Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Yankees Bungle Away A-Rod, Greatest Player on Earth [Addison Quale]

As much as I’ve ragged on A-Rod this year for being classless (and Mike Lupica skewers him today), he truly is an impressive player. You knew the Yanks were coming back when he hit that homer off of Papelbon in early June this year. You have to give him credit for what he did this year: pretty much single handedly keep the Yankees in contention and get them into the playoffs. He deserves a lot of praise for that. Does he get it? Not in NY. What is wrong with this city? Don’t they know a hall of famer when they see one? So what if the guy is a prima donna? He’s your prima donna! And he just hit 54 homers! I think Yankee fans are getting yet another dose of comeuppance for their swagger and arrogance over the years. You know why A-Rod is leaving. Because he’s had a terrible time here and can’t seem to “win”. Even winning his second MVP in 3 years doesn’t obscure the fact that he didn’t hit 1000 homers in the playoffs. The media in NY constantly dog him for playing poorly in the postseason. It is way overblown. They nit-pick to find anything they can to tear him down. Today’s NY papers pointed out how he only hit 1 meaningless solo shot and 3 measly singles. Give him a freakin break will ya? Without A-Rod they would never even be there in the first place. Now A-Rod will find himself a new home somewhere and continue on with his march towards many historic records. Then will he be able to do it in a place where people actually care about baseball and not just pride in their own self-image. And I don’t think he will look back. So what if A-Rod has never become a “true Yankee”? What does that even mean anymore? In conclusion, while A-Rod certainly is a prima-donna punk, NY doesn't know how to appreciate good baseball talent. A match made in hell if you ask me.