baseman currently in the game. Bottom line is he is a player the opposition must fear because with any swing of the bat he can completely change the game.

a-fraud couldn't hit a beachball if his life depended on it. detroit's young pitchers made him look like a 9-year-old little leaguer. pedro cerrano looked better hitting a curve ball than a-fraud did. and let's not forget about the wonderful gary sheffield. i think it's time to end his "experiment". he obviously can't handle 1st base and he looked just as bad at the plate. my lineup would have miguel cairo at 3rd base and andy phillips at 1st and i would sit those bums on the bench! put in the people that actually WANT to play baseball.

I'ma brtish fan of baseball and admittedly am not intuned to the struggles of A-rod as the rest of you are. However i find it sad that just because the yankees have the biggest payroll the fans believe they should win every WS and when they don't they boo a player who may one day break Hank's greatest of records and possibly a whole host of others. Get some balls. Don't do the easy thing and boo, instead stand up and support your team through thick and thin like all good sports fans

Come on, this is ridiculous. All you have to do is look at the box score. Arod left 3 men on base yesterday. Who else did this? Damon, Sheffield, and (ta-da!) Jeter. And did he strike out 3 times because he's not clutch, or because the Tigers had two pitchers on the mound who can throw 100+ mph? And the comment, "For 10 million dollars, the guy should come through" is stupid. The Rangers gave him that contract (by choice! And the Yankees took it on by choice!) for his season numbers, and he continues to put up amazing numbers. You can't judge a guy for EVERY INDIVIDUAL AT-BAT because he makes a lot of money.

And this rant came from a guy who hates Arod and hates the Yankees.

Most of you are just plan dumb...I love the comments, "throw out the numbers, stats don't matter. " WHAT the hell are you talking about? Numbers are all that matters. AROD is hitting about 300 lifetime in the playoffs. He must suck! Wake up! Now, before you get all fired up. He is struggling NOW...but you AROD haters have been on him for too long without looking at the STATS. Do your research and think with your head not heart.

Shark in Virginia

Boston won in 2004, well where are they today?

A-Rod has more hits this post-season than anyone on Boston's roster.

When it matters most, A-Rod is not there. When you're making 25 Million a year, you need to be producing when it matters most.

A-Rod is done as a Yankee. However, I truly believe that on another team he will do well when he reaches October again. It's true that he's a pampered kid who hasn't faced adversity till he got to NYC. This will make him better, but it will also torment him that he couldn't do it on the biggest stage in baseball...

A-Rod is the game's highest paid player. He is one of the games best players. You cant get on him about accepting a huge contract. In NY there are alot of high calibur players that dont make him look as good as he did in TX when he was playing with a bunch of average players. When you have so much attention in a highly visible city, there's alot of stress to do well, and it doesnt help to have fans boo relentlessly. Where were all the skeptics last season in his MVP year?? He is batting high .200's with 35HR and 121 RBIs in his BAD YEAR!!! This guy is amazing and as soon as the crowd lets up on him, he'll start to produce again.

Why is it that Yankees fans (and detractors) always have to either pass blame or make excuses? Unless he commits the most egregious error of committing an error to allow the winning run to score in the bottom of extra innings, then suck it up and keep rooting for him to do well. Are any of your opinions going to change his salary or his contract? This is how fans outside of the vacuum of sports that is New York act.

A-rod, "The Great" Peyton Manning, Patrick Ewing are all alike, they put up great number every year but when the game counts they never deliver. A-rod has no killer instinct and is looking for approval the go get some. Like I have always said, the Yankees should never have traded Soriano for him. Where is Scott Brosius when we need him

In 2004, in the ALCS against Boston, Alex Rodriguez came up with less than two outs and a runner on third and had a chance to send the sawx home for good with nothing more than a productive out! He couldn't do it. HE compounded it brutally with the Bronson Arroyo slap play, and has basically been lost to NY fans ever since. He could hit .400 and it wouldn't matter. The guy blew his opportunity. He desparately needs an Aaron Boone/Bucky Dent type moment, but sadly those are the moments he can't seem to generate a relaxed attitude for, and therefore is destined to his fate. The best he can hope for is for the Yanks to win. He will never be able to carry this team. At best he'll avoid #$%@-ing it up. But the yanks have a lot of really good players, so maybe that's ok. It's actually more fun to root for the Yankees when there is a real possibility that they might lose, and at least Alex Rodriguez gives us that. The '98 Series against the Padres was much less fun that the '96 underdog win.

