A-Rod Deserves Criticism

Imagine my pleasure yesterday as I watched Detroit Tigers stud and Old Dominion alum Justin Verlander break Alex Rodriguez's knees with an 85-mph curve ball, resulting in the first of A-Rod's three strikeouts in a 4-3 loss in Game 2 of the American League Division Series.

It got better later in the game when I saw him whiff helplessly at a 103-mph heater from Joel Zamaya.

But the best part of all? The boos cascading from Yankee Stadium.
This isn't merely because I was raised to abhor everything that is the New York Yankees, and how I feel compelled to not feel sorry for a guy pulling in more money in six months than I'll ever hope to make it my entire life. No, this is because I feel A-Rod deserves all the scrutiny.

Every last bit of it.

I understand all the analysts and current players when they stare into the ESPN camera and tell everyone to lay off the guy, let him play the game that at times seems to come so naturally to him. I understand it, and if it were any other player, or any other team, I would agree.

But this is a guy some call the best ever, on a team that is all too quick to point out its 26 World Series titles...and even quicker to gripe about not winning one in the past five years.

Memo to Yankee fan: go through nine straight losing seasons, then come bitch at me.

A-Rod deserves every boo, every scathing New York headline he gets, and the reasoning is simple: he's playing on the highest-profile team in the majors, and he's making more money than anyone else who's ever picked up a bat or put on a glove.

Do you really think George Steinbrenner is paying A-Rod $25 million a year for sub-.200 postseason batting averages? Is he forking over the big bucks to see the player slap a grounder out of a fielder's hand?

I think not.

A-Rod's talent is unquestioned; he hits over .300 consistently, and he puts up at least 30 and 110 a year. But when it matters, when the calendar turns to October, A-Rod seemingly ships back to Seattle, because he's nowhere to be found. That might slide in a place like Oakland or San Diego, but an October slump is like sin in Yankee Nation.
He's the highest-paid player on a team where anything short of a World Series trophy is a disappointment. He deserves the scrutiny, he deserves the boos and the jeers and the constant hounding by the New York media. Sure, he'll hit a clutch 3-run bomb to take a regular-season win against the Cleveland Indians, but ask him for the big hit against the Red Sox with a trip to the World Series on the line?

Hope you like strikeouts with runners at the corners and two out.

In Yankee Nation, one's legacy is cemented in the playoffs. Just ask Derek Jeter or Reggie Jackson. A-Rod could break the single-season home run record, lead the AL with a .410 batting average and take home a Triple Crown and a Gold Glove...but if he gags it up in the playoffs, none of that is going to matter.

I've heard lately the question, 'Why doesn't Jeter face the same scrutiny?" Well, first of all, he doesn't make nearly as much as his pal over at third base. Jeter makes a ton of money, don't get me wrong, but it's not the biggest contract in the history of professional sports.

Secondly, Jeter has, historically, performed in the playoffs. He's come through in the clutch, even as recently as Game 1, when he had five hits. Sure, he stmubled in Game 2, but Yankee fan can forgive that, because he's a perpetual clutch guy. He's come through before, and they know he'll come through again.

But I think it boils down to this key difference: Jeter was bred a Yankee, came up through the New York farm system. A-Rod, meanwhile, is one of many free agents to come in from elsewhere. But unlike the other free agents the Yankees have signed in recent years, A-Rod was touted as one of the best ever, and the Yankees managed to steal him away from the Red Sox.

That's built-in pressure.

Jeter's the hometown favorite; he's been a Yankee from day one. A-Rod's an outsider, one who came in with a lot of buzz. And in his three years in pinstripes, that buzz has remained just that: buzz.

To be fair, though, I do remember Yankee fan booing Jeter last year. I thought it was asanine, pointless to boo a guy who time and time again came through for your team. It made about as much sense as Oriole fan booing Cal Ripken.

But booing A-Rod? Makes perfect sense, go right ahead.

All because of his $252 million contract. You make the cash, you step into the spotlight, you've gotta perform. And A-Rod doesn't...not when it counts most.

So Yankee fan, boo away...I'm right there with you.