Jamie Insalaco
Look, Yankee fans, I know A-Rod is, for a certain portion of you, the guy you love to hate, but the Alex Rodriguez bashing is getting old. I know this is the playoffs and the stakes are high, but jeez. Let’s take a look at the Yankees 2012 post season numbers so far:
stats from USA Today
Sure, Ibanez was the big hero last night with two homers, but he only has 5 at bats in this series, so he’s not a regular. As for the every day players, Jeter, Teixeira and Martin are hitting, but the rest of the starting position players? Not so much. If A-Rod didn’t have one more at bat than Granderson, their stats would be identical. Granderson hit 41 homers this season, and he’s basically turned into an all or nothing guy, and so far, nothing is what has shown up from him… and I haven’t heard one person say shit about that. Not on the radio, not on the web and not via text. Everyone just maintains that A-Rod sucks, which isn’t wrong right now, but he’s not the only lifeless bat on this team. If Cano hadn’t picked up that last minute RBI double in Game 1, he’d be about where A-Rod is in terms of production, and those were just tack on runs… so why doesn’t anyone complain about Cano? He’s supposed to be one of the great hitters in the game right now, and he’s not doing much of anything in this series. And frankly, A-Rod is a broken down old man, but Cano and Granderson are supposed to be in their primes. What gives? Where’s the complaints?
I guess the problem is that these other guys are “True Yankees” and A-Rod is just some hired gun… except when he carried the offense on his back to a World Series title in 2009. But then, that doesn’t count because A-Rod did steroids, right? Something like that. Jeter is 6-13 in this series, so who cares if he’s made 2 errors in 3 games and grounded out to 3rd with the bases loaded in a pivotal spot in game 2? Nobody, that’s who.
I know, I’m just wasting my time trying to convince A-Rod haters that he’s not the reason they lost game 2 and not the reason they offense has been lifeless this series, but I had to try. I figure A-Rod deserves and advocate because… you know… 2 MVPs with the Yankees. One World Series title that he had a lot to do with .
Just sayin’.