the truth is a-rod is a frustration and disappointment for anyone that is a yankees fan. jeter is not. jeter is a true yankee. he thinks about the team before he thinks about himself. if a-rod's attitude was a little different we might all be pulling for him. instead we just want him gone. think about bernie williams, when he was in a slump a couple of years ago, everyone was pulling for him. ny fans recognize quality and character. the yankees are about more than the individuals on the team and a-rod is not a team player. he's a poser. he used to being a big fish in a small pond and in ny he can't hang with the pressure. sorry a-rod but take your salary and go.

It is the curse of A-Rod! Just in time for Halloween!!!

A-rod is just like the great Peyton Manning, great numbers when it doesn't count and just like the postman the never deliver on holidays. Yankees should never have traded Soriano for A-rod. Where is Scott Brosious or Charlie Hayes when we need them?

This is truly cosmic sports karma at play. I feel it couldn't happen to a better guy or franchise. I am wishing for you many more years of the "Curse of Pay-Rod" for the Mercenaries in Pinstripes.

-Still Bitter in Seattle

The numbers don't lie A-Rod is a great player. Even with the slump he went thru this year his numbers were still pretty good. But let's face it, in the Bronx the season starts in October. That's what matters most to us. And Rodriguez just hasn't delivered. He needs to stop thinking so much and just let his talent take over.

And for all the Jeter-haters...puhleeze. Dave Roberts, of the Padres (and former Red Sox player) said it best. "Derek Jeter sets the bar for everyone who puts on a uniform." And that's coming from a pro player, World Series champ. 'Nuff said.

There is truly something karmic at work here. This couldn't be happening to a more truly deserving player or franchise. I am wishing for the Mercenaries in Pinstripes many more years of the "Curse of Pay-Rod" and all that goes with having the highest payroll in baseball but still no team in sight.

-Still Bitter in Seattle

Make all the comparison between Jeter & A-Rod that you want. A bunch of fat stats don’t tell the story. To the casual or post season Yankee observers there may be little difference between Jeters & A-Rods performance but sit through 162 games & it is obvious. Jeter is clutch. 162 games & post season clutch. As badly as we want A-Rod to contribute, it’s just not there when needed. In New York it all comes down to results & the results aren’t there for A-Rod. Failure in NY can be brutal. Just ask Fridays probable losing pitcher Kenny Rogers. He just couldn’t cut it in NY. Until A-Rod produces, it’s gonna be rough. Old stats are for the record books. The playoff are NOW!

a-rod needs to go for the hit ,not trying to get walked all the time & pass the buck to the next hitter! how about a bunt from a- rod they would not expect it & he is fast enough to make it to 1st or if the trouble continues,joe should lite a fire under his butt by putting in a pinch hitter just before a-rod enters the batters box!!!that might get him fired up for the next game. if there is 1 !

MARK MY WORDS

AROD - 2 HR'S TNITE

YANKS WIN 4-2 (AROD 3 RBI)

i'm still waiting for my ultimate dream of jeter whiffing with the bases loaded down by 2 runs to end the world series...and in yankee stadium would be icing on the cake... then fox can show all the little girls crying b/c their "leader" and "mr clutch" failed them...

its a shame with all this arod and jeter talk that everyone is forgetting the yankees best infielder who is over standing at 2nd base.

it's time for Torre to either bench A-Rod or move him to number 9 in the lineup and put Cano in the 6 spot. this is a team sport and A-Rod is clearly bringing the team down.

A Rod is so self absorbed that he merits all of the negative comments of this thread. Classic example: what he said to the umpire last night. And the excuse about sun and shadows contributing to the strikeouts. Jeters fabulous response: 'both teams had to deal with the shadows.'

He hardly contributes to a team atmosphere in the Yankee dugout. The Sports Illustrated article, if true, says it all.

Where is Scott Brosius when you need him?

Forget about ARod. IRod is due for a big game. Leyland has the Tigers believing in thmselves again. This is not about the Yankees (or the red sox, for pete's sake). It is about the return to glory for a charter American League franchise.

GO GET'EM TIGERS!!!

