@ 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.

To confirm, its pronounced Ver-Douche-ee correct?

MJ wrote:

just know that Tom Verducci is a moron and A-Rod has done enough to rest easy.

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

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.

” 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?