From Ted Keith (SI):
In fact, there are only two questions remaining for the team with the best record in baseball: Will Alex Rodriguez finally show up in October after batting .143 with 18 strikeouts in his last 16 postseason games? And how long will it take Yankee fans to boo him this postseason if he doesn’t? One at-bat? Two
This A-Rod theme is old, isn’t it?
Based on what I’ve seen this season, both inside and outside of the ballpark, it seems that fans have changed their ways in relation to Alex Rodriguez. For whatever reason, I can’t really imagine them booing this year. Maybe it’s because the Yankee lineup features an assortment of expensive tools and high priced weapons, so it’s not all on A-Rod. Maybe we’ve realized that he has a fragile psyche and booing hasn’t helped him in the past, therefore, we’ve opted for the nurturing parent model rather than the strict father (shout out to George Lakoff).
Or, perhaps I’m just imagining things. Hmm…
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6 Responses to No booing for A-Rod?
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TIQ IQ
I think the steroid thing was the best thing that could have ever happened to Alex when coupled with the divorce and hip surgery! I know these things don’t seem good at all and could crush a lot of people emotionally but it seemed to take Arod from the “biggest contract in baseball” to a human figure, he had such a bad rap of coming off to squeaky clean and now that all his dirt came out and he owned up to it for the most part and really came to the forefront to take his beating the Yankee fans really actually feel a connection for the first time since he was traded here. It also didn’t hurt the hip surgery had him out a month and fans got a chance to see what the line up was with out him and now that he is back and he isn’t trying to be perfect anymore because at this point he can’t fans actually like him and actually feel like he is a Yankee and a good person not a contract they hate.
If I had to guess I would think they not only won’t boo him they won’t have a chance as he will have a great post season and if they make it the world series I would say WS MVP will come down to Mariano and Alex.
In the 4 playoff appearances for Alex from 1997-2004 (2004 being with the Yankees) Alex never had a batting average below .308 and had 4 HRs in that time period, really his post season stumbles have just been from 2004 Vs the Red Sox and beyond.
1997 (Vs BAL) 5 for 16, one 2B, one HR, RBI, .313 BA
2000 (Vs CHW) 9 for 22, no HRs, 2 RBI, .308 BA
2000 (Vs NYY) 9 for 25, 2 HRS, 5 RBI, SB, 3 BB, .409 BA
2004 (Vs MIN) 8 for 19, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 SB, 2 BB, .421 BA
They aren’t all the greatest of numbers but all of them are what you would expect from Alex but wouldn’t expect from Alex with all the talk of him not showing up in the post season, he just like all the others from 2004 didn’t well against the Sox but never quite recovered from it. I think a lot of it has to do with pressure in 2004 trying to force the team to the WS over the Sox and trying to make up for 2004 later on as the pressure started coming from “you don’t perform in the playoffs”.
You are totally imagining things. ARod may not get booed in Game 1 or 2, and may be given a temporary pass if the Yanks are winning (though the haters will quietly add his stats to their arguments in the future), but if he’s “choking” while the Yankees face elimination, the boo birds will crap all over him.
That is obviously true of almost any of them not named Jeter, but I simply think he will do well enough to not get booed, but if he does “choke” then yes you are right he will hear it all.
For me, the whole booing A-Rod fad is a thing of the distant past and it’s the same way for everyone I know. Hopefully, there won’t be too many of those knee-jerk haters in the crowd. I’d agree with everyone that if the Yanks are losing three games in, many fans might look to him as a scapegoat.
Perhaps the retarded fans that like to boo him might just realize it does no good to add pressure and discredit your own players… but then again Joba got booed after his last start in Yankee stadium (in a meaningless game & coming off a great start against the Red Sox) so I just have to imagine it is something that our “fans” just love to do. In my opinion they will boo him if he comes up short in a big at bat – first game, first AB doesn’t matter. He could avoid this by starting off big like he did in Camden Yards this year… that could buy him time but it never seems to end as far as I see it. Sad.