A-Rod looks extremely uncomfortable at the plate, he's obviously overthinking. I played baseball through college and in the minors, and a player as great as him, it comes naturally. He needs to get angry and let his talent take over. Focus on anger and everything will fall into place. He can only go up from here.

He needs to get a standing ovation of support when he walks to the plate, the weight of the world will be lifted from his shoulders and he'll be able to do what he does best, hit the ball.

Only in the Bronx can a player win an MVP award and still get booed. To be sure, Mr. Rodriguez hasn't produced. At this juncture, all those rabid Yankee loyalists need to bolster A-Rod. They need to sport banners and signs encouraging this man. If the Yankee fans cheered this supremely talented player, who knows? He might actually crush a few. That is not to say the fans are responsible for his slide, but they could certainly help pull him out of it. This is also part of the responsibilites of his teammates. The dominant Yankee teams of the mid to late 90s and 2000 were not packed full of all-stars and MVPs. Jim Leyritz, Tino Martinez, Chuck Knoblauch and Paul O'Neil are not going to Cooperstown, but they could play together. They struggled together and together they pulled themselves out. There is little team unity in the Bronx these days. The '04 Sawx and the '05 Pale Hose were loose, had fun and played as a team. Then again, perhaps this is why the Bombers haven't won the series since 2000. With little team unity not much can be done. The 21st century Murderers' Row needs to get loose and funky and have some fun, otherwise Jeter's absurdly great season will have been for nothing and we'll be watching an Oakland/Detroit ALCS. Then again, I'm not at all opposed to that.

I am so tired of hearing Yankees fans complain about A-Rod. You are spoiled and ungrateful. You are talking about last year's AL MVP. The guy is a career .305 hitter and hit 35 HR's and over 100 RBI's this year oh THAT'S SO TERRIBLE. Nothing to work with there at all.

It's fun for the rest of us in flyover country to watch Yankee fans devour their own at the first sign of adversity ... but it's going to be even better when Kenny Rogers wins tonight.

I only wish I could mail belts and shoelaces to all those hysterical Yanks fans on suicide watch.

I'm sorry but didn't anyone read the SI article a couple of weeks ago? A-rod says people don't like him because he is good looking and bi-racial. Shut up A-rod and play the game. Thats what you are here for! Besides A-rod will get no respect in NYC unless he produces HUGE in the post season. Wake Up A-rod!

Forget Mr. May, this guy is Mr. April! Great player but wound too tight, and making 25M per doesn't help. Won't be long before George runs out of patience with this guy!

Hey Yankee fans- It could be worse. You could be a Dodgers fan and have to hope JD Drew will do something positive for you besides running into double plays at the plate. Tell you what, you guys can have Drew and we'll take A-Rod and his salary. Any takers?

A-Rod was shut down by the best pitching in MLB yesterday ... And no surprise: so were Giambi, Sheffield, and new golden boy Cano. All 13 guys in pinstripes lost the game yesterday, not just A-Rod. Why are the loudest Spankee fans the biggest morons? Big Stein has spent a billion dollars in the 2000's on his way to not winning the World Series. Two of their big-name store-bought all-stars are admitted Balco-boys (how they get a free pass is beyond me). Their marquee rotation pitchers are old, washed up and sucking millions of dollars out of George's wallet.

When NYY built winning teams from their farm system, they were the best club in baseball. Since then they've dumped the home-grown hard workers and just bought their way into a huge pile of high-priced disappointment. Spankee fans don't seem to realize that the rest of baseball doesn't hate them because of 26 WS rings, they hate them because they act like a bunch of spoiled jerks who follow George's lead into thinking that greed and money alone make you better than anyone else. Clearly not true: just ask Moose, Giambi, R. Johnson, Matsui, Sheffield, (plus Mondesi, Ventura, Contreras, Sierra, Lieber, K. Brown). Any true baseball fan has honest admiration for the pinstripe's history; you rarely hear fans "whining" about Gehrig, Ruth, Dickey, DiMaggio, Yogi, Whitey, Mantle, Maris, et al. Those teams earned respect, and deserved it. The current parade of money-grubbers have yet to do that, especially considering that Steinbrenner's wallet hasn't bought a World Series since back when Johnny Damon was still a Royal and Cano was in high school.

