Keyboard Quarterbacks

By Mark La Monica

Alex, don't read the Sunday newspapers in New York or Toronto.

Don't log on to the Internet in your hotel room to see what anyone is writing or saying. Don't answer your cell phone. Don't text anyone. Don't turn the radio on. Don't watch television.

Just take the day off and get out of your own way.

You struck out four times on Saturday, the first such occurence for you in more than 11 years.

Just take the day off. It's OK. The fans won't mind. Sadly, they'd probably cheer.

You play in a city with eight million coaches, and that doesn't even include the fans in Long Island, Westchester, Jersey and Connecticut. They all want to tell you what you're doing wrong and most of them want to begin those conversations with loud and long boos.

Forget them. You're stuck in your own head and have that lost look at the plate. It's nothing to fear or worry about. It happens to all of us. The only difference is we don't have cameras and people with notebooks following us and documenting everything we do or don't do.

Regular people call it "a personal day" and most regular people get four or five of them per year from their employer. That's all you need. Take a day off. Forget about everything. No extra batting practice. No grounders hours before the game. Heck, don't even put your jersey on. Just hang out for the day, chew sunflower seeds, play dumb kid games in the dugout and clear your brain.

If that doesn't work, then erupt when a reporter asks you a question. Give everyone something to write about and something to watch on SportsCenter. Surely, one of the reporters or columnists there will understand what's going on and write a favorable account of the incident.

Just don't do it this Sunday, because you should take that day off.

By Mark La Monica

Derek Jeter singled to lead off the top of the ninth inning. Every Yankee fan in the country sat up and prayed what they figured would happen next wouldn’t happen at all.

It was Game 5 of the 2005 American League Division Series and the Yankees trailed Anaheim, 5-3. Alex Rodriguez came to the plate carrying a 2-for-14 slump and more pressure than Rosie O’Donnell’s high heels. A hit here and all would be forgiven, water under the George Washington Bridge. Even a walk would be OK. A hit-by-pitch. Alex, just get on base and they’ll name any street in the Bronx after you.

Rodriguez grounded into a double play.

“After the MVP season he had, and in the ultimate chance for redemption in Game 5, he hits into a double play,” Mike Deermount, creator of tradearod.com, told Keyboard Quarterbacks yesterday. “Nowadays, he gets up in a clutch situation, I’m thinking I’d rather have him strike out, because if he hits the ball, it’s going to be a double play.”

That would seem to be the current running through New York’s baseball circuits lately. Everyone wants to hate on A-Rod, especially after his awful June (.213, 3 HR, 11 RBI).

“I just don’t think he’ll ever excel here,” Deermount said.

So, for about $12, Deermount, 24, bought the URL and set up the site. That’s cheaper than a decent lunch in Manhattan. That’s 1/21,000th of A-Rod’s salary, before taxes that is.

But the disgust aimed at A-Rod goes way beyond one man’s Web site. There’s something deeper than that. Booing A-Rod has reached an all-time high in the Bronx. It has become the fashionable thing to do. Fans don’t really seem to care what inning it is, either. It could be the first inning and the Yankees could have already scored 11 runs. But if A-Rod pops out in his second at-bat of the inning, he’d likely hear some boos.

When he won the MVP after last season, New York newspapers still ripped. They wondered in print, as fans did on radio, whether or not A-Rod deserved it (even though the postseason has absolutely nothing to do with the award).

Why? That’s the real question.

It’s not as if the guy stinks. We’re talking about one of the five best players in the game right now who, when his career is done, will likely rank as one of the Top 10 baseball players in history.

Best I can figure, there are seven main reasons:

1) The contract
2) The slap
3) The comments
4) The lack of clutch hitting
5) The meaningless home run
6) He hasn’t earned his pinstripes
7) He’s not Derek Jeter

The contract
Yeah, $252 million for 10 years is quite a lot of money to be paid for anything, let alone playing baseball.

He didn’t force Rangers owner Tom Hicks to offer the deal. (His agent, Scott Boras, likely did). Did we expect A-Rod to say, “No, thanks, sir. That’s too much money. How about 10 years for $180 million?” Would any of us do such a thing? Our parents would smack us in the head for being so stupid. Friends and family would follow with what was left of our limp bodies.

