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He has been called “overrated,” “phony” and “not clutch” yet he is the best player to wear a Yankee uniform since Mickey Mantle retired. Will Alex Rodriguez ever be appreciated in this town? Yesterday, A-Rod delivered the game-winning single in the 10th inning to propel the Yankees to a 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay.
A-Rod will always be the easy mark because he makes the most money and will never be Derek Jeter, but what else can we expect him to do? Last year he hit 48 home runs, but that wasn’t enough. In 2004 we jumped on him for his flameout against the Red Sox when he hit .258, but everyone ignores the fact that Jeter hit .200. Why do we magnify his mistakes, but ignore his accomplishments? Should we really be saying that Jeter is overrated, because that's what a Sports Illustrated poll of his fellow players finds.
In New York we like our heroes to be bold and brash like Reggie, or steely confident like Messier. We even embrace fallen heroes like Strawberry and Giambi, so why can’t we embrace someone like A-Rod? Even if the Yankees win it all this year, we will give the credit to Jeter and that is a pity.
And for those of you who were curious, the secret to A-Rod's prodigious hitting is the way he strokes his bat.
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Da ladies luv A-rod.
yum yum, git me sum of that six pack action.
i'll agree that jeter is horribly overrated, but i think he generally gets a pass in the eyes of the fans and the media because he seems more timely in his plays than a-rod does. i also think people view a-rod's contract and have no sympathy with him.
but a-rod is by far the superior player.
jeter is consistant. a-rod is not. also, yankee fans by definition are never happy and nothing is ever good enough, that's the new york mentality.
on the other side of the spectrum, boston fans are worse. they're bitter, even after their world series title.
Didn't Arod win AL MVP of the entire MLB last year? how the fuck can we give him a break? and Derek Jeter is underrated if you ask me. The time he drove into the stands to get the foul ball against the red sox has got to be the most brilliant play in the history of baseball.
Tien, you know I love you, but you are DEAD WRONG on Jeter (and so are the 40-something-percent of the MLB ballplayers who said the same thing - o jealousy!). You want to say he gets a disproportionate amount of media because he looks good on TV, that's one thing, but the guy puts up the numbers every year. It's appalling how people go so far out of their way to knock the guy when all he does is win.
OK, having said that... of course Rodriguez is the better player, he's probably the best player in the majors next to Alber Pujols, but the thing is it's still Jeter's team. I think a lot of people thought that when A-Rod came over here that the Yanks would become his team, but that hasn't happened and not only have the fans not embraced him as a result, but it hasn't helped Alex any.
It's not unlike the Ewing-era Knicks, when Patrick was clearly the best player on the team, but they were, for all intents and purposes, Oakley's team. And Ewing was never appreciated as a result.
I think Alex needs to get all up in a reporter's face, or smash a urinal like O'Neill used to do. Stop being a nice guy. Embrace the anger. :>)
The bottom line is, fair or not, is that A-Rod has to help them win it all. Interestingly enough, he was much better in the clutch postseason-wise with Seattle.
Undoubtedly there was less pressure there, but he needs to find a way to hit when it counts.
(By the way, I've seen some numbers that A-Rod actually hits better in the "clutch" than Jeter, but perception is reality sometimes, and while Jeter's legacy as a winner is set, A-Rod still has some work to do to get there.)
The reason why A-Rod isn't embraced in this city YET, is due to the means by which he arrived.
When Jeter first arrived in the show, he was a draft pick of the Yankees (taken in the 1st round, they year before A-rod was taken) and played in the minors for them. He of course, arrived just in time for the Yankee championship seasons and he was a large part of them.
When A-Rod arrived he was/is the games highest paid player making close to 25M/yr (25.6 this season) and as such, had lofty expectations. The Yankees have not won a championship since he has been here so despite his MVP, it doesn't mean jack next to Jeter's rings.
If A-Rod wants to be embraced in this city the Yankees will have to win it all. He could win the next 6 consecutive MVP's as his contract runs out, but as long as the Yanks dont win, he will always be second fiddle to Jeter in this town. Fair or unfair as it may be.
Why do we care anyway about an overpaid baseball players feelings? So what the city doesnt love you, it doesnt love a lot of peeople making a lot less money so as far as I'm concerned A-Rod can go cry himself to sleep in one of his 75 cars or mansions. Prick.
"A-Rod" is one of the most disingenuous smucks to ever put a uniform. He left Seattle for Texas because he wanted to "play for a winner" (Texas finished last every year he was there), not because Seattle wouldn't move the fences in just for him (yes, he asked as part of the deal to stay in Seattle), or because Texas paid him 250 million bucks. He's a complete an utter douche bag.
i like a-rod on the yankees - he always chokes in the postseason and as such makes it harder for them to win. i can't stand jeter one, because of his little smarmy tv personality, but mainly because he is one of the best baseball players on the planet. although if he was on another team i probably wouldn't have such a negative attitude towards him.
Derek Jeter is underrated. He's currently hitting .379, he has a .315 lifetime batting average and he's at 1972 hits at only 31. He has a great chance of making the 3,000 hit club if he stays healthy and keeps up this pace for the next 5 years. It's hard to get the respect players deserve these days in baseball if they aren't power hitters.
Red Sox fans are not bitter. Red Sox fans are better.
Yeah, at felonies.
CW's right. A-Rod is put down in this town is because, while his numbers are great, they're not great in the clutch. All the NY Sports gods were clutch players -that's what makes you a god! Until we see A-Rod start regularly doing his magic when we really need him, he'll continue to not live up to expectations. That and A-Rod has a weird exhaling thing that he's always doing with his furrowed brows. Does anyone else notice this -and does this make you want to smack him?
A-rods time as a yankee can be summed up by contrasting last nights win and the last play of last season. With a man on and 1 out Jeter came to the plate any just knew he wouldn't make the last out of the season - and he didn't. But when A-rod came up I knew it was going to be a double play... and it was. But in May against Tampa... Mr Clutch. Oh and Jeter into the stands was good but his relay to Jorge against Oakland was the single best defensive play I have ever seen
A-Rod doesn't come through enough in the clutch. And even if he did contribute more, I'll always remember him for being jealous of Jeter or boasting that he works harder than any other player. He's more concerned with how he looks than whether or not he's helping the team. There's a difference between guys that just have good numbers and winners.
That Jeter poll is crap by the way. There are players that I would say are overrated, but I'm a fan. I can't imagine players voting for a fellow player in a poll like that.
Oh, and one complaint about something in that piece... I personally will never embrace Jason Steriod Giambi. Jerk should go back to Oakland.
For all the wonderful geniuses who say that A-Rod is a choker in the post season, he's got better post season stats than Jeter, and if he carried the team through the MIN series in 2004 and the first 3 games vs BOS.
Where was Jeter then? Waiting to be 'clutch' in the last 4 games versus Boston?
Do some homework before you start throwing around your nonsense theories.