Blame 1-for-4 Jeter and the whole team, not just A-Rod. Side note: as a Cards fan, it's vastly entertaining to see that there's about a 10-1 ratio of Spankee fans talking trash about the Red Sox, as opposed to the few Sox fans who have actually said anything derogatory on this blog about the 2006 NYY squad. Get over it, Bronx fans: this desperate Red Sox fan conspiracy against you doesn't exist. ALL of baseball thinks you're a bunch of spoiled clowns, not just New England. Go Tigers.

Thank God for his struggles...all the better to see him in a Dodger uniform next year. I vaguely recall what a 'bum' Bonds was considered in his late twenties, early thirties...there's a non-steroidal correlation there. When we're discussing A Rod in ten years and his 750 homers while playing a gold glove shortstop and willingly going to third for the beloved Jeter, we'll re-visit this question (PS, check out Ted Williams postseason numbers)

Yankee fan here. While I fodly remember the late 90s dynasty, it's not like those teams won every game in the postseaston! People need to relax.

Also, we all think highly of Scott Brosius, but it's not like the guy was Mike Schmidt. If he faced those pitches A-Rod faced yesterday he wouldn't have been close to them either.

I am currently a bit soured on A-Rod, admittedly but he is young and has plenty of time to change his legacy. I mean John Elway was considered a big game choker until his late 30s and that worked out okay for him.

Some people just dont react well to pressure. Its not A-Rods fault, and it surely isnt the Yankees fans fault, its nobodies fault really. I do however think he brings alot of unnecesary pressure onto himself by caring what everybody thinks. I always figured if you were that rich you could pay somebody to do your caring for you. amybe he should look into it.

wow. the volume of responses has been incredible. makes for good reading as well. no one is perfect, least of all "our" captain. jeets is the consummate professional who now happens to be the captain. captains lead. captains stand up for their teammates. "arod is a great player. we believe in him." simple. don't hold your breath on it happening.

as fans we can make that happen by applauding arod before every at bat. i must say that the fans in the stadium were very receptive to arod all throughout game one and most of game two as i was there for both games. i hope to be there for game 1 of the alcs and right on through to the world series. a true fan cheers his team on whatever the circumstances. some yankee fans turn my stomach when i hear them shouting in the background that "you STINK arod." i do not feel sorry for arod, as he went after that monster contract w/ his uber-agent. but maybe by lightening up on him he could have the chance to come up big.

we shall see. not all is doom and gloom. this is a team poised to strike. get melky in, maybe bernie. melky brings youthful vim and vigor. he brings energy to the line up. i love matsoo!! but... have him dh and sit sheff w/ giambi at first. or hey, sit giambi and play sheff. either way get melky in along w/ matsui's bat. godzilla is a pro. he wants to win in the way jeets wants to win. there was a recent article in the ny times about jeets 5 for 5 night. when reminded of his 5 for 5 night in the 2004 playoffs, matsui's response? this is what makes matsoo a great player...

Hideki Matsui, Jeter’s teammate and someone who had five hits in Game 3 of the 2004 A.L. Championship Series, had a dugout seat for Jeter’s rampage. But that close proximity did not make him reflect on what he did against the Red Sox two years ago.

“I had no idea I was one of them,” Matsui said. “In the playoffs, you don’t remember what you did. It’s what the team does.”

the yanks have what it takes to win it all. i intend on being there tuesday. and just b/c you do not live in nyc does not mean you are not allowed to be a yankee fan. i am tired of hearing the belly aching from people all over the country implying that to be a yankee fan you veritably have to live in ny. i am about 100 miles from the stadium in scenic new england (CT), a transplaned new yorker from the boogie down bronx, and i am not about to start rooting for the red sawx nor looking to join red sawx nation. i am not seeing too many B hats right about now, but do acknowledge that they have had some good teams in the past and will do so again in the future (once theo epstein changes job to be gm of the pirates or royals). believe.