But being the highest paid player carries a certain stigma. If he doesn’t go 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs each night, he might as well throw his glove away and go work as an actuary.

Makes no sense. Every athlete is overpaid when compared to us regular folks. If you want to boo someone, boo the oil company executives next time you fill up the car. Fans also have to realize that over the course of 162 games, athletes will deal with a slump or two. They all have them. Just accept it and move on.

The slap
Game 6 of the 2004 ALCS. Against the Red Sox. Eighth inning. A-Rod hit a grounder up the first-base line. Bronson Arroyo fielded the ball and ran to tag A-Rod. With the Yankees trailing in the game, 4-2, and on the verge of blowing a 3-0 series lead, A-Rod slapped at Arroyo’s glove and knocked the ball loose. The original call was safe, but after the umpires huddled, they called A-Rod out for interference.

The Red Sox called the play “bush league” and “junior high.” He was mocked and ridiculed by plenty of people.

In reality, he made an instinctive attempt to help his team try to win a game and avoid what would become the greatest collapse in sports history. Any other player would have tried the same thing, but because it’s A-Rod, he gets mocked for it. The truth is if he got away with it, he’d have been praised. Funny how the line between brilliance and stupidity is so fuzzy.

The comments
Part of A-Rod’s responsibilities as one of the most talented and marketable stars is to talk to the media about baseball. Whether it’s fair or not, when a topic comes up, people want to know where A-Rod stands on it.

A-Rod will pretty much always make his voice be heard when asked. So, it can appear to fans that he’s always talking, but how much of it is him and how much of it is others seeking him out for opinion just because he makes the most money?

However, most of his quotes are bland and tempered. He’ll rarely say anything bad about anyone except for himself. Of course, 98 percent of professional athletes are the same way. But A-Rod takes the brunt of the abuse. Case in point: spring training 2005. The Red Sox ran their mouths about A-Rod. He did not respond, choosing to remain above the fray.

There’s little middle ground. If he makes outrageous comments, he’s all over television and the newspapers for days. Then he gets painted as a typical, spoiled athlete. If he doesn’t talk, he gets ripped for not having an opinion.

The lack of clutch hitting
It always seems that when the Yankees need a big hit, A-Rod is at the plate and the Yankees never get that big hit.

This perception is so ingrained into the fabric of fans, there’s almost no reason to even bring up the home run off Curt Schilling to beat the Red Sox last year, or the walkoff homer to beat the Braves on June 30 or the grand slam and three-run homer to help crush the Mets on July 2.

There are other instances of A-Rod coming up with big hits for the Yanks. The problem is not all of them come in the late innings. Very often, he’ll have a big hit early that helps the Yanks win. Or, better yet, he’ll come up with a key blast in the sixth inning that gives the Yanks a lead only to see the bullpen blow that lead. Who’s fault is that? A-Rod may not be having his greatest season, but he leads the American League with 13 game-winning RBI (second in majors to Albert Pujols’ 15).

Let’s take a look at some numbers for A-Rod:

2006
.282, 19 HR, 65 RBI, 61 R, 12 2B, 9 SB

Career
.306, 1,991 hits, 448 HR, 1,291 RBI

Postseason
2004: .320, 16-50, 3 HR, 8 RBI
2005: .133, 2-15, 0 HR, 0 RBI
Career: .305, 36-118, 6 HR, 16 RBI

With runners in scoring position
2006: .303, 30-99, 8 HR, 49 RBI
As Yankee: .278, 25 HR, 192 RBI
Career: .304, 107 HR, 803 RBI
Postseason: 4-24, .167 0 HR, 6 RBI

With runners in scoring position and two outs
2006: .333, 14-42, 3 HR, 17 RBI
As Yankee: .276, 12 HR, 78 RBI
Career: .268, 34 HR, 266 RBI
Postseason: .000, 0-14, 0 RBI

7th inning and beyond
2006: .252, 26-103, 6 HR, 18 RBI
As Yankee: .288, 24 HR, 75 RBI
Career: .281, 114 HR, 349 RBI
Postseason: .250, 11-44, 2 HR, 4 RBI

Close and late*
2006: .170, 8-47, 1 HR, 7 RBI
As Yankee: .257, 7 HR, 32 RBI
Career: .272, 55 HR, 177 RBI
Postseason: .333, 8-24, 0 HR, 2 RBI

* Defined as situations when score is tied or has one-run margin in the seventh inning or later, or with tying run on base, at the plate or on deck.

