A-Rod: Like The Butterflies, I Am Free!
Perhaps Kate Hudson has pulled a page out of her mother’s playbook and showed Don Baker…er…I mean…Alex Rodriguez how to be free?
Peter Abraham and Marc Carig have stories on this…some quotes from those:
“This hip injury for me was kind of a blessing in disguise,” [Alex] Rodriguez said yesterday. “It really kind of gave me a chance to refocus and rethink things, to take basically a timeout from all the white noise I created for myself over the last year and a half. I feel like now I have the opportunity to play baseball.
“The gift that God gave me is to play baseball, not to talk or explain myself.”
“I’m enjoying the game at a level that I really haven’t enjoyed before. It’s simply 100 percent about my team and winning games,” he said. “In the past I was so consumed about trying to do special things and now I’m only worried about one thing and that’s winning.
“This is the best I’ve ever gotten along with my teammates and it’s the most I’ve been at peace since I’ve been in New York, too. I think the humiliation of spring training and how embarrassing and hard that was for me allows me to sit here now and move forward and play baseball. That’s what I’m good at. When I have to talk, I’m not good at that.”
That’s all great to hear…but, if the Yankees make the post-season this year, and lose in the ALDS, and A-Rod goes 2 for 18 in the process, with 6 strikeouts, I don’t think he’ll be feeling at “peace” then…because, actually, when you’re in his position (in terms of salary and expectations) with a team like the Yankees, it’s really all about doing “special things”…and, if you don’t do them, you can “Serenity Now” yourself until your lips turn blue and it won’t mean squat…
I’m not a huge Alex fan, but give him some credit for being frank here, recognizing the error of his ways and trying to move forward from being humiliated. Even if the Yanks and A-Rod do that badly in the playoffs, I think the 400+ million Cash spent in the off-season will help spread the blame.
There was so much money spent on the 3 prized free agents that they will have to shoulder the same amount of blame.
Now, if the Yanks lose two low scoring games (2 – 1, 3 – 1); A-Rod came up to bat multiple times with RISP after Tex hit a double or single (to create the drama), and A-Rod grounds out into a few DPs, strikes out and leaves runners stranded, then YES, he’ll get the bulk of the blame. Especially if the pitching was there and the hitting, specifically the #4 hitter, didn’t show up. Then that will be a huge problem for the new at peace A-Rod.
I’m not saying anything much more different than what you said, but I would add to that, that this time it is not going to fall all on A-Rod’s shoulder unless circumstances happen that make it so.
“The gift that God gave me is to play baseball, not to talk or explain myself.”
Sounds like Arod finally has his head on straight, or at least as much as is possible for him.
One thing I’ve noticed: this year you don’t see him reaching for pitches low and away and trying to pull them withi a HR swing. He’s making contact, going the other way. He actually seems to be trying to help the team win rather than pad his own stats.
Of course, while he’s so busy not explianing himself, all he was doing was explaining himself. What is this? The 39th version of Arod we’ve heard?
Meanwhile, did he mention the game?