To: Bronx Yank in CT --
Thank you for proving that there are well-spoken, clear-headed Yanks fans out there. Well-spoken, all of it. I urge your like-minded brethren to speak up. I'm not a Yanks fan, but yes: Matsui is worth cheering for -- that guy's a total pro. (Admittedly, I was much happier before the BoSox had to play most of August with a AAA lineup. Oh well.) Seriously, though -- well-written, thanks for injecting some intelligent conversation.
Sincerely,
Lifelong Red Sox fan

The Yankees fans deserve to die! It is obnoxious how fans of a team with a payroll of $200 million can complain. Look at your lineup. It has over 40 all-star appearances combined. A-Rod is one of Baseball's best player. However, the last time the Yankees won the World Series they had guys like Tino Martinez, Paul O'Neill and Scott Brosius on the team. They also had Luis Sojo and Ramiro Mendoza. The Yankees had a team with great chemistry. Now they have great individual players, but no chemistry whatsoever. Money has yet to buy the Yankees a championship and neither will Carl Pavano, A-Rod and Bobby Abreau. It is time for the Yankees to break up this team. Get rid of A-Rod, Sheffield, Abreau, Pavano and Giambi. Get chemistry guys not $20 million guys. Remember it is a team game. For all you Yankee fans remember that the last three championships were won by teams with Chemistry, the Marlins, Red Sox, and White Sox. The Yankees need to retool their organizational thought and build a team based on pitching and chemistry. The Tigers have young pitching and chemistry. Was yesterday the changing of the guard? The Braves are done in the National League! Are the Yankees done in the American League?

If A-Rod went to Boston instead of NY, the Sox never would have won in 2004. A-Rod is a great player on an everday basis, but October is not an everyday situation.

The can't all be like David Wright. The best 3rd baseman in New York:)

A-Rod comes to Boston in the off-season, goes back to shortstop and gives us 30, 120 and wins a Gold Glove at SS. Once we get to the playoffs, A-Rod can stink it up, big Papi will take it from there.

First, football might be the worst sport in the world.
Secondly, ARod does have great numbers even for a poor season on his behalf. You can ask any 3rd baseman before the season 'would you take 35hrs and 120rbi now or see what you can do for yourself?' And I bet everyone would take the numbers and be happy they had such a productive year. HOWEVER, no one takes into account the small things. Like baserunning, or hitting with runners in scoring position depending on the closeness of the game, or the fact that, yeah, he has a 120+ rbi's, but how many people has he left stranded on base? He's a statistical and physical anomaly, yes, but he hits homeruns when we're up by 5. We don't need that. We need the bloop inside pitch fisted single to right field when jeter is on second base after hitting a single he turned into a double cause he read the ball better. Jeter is better baseball player than AROD. Statistics aside. If Jeter had ARODs body??? One can only imagine. Jeter hits second and AROD his clean up. Jeter plays his role better, he walks, hes patient, he doesnt even turn his wrists to generate homerun power because he understand that the linedrive back up the middle or fisted oppo-field hit is more important for the team than a selfish stat juicing homerun. Bottomline, AROD needs to shut up and play ball. Stop all the whining. Otherwise, bite the bullet, eventhough the yankees are only paying 16mil for him and trade him. He is not a team player. Odds are he goes elsewhere and hits 60hrs and 150rbis, but he will never win a championship.

to the post-er @ 2:10pm...

you' re right. yankees fans are spoiled at times. you field a $200 million dollar, and it still isn't enough. chemistry IS important. the 2003 marlins, 2004 red sawx and 2005 white sAHx underscores that. all of those teams produced when they had to. they believed. funny enough the yanks succumbed to 2 of those 3. wonder why?

arod is the bomb, but unfortunately he finds it difficult to hit like it when it counts. only arod can fix what ails him. being able to succeed when the pressures on is one of two things. david ortiz and manny-being-manny ramirez illustrate the two diff schools of thought. ortiz? "i accept the added pressure. i can succeed. i will excell here." boom, it happens. forget 2005 or 2006 for the red sawx. look no further than the 2004 alcs. do-or-die. DO! manny? pressure? what pressure? i think i will hit the ball. the sooner the better b/c i need to go wee-wee. jeets is the same. performs pretty solidly when needed.

maybe arod IS destined to play for another team where the overbearing media and fans won't get to him. st. louis has great fans, or so i hear. boston and ny are not the center of the world or u.s. in this case , but at times you would be hard pressed not to think so. damon will succeed in ny b/c boston did not faze him. epstein sealed his doom when he disrespected j.d. it all goes back to that chemistry thing.

