Veducci: A-Rod (& CC) One Game Away Again
Via Tom Verducci -
CC Sabathia and Alex Rodriguez have been here before: one win away from the World Series. Actually, between the two of them they have been here seven times before. And in seven games in which a victory would have put them in the World Series, their teams are 0-7.
Along the way, both players gained unflattering reputations for how they handled the pressure of October — Sabathia with his 7.71 ERA in five postseason starts and Rodriguez with his .138 batting average in 58 postseason at-bats since the Yankees, up three games to none against Boston, lost a ninth-inning lead in Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS.
Since their high-profile failures, each of them signed free-agent contracts with the Yankees, contracts that made Sabathia the highest-paid pitcher in baseball and Rodriguez the highest-paid player. Between the two of them they pull down $50.5 million a year, more than three teams (the Pirates, Padres and Marlins) pay their entire roster.
On Thursday night in ALCS Game 5, Sabathia and Rodriguez get another crack at the Fall Classic. This time is totally different. Both of them have blown away their notorious October reputations. They have not just been good this postseason; they have been historically great. Sabathia is 3-0 with a 1.19 ERA, and going all the way back to Aug. 2, he is 12-1 with a 2.24 ERA in 15 starts, 14 of them Yankees wins in which he has left the bullpen with no more than seven outs to clean up.
So go ahead and call Sabathia and Rodriguez money players, but this time it has nothing to do with their contracts. On Thursday night, after the collapses of Rodriguez’s 2004 Yankees and Sabathia’s 2007 Indians, the highest-paid pitcher and the highest-paid player are again one win away from playing in their first World Series. It is the eighth time they have been here, one win away. And yet it is unlike any other time.
• Rodriguez has made contact on 41 of his 46 swings this postseason, an 89 percent contact rate. In the regular season he made contact 78 percent of the time.
• Dating to his last two at-bats of the regular season, Rodriguez has put the ball in play 26 times. He has homered on seven of those 26 times. That means that one out of every three or four balls he hits fair is going out of the park. He is batting .500 on balls he puts in play in that span.
• Rodriguez has not gone more than seven at-bats this postseason without hitting a home run.
• Rodriguez is outhomering the competition by himself. He has five home runs in 27 at-bats this postseason. Opposing hitters against the Yankees this postseason have combined for three home runs in 262 at-bats.
I wonder if Hank Steinbrenner has called up Brian Cashman in the last few days and said “See, you wanted to let this guy walk. Good thing I stepped in and signed him to come back!” Nah, stuff like that doesn’t happen, does it?
In any event, I can’t imagine anyone being better with the bat than A-Rod’s been in these last seven post-season games…it’s almost super-natural…
…and, because of that, there is a very, very, small part of me that’s waiting for the other shoe to drop. Yeah, I know, that makes me a terrible person…shame on me, etc. But, am I the only one wondering about this?
” have been here before: one win away from the World Series. Actually, between the two of them they have been here seven times before. And in seven games in which a victory would have put them in the World Series, their teams are 0-7.”
Um, Tom Verducci, wouldn’t your buddy Joe Torre have a little bit of blame for the Yankee stuff? And how can a starting pitcher be responsible for losses in games that he didn’t pitch in?
And incidentally, given that the Manny in the Shower story has been a big deal over the last day, I was interested to hear Verducci’s take. After all, his co-author Joe Torre approved of it. But Verducci was more interested in talking about Larry Lucchino and Bob Sheppard’s Birthday than discussing that. Very curious.
And speaking of which, when is Verducci going to talk about the lousy job his buddy has done with the Dodgers – again – in the NLCS?
Keeping aside for a moment Verducci’s obsession with all things Yankee — and it really does seem like this guy only writes when he’s talking with disgrunted ex-employees or otherwise ripping the Yanks in some way — here are my thoughts:
Yes, of course, it’s natural for someone to wonder abotu when the “other shoe will drop.” Any player THIS hot wil obviously raise that type of question, regardless of if it’s A-Rod (rumored to be unclutch) or if it’s Jeter (rumored to be clutch). After all, anyone with a BABIP that high and a HR/AB rate that high is probably bound to cool off eventually…
…but, even if A-Rod were to cool off, he should’ve done enough by now to get his critics to shut up. He’s carried the entire offense for the first 6 wins of the 11 win mission. If A-Rod were to cool off but guys like Matsui, Cano, Posada and, most notably, Teixeira were able to step it up a bit, the Yanks should still be able to score enough runs to compete for the World Series.
So A-Rod shouldn’t feel the burden of expectations, given that (1) he has done a monumental job in simply carrying his 8 lineup-mates to this point and (2) plays with enough talented hitters that if a few of them were able to pull their heads out of their asses for just one week, the ultimate team goal would be accomplished.
Now, going back to Verducci. What would this guy be if not a mainstream sports journalist if he didn’t frame every question in terms of money/salary or A-Rod’s past failures as a prelude to his next failure?
A-Rod carried the Yanks past the Twins but everyone said “OK, he did that in 2004, show me something new.” A-Rod gave the Yanks life in Game 2 of the ALCS and drove in key runs in Games 1 and 3. A-Rod played like a man possessed at the plate, on the basepaths and in the field last night. Yet none of this is good enough for anyone. He carried the Yankees to the playoffs in 2005 and 2007. None of this is good enough for anyone.
I truly hope for his continued success tomorrow and for the rest of the month. I’m certain that even if the Yanks win the World Series, someone will still find a way to discount A-Rod’s contributions to the team in spite of enough evidence to point to the fact that he’s done his job time and again.
In any event, on the morning after such a great victory last night I won’t belabor the point. I just know that Tom Verducci is a moron and A-Rod has done enough to rest easy. His fellow lineup-mates could opt to pick up the slack for once, as they did not do in 2005, 2007 or throughout these playoffs.
MJ wrote:
Yep… Having said that, I can’t knock Verducci’s hustle. He gets decent pay to write crap, and he obviously has an audience for it, I’ll give him that
To confirm, its pronounced Ver-Douche-ee correct?
@ Raf:
Indeed. If you’ve found a successful formula — write the same garbage every time and still get paid — you may as well stick to it. It’s worked for Lupica so why shouldn’t it for Verducci?
@ clintfsu813:
I never took Italian in college but, yes, i think that’s correct.