When A-Rod swung and missed on a 1-2 fastball, the Yankees season was over. Gone were the dreams of winning their 28th championship, gone was the dream of holding another parade down the canyon of heroes. What was left was a fan base left in huge disappointment and lots of hatred toward Alex Rodriguez, who batted just .111 during the series.
Now I'm not the biggest A-Rod fan you will find, in fact for long I have had an issue with the Yankees third basemen. I hated that he opted out in 2007, hate how he loves himself so much, and hate how he creates much of the drama that follows him around in New York. Must of the issues I have with Rodriguez are off the field stuff. After he struck out, to end the season for a second year in a row, it made me wonder if the baseball gods are punishing A-Rod for his insane 2009 Postseason. Apparently, I was the only one thinking about 2009, as most Yankee fans absolutely bashed Rodriguez, taking out their frustrations with the team on him. But just because he is the highest paid player on the team, and the fourth place hitter does not put the loss on him. Here are 10 reasons you can't blame Alex Rodriguez for the ALDS loss to the Tigers....
1).
Playing injured: Last I checked A-Rod had spent time on the DL with his knee and then had problems with his thumb. Rodriguez on purpose opted for the knee surgery so that he could be ready for the Postseason. The knee and thumb ended up taking much longer to heal, and you could tell that his timing was way off at the plate. I still rather have Alex at third at 50% then Eric Chavez or Eduardo Nunez at 100% in his place.
2). Rafael Soriano: For the series, Soriano was very effective. Too bad in one of the most meaningful games in the series, with the score tied up he gave up a solo home run to Delmon Young. The Yankees would eventually lose that game because of that homer. Yanks win game 3, and then route the Tigers like they did in game 4 and suddenly nobody blames the lightning rod that is A-Rod.
3). CC Sabathia: The ace of your staff finishes the series with a 6.23 ERA. of course in Sabathia's defense he looked like he was sharp to start out game 1 and then was messed up cause of the weather. In game 3, he was gritty but was not his dominant stuff and was out dueled by Justin Verlander. In game 5, he eventually gave up what was the winning run. If CC had been lights out, the offensive woes suddenly don't loom as large.
4). The weather: I don't care what anybody says it simply screwed the Yanks. Sure Verlander was only seen once, but the lost off day hurt the Yanks. It messed up Sabathia on his rest schedule and messed up the rest for A-Rod, who hadn't been starting at third everyday since his return from injury.
5).Mark Teixeira: You can talk all you want about A-Rod and his struggles in the Postseason, but Tex has been just as bad, if not worse. Of course against the Twins in 2009 and 2010 Tex was on the Mark, but in the ALCS and World Series he hasn't done much. The same could be said this series against the Tigers. Teixeira gets cut some slack because he doesn't have the long past like A-Rod, but he is just as bad and has yet to prove that he can carry a team the way A-Rod or even Cano have proved in past series. But when you hit behind A-Rod and you can't pick up the slack for him, you also deserve to be on blast.
You could group half the line up into why you can't put it all on A-Rod. Jeter struck out and did not come through in a few key spots, Granderson didn't exactly prove why he was the MVP of the AL, Russell Martin was flat out awful and Nick Swisher continued to prove that he tries way to hard when it comes to the Postseason. The guy is great during the regular season, but since coming to the Yanks in 2009, Swisher has been terrible in the Postseason. So bad that his batting average of .169 is amongst the worst in Postseason play history. In one of the biggest moments of game 5, Swisher struck out with the bases loaded. Looking at the pitch tracker not a single ball was in the strike zone. In 38 Postseason games Swisher has just 6 runs batted in, not exactly what you expect from a guy in the middle of your lineup.
7). Always trailing: In games 1,2 and 5 the Tigers drew first blood starting off the scoring. In game 3 the Yanks scored first but the game was quickly tied up. It's tough to put the pressure of always coming from behind on the offense, even on as powerful as the Yankees.
8). Joe Girardi: We have seen the skipper defend his players till the end this year (See A.J. Burnett), but Girardi should have though about moving A-Rod to some place else in the line up. It was obvious that the 4-5-6 hitters (A-Rod, Tex and Swish) were the three best killers in the series. A-Rod didn't look right since his return from the DL and was putting up a batting average below .200 and hadn't hit a home run since July. Girardi basically was setting Rodriguez up for failure by batting him clean up. I'm not saying that Girardi should have moved him all the way to eight like Torre did in 2006, but he should have looked to take some pressure of him.
9). Rob Thompson: While I agreed, and still feel it was the right move Rob Thompson deserves to take some blame for the game 5 loss. With A-Rod on second and one out, Jorge Posada ripped a bullet to center. Austin Jackson fielded it cleanly and was ready to fire home, but their would be no play at the plate as third base coach Rob Thompson had held up A-Rod to load the bases. Of course Russell Martin and Brett Gardner never got a run across, and the rest is history. But A-Rod is by far the smartest base runner on the Yankees, it would have been a close play at the plate but if Rodriguez wanted to take the chance, I would have had no major issue with it.
10). How the fans have changed: That's right, the fans are one of the biggest reasons that A-Rod should not be the one getting blamed. Yankee fans have become extremely spoiled over the past 17 years. I know this, because Postseason success is the only thing many young fans know. No longer are the days when Yankee fans were happy with the chance to make the playoffs, they now expect a World Series championship each and every year. Too bad that is not going to happen. The current Yankee Stadium is no longer the one that stood across the street, now fans are more interested in being seen at the game, and grabbing an over priced drink at the Tommy Bahama bar. No longer are they their to cheer on the team, the stadium crowd was embarrassing during Game 5, at how they never cheered to get anything going, they only cheered when the team did do something. Many of the fans that could afford tickets, aren't always the biggest fans, they know the past history of A-Rod and think that it is cool to boo him. If someone like Jeter or Posada had a similar Postseason all would be forgotten, but because it is A-Rod they plan to channel their inner 2006 and boo A-Rod regardless.
Was A-Rod a part of the reason that the Yankees lost? Of course, but it is irrational to think that the whole series loss is his fault.