05 sawx did not have it despite having damon after losing major 04 players. 06 neither. twins? definitely. greater than the sum of their parts. a's? same. tigers? same. but the tigers are flawed to a degree. in the end whether the alds, alcs or the world series, the tigers will be overcome by a team w/ superior players. the twins and the a's both have it. but maybe i should say only the a's if the tigers make it that far, which they will not starting tonight. growing pains. that team is only going to get better. good, YOUNG pitching. period. the philosophy has been changed by leland. but he needs to do a good number of other things. teams that are patient at the plate succeed. look at recent hx. the red sawx themselves, not just the yanks, are all about OBP. the best team in the playoffs, al or nl both, is about to get bumped. forget the mutts. good but too flawed. the al will prevail. i hope the yanks gel to make that a reality.

If the Yankee fans don't want Alex Rodriguez, I know 29 other teams that do.

I've been obsessing over this over on my Angels blog at http://thecaliforniateam.blogspot.com/ for a few days. Yesterday, both Giambi and Sheff were 0-for-4, but you don't get articles about their failures at the plate all over the sports news pages and networks.

You Yankees fans don't deserve him. I want to see A-Rod do great, but great isn't gonna be good enough in New York. In order to get the fans and press off his back, he's gonna have to bat about .500 from here on out with walk-off, series wining home runs in the LDS, LCS, and World Series, and then he's gonna have to donate a kidney to Derek Jeter in the off season.

The reason he'll never be accepted in New York is because of the decade of "A-Rod vs. Jeter" arguments that took place before he was traded to the Yankees. For a decade, Yankees fans had to defend their favorite son in the "Who's the best Short Stop in the game?" argument, and they began to resent A-Rod. Because of this, it'll never be "Is Alex Rodriguez good enough to wear the pinstripes?" in New York, it'll forever be "Is A-Rod better than Jeter?" And no self respecting Yankees fan will say "yes."

Keep it up, New York. Keep degrading him in your press, keep booing him in your stadium. Make him so unhappy that he gladly waives that "no-trade" clause when Bill Stoneman and the Angels offer you a few much inferior players for him, and next year he's batting next to Vladamir Guerrero in the order in Anaheim.

And we'll LOVE him here.

you're right sid. and one can hope that cashman does not succumb to said inferior deal. and throw in another 5 mill/year for arod at that. let's see... 25 mill/year. 10 mill/year from the rangers. 5 mill/year from the yanks. hmmmm.... 10 mill/year for a 5 tool player who will buttress that team for years to come. priceless. in exchange? an esteban loiaza type. where is jarrod washburn when you need him. do yankee fans remember contreras? that "bum." i am sure white sox fans do. that bum is sporting a ws ring from 2005. 5 years after the yanks last won one. say what you will about the team w/ the pale hose, they won it all in resounding fashion.

perseverance. patience. support. those things allow you to prevail in the end. spoiled is what we yankee fans are. only time will tell if it will happen for that al team in ny, not the nl team desperate for some validation in nyc.

I've got to clean some stuff up.
-Why is it that when Jeter hit a meaningless homer in the 8th inning, the crowd went wild, but if A-rod had hit the exact same homerun people would have torn him apart?

-I like the 7:04 pm oct 5 guy who said "Thank God Seattle doesn't have him anymore". Because heaven help you should you win more than 78 games.

- JoeD (8:47): I'm a bosox fan, and, while I don't have a DJ hard-on like you hypothesize, I do know that the "quintessential loser" you're talking about is actually all of us here, reading these posts.

-To the 8:25 person who wrote "The yanks will win the series and all you whiners who have no other reason to live except to route against the Yanks (since Boston choked "BIG TIME" in the latest Boston Massacre) because your team collapsed, baby. Hurts don't it?", please take a moment, figure out what you want your sentence to say, and try again.

Lastly, some guy was upset that Red Sox fans don't want the Yankees to WIN (because of the whole same-division thing). Which makes sense, given the huge numbers of Cubs fans I see sporting Albert Pujols gear. Or the number of Danish people that'd be totally cool with Sweden invading them.

Take a rod for what he is:A-Fraud. For all the money Pay-Rod is getting paid you'd think he'd come up with something in the playoffs. But of course not. I'm glad the Red Sox couldn't trade for Gay-Rod because he's horrible.

Last rumor I heard was Chone Figgins, Ervin Santana, and three prospects for A-Rod. That's a high price, but when you consider the offense that will come with Rodriguez batting third and Vladamir Guerrero batting fourth, it doesn't seem that high a price, does it?

