A-Rod’s Strange July
Alex Rodriguez has played in 21 games for the Yankees, so far, this month – getting 95 Plate Appearances (PA).
For the month, to date, he’s only batting .234 – but, his OPS is .900 (!) for the month (which is why Batting Average is a crazy stat to look at).
Further, if you take out the 8 games (and 35 PA) that A-Rod has played against Tampa Bay this month, he’s batting .200 for July – but, again, Batting Average is a bogus stat.
So, how’s his OPS this month, in games against teams other than the Devil Rays?
According to my rough count, A-Rod’s OPS in July, to date, in games not played against Tampa Bay, is around .753 – which is near Tony Womack territory.
Of course, we’re talking about 60 PA here – and there’s still about a week left to this month. So, small sample size, yadda, yadda…
Still, in terms of showing something this month, A-Rod has been kind of MIA-Rod, and it’s somewhat masked by some terrible D-Rays’ pitching.
Hopefully August will be a better month for Rodriguez.
Doesn’t he usually have crappy Julys?
rbj – his OPS for the last three Julys, prior to this one, is .900 or better in each July.
See: http://www.waswatching.com/archives/2007/04/june_august_are.html
Who cares? The rest of the team is finally hitting and the Yankees are winning. He is probably tired from carring the rest of the team all season.
Thanks Steve, couldn’t remember which months he was a mere mortal.
I’ve figured it out.
April- Amazing
May- Bad
June- Amazing
July- Meh
August- Amazing
September- Bad
October- Amazing
See? It’s all part of the plan!
Let’s just hope that amazing October is because of a great post-season and not amazing because he’s getting a big contract outside of NY.
Note – I had to recalc that July OPS outside of TB. I had it at .650 – but, it’s closer to .750
I’ve just updated the entry with this.
Let’s just hope that amazing October is because of a great post-season and not amazing because he’s getting a big contract outside of NY.
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What difference does it make? It’s not like he wasn’t trying from 2004-06
~~~A-Rod’s OPS in July, to date, in games not played against Tampa Bay, is around .753~~~
You’re excluding 40% of A-Rod’s games. Wouldn’t every major league player’s stats look bad if you excluded the best 40% of their games?
~~~What difference does it make? It’s not like he wasn’t trying from 2004-06~~~
Exactly!!!
Oh, good – more selective stats. Tampa Bay games don’t count in the standings?
Why don’t you let us know how he performs only for the at bats he reaches safely. Or only the at bats he doesn’t reach safely. It’s the same amount of relevance.
What you should worry about is if Tampa faces the Yanks in the ALCS. Based on your numbers Arod will drag the team down.
I appreciate the effort you made in the research but why take out a large chunk of his numbers even if he still wasn’t doing so well with them out?
I took them out because it shows that his OPS of 900 this month was built on facing pitchers who should be in the minors.
It’s probably more work for you than is worthwhile but how did the other Yankee hitters fare if their Tampa games aren’t counted? Feel free not figuring it out.
but how do you know he wouldn’t have been hitting like that if they played someone other than Tampa Bay? You never know…
Sans the sarcasm from RICH, I would also like to know how the other Yankee hitters fare if their Tampa games aren’t counted?
I can’t do all the Yankees hitters. Which one do you all want me to do? Jeter? Posada? Matsui? Melky? Cano? Pick one, that you can all agree on, and I’ll gladly look at the numbers for you.
You know, some of you guys crack me up.
Yesterday, I did an entry on how A-Rod may just be putting up the greatest season ever by a batter who plays his position – EVER – in the history of the game. And, no one comments on that. Zero. Zip. Nada.
Today, I post an entry, based on fact/stats, that A-Rod is slumping in July and so many get pissy over me pointing that out.
I wish I could live in a town of all one-way streets to make you guys happier…but, that’s not me. Sorry.
Now who is getting pissy? Now I am amused.
Calm down. Since May, every sport would be analyst and journalist and any one who has a blog has noted mehmattski’s break down of AROD’s 2007 season. I am genuinely interested about the entire team. Matusi and the rest of the lefty batters sucked before the allstar break. Now it seems they are all back, hopefully for the long haul. Still, I want to know how all the starters performed. I am not interested in selective players and you’ve already said you can’t do them all, and that’s cool.
As I wrote, don’t feel obligated to do ANY more research. My questioning of your methods had nothing to do with Arod, it had to do with you deciding to only look at a number of games when you decided to only count 50-60% of the games.
Comment on yesterday’s thread on Arod with no comments? I didn’t comment because it was subjective and I wasn’t familiar with Rosen’s and Ott’s seasons. To be honest, I thought Ott was an outfielder. I take your word Arod’s current season has been one of the all-time seasons for a 3B.
FWIW, I did try to leave a comment on the Best Ever post, but couldn’t because the TypeKey issues yesterday. My comment was going to be that you could make a case that it is one of the top 10 seasons of all time of any position when you consider his Gold Glove caliber defense, clutch hitting, and baserunning contributions.
I don’t think people are getting pissy with you. I’m genuinely curious how other player’s stats would look if you leave out their best games. I suspect that if you leave out every player’s best 8 games this month, their numbers will look worse than they are. I don’t think this would be a shock to anyone, so maybe that’s why some are questioning the selectiveness of the stats you choose to make your points.
Today, I post an entry, based on fact/stats, that A-Rod is slumping in July and so many get pissy over me pointing that out.
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I think the issue was that you were slicing and dicing the numbers. That’s the reason why it was requested to run the numbers of the other players; to have a bit of context. Maybe the slump is an ARod thing, maybe it’s a team thing.
Whether or not these pitchers belong in the minors the fact of the matter is, they’re in the majors.