It's nice to see a Yankees fan who's not completely insane, but then again here on the Left Coast we only get the negative part of the news out of the Bronx. I'm sure there are thousands of fans at Yankee Stadium who are disgusted by the boos and jeers he receives, but unfortunately the negativity makes for better press, so that's what gets printed.

I just hope the ungrateful "fans" and NY sports writers who have made this year hell for Rodriguez realize their mistake before it's too late, because we would LOVE to have him in Anaheim.

And considering that we have $11 million freed up from the Jeff Weaver contract next year to spend how we please, adding another $5 million to that for possibly of adding the best player in the game to Mike Scioscia's roster wouldn't be a very hard decision, would it?

I Know I'ts all about envy with a-rod, he is better player than jere,He care more about winning the championship than Steinbrenner and and He is more valiable in the team than Mr: Steroid user (giambi) No one in the Yankee organization has the talent like A-ROD. Stop critizising a-rod for his bad postseason. I hope he finds a better team next year were he can bit the yankees in every game they play.Yankee fans are so rediculous.

Detroit dominated with good pitching, which seems to always work in the postseason. Where are the Yankee pitchers? Old and beaten up. Trade A-rod (for his sake) and get some young pitchers. Not that the Yankees will do that...which is great...They will just find another over the hill pitcher with a recent good stretch. Kenny Rogers in NY again?

Enough of all the stats and more stats and whining about Arod he is not the problem. The team can be improved very easily. 1) Kiss Mussina, Sheffield,Lidle, Bernie Williams Ron Villone and Wright (Buyout his last year) goodbye. 2) Trade Bobby Abreau, a mid level prospect or two and some cash To Atlanta for Andruw Jones and shift Damon to Abreau's old spot which improves the outfield's overall production and defense. 3)Buy out Jason Giambi and Carl Pavano at any and all costs to get them out of the clubhouse and to eliminate the distractions they cause that are not outweighted by their overall production. 4) Shift Matsui to DH and put Melky in his spot in the field. And let Andy Philipps and his steady golve replace Giambi at 1st base. 5) Fire Torre hire Pinella and eliminate the Yankee greats coaching staff as The tigers showed former great players dont make the best coaches for their former teams as deepsixing Trammel and Kirk Gibson showed the Tigers see you Guidary and Mattingly. 6)Promote Hughes to take one of the empty rotation slots and add zito to fill the other. 7) Finally fix the bullpen forget the exclosers who have failed in the past like Dotel but go the mets route and add a few unsung guys who can step in and fill their role and not the big money busts the yanks have added in the past.

arod has no heart and the yanks should send him to play winter ball, where great dominican players eat some grass before games to become lions in the field, and yet he tried in the dominican winter league and ran away when he failed to hit under pressure citing to get injured, we need him with the Yankees, it is our guarantee to see the Yanks being eliminated early in october

I hate that it always comes down to A-Rod! The Yankees lost, but it wasn't because of A-Rod, I don't see any other Yankees doing anything to help us win! And I'm a die hard Yankee fan, and always will be, but for God's sake, he had great numbers throughout the season even while he was on a slump, He should not be traded, I know without any doubt that he will get his mojo back. So back off ppl!!!!

A-Rod reminds me of Dave Winfield: great talent, big salary and troubled stay in NY. Maybe, like Winfield, A-Rod will go to a different team later on in his career and finally win a ring... or two.
As for the Yankees recent postseason woes, I think there is a big difference between the teams of 1996-2000 and the latter Yankees teams. The 90's teams were made up of gamers, not exactly Hall of Famers, but guys who gave it all in the field. For example, Chad Curtis would never be as good as Damon, but he once hit two clutch homers in WS play. Paul O'Neill will not make the HOF, but boy he was the heart and soul of that team. I think it all comes down to team chemistry rather than exceptional talent and stats. I honestly don't see Mussina, Jeter, Giambi and A-Rod having beer together talking baseball after games.

The Yankees hasn't won a WS for the last 6 years and A-Rod has been there the last 3. Why to blame him for all the failures?
His numbers are always in the top, with the better players (year after year).
I think that he is struggling due to the pressure the fans and himself are putting over him.
I will have him in my team if I have the decision.