A-Rod is decent in clutch situations in the regular season, but the playoffs are a different story.  But what do all these numbers really mean? He hit .133 in the 2005 ALDS against Anaheim, but his on-base percentage was close to .500.

The meaningless home run
“When you're up by 10 you can always count on A-Rod to hit the grand slam.  But when you're down by 1 he goes down watching,” reads one of the top grievances on tradearod.com.

Let’s explore. Of A-Rod’s 19 home runs, five have come in a loss. In those five games, the Yanks scored a total of 26 runs. A-Rod had nine RBIs in those games. The Yanks lost those games by a total of 20 runs.

The Yanks won the other 12 games when A-Rod homered (he hit two homers on May 27 and July 2). Of those 12 games, five were decided by more than five runs. And in three of those five games, A-Rod drove in at least three runs, including seven in a 16-7 win over the Mets.

So, he’s not exactly hitting meaningless home runs, now is he? If you’re comfortable with discarding A-Rod’s home runs and RBIs, then you must think the bullpen is very capable of bridging the gap from starter to Mariano Rivera. Interesting.

He hasn’t earned his pinstripes
This has never made very much sense. It’s a mythical notion brought about by an 11-year run of playoff success mixed with four World Series rings in that span, the franchise’s tradition and a bunch of free-agent signings.

The hallmark moment for this concept of “earning the pinstripes” came on May 17, 2002. Jason Giambi, in his first season with the Yankees after signing a seven-year, $120 million deal, hit a walkoff grand slam in the 14th inning in the pouring rain to beat the Twins, 13-12, at the Stadium.

That home run told Yankee fans that Giambi’s presence was one to be felt. From that moment, this concept of earning one’s pinstripes has taken on new life.

A-Rod struggled in 2004, his first season with the Yankees, and didn’t have a defining moment. Yet he still hit 36 homers and drove in 106 runs. These are not bad numbers. In 2005, he beat Schilling in Fenway, and won the MVP award with a .321 avearge, 48 homers and 130 RBI. Still, people wanted him to win the playoffs all by himself to “earn his pinstripes.”

Giambi and Mike Mussina have never won a World Series with the Yankees. Neither has Hideki Matsui nor Gary Sheffield.

Don Mattingly never won a World Series, never even got there, but there’s not a Yankee fan in existence who would question his historical significance to the franchise.

He’s not Derek Jeter
Who is?

Jeter took over the city in 1996 during a magical season for the team. He was the homegrown, handsome, young shortstop with great all-around talent playing for a team that hadn’t won a championship since 1978. Eighteen years is a long time to go between championships, regardless of franchise or sport.

Instantly, Jeter became a winner. World Series champ. Rookie of the year. Whatever he does works. From the famous “flip play” to his famous girlfriends. How he escapes any kind of serious gossip-page scandal in this city is amazing. A-Rod? He even thinks about playing poker one day, boom, it’s the biggest story of the week.

Most of that isn’t fair, but it is what it is. This is Jeter’s city.

The Yankee culture is to win and then win again. Yankee fans have been spoiled over the past 11 years and they don’t want the winning to end. You can’t fault that passion at all.

Everyone has been booed at least once as a Yankee, even Jeter. Mariano Rivera, too. Roger Clemens, Giambi, Randy Johnson, Mattingly and Dave Winfield. It’s just a fact of life when playing in New York.

But A-Rod endures so much more abuse. Makes little sense. The over-abuse, that is. The “I’m paying outrageous ticket prices, so I can boo who I wanna boo” argument doesn’t work. Don’t go to the game. Maybe sit in the bleachers instead. Or wait until $5 ticket night.

Fans seem to realize that they can get under a player’s skin and they like that. Just ask Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran at any point last year.

Surely, A-Rod wants to excel. He’s always the first one to say it. But it seems he has only two options left to end the booing and the hating he receives from so many Yankee fans:

1) Hit game-winning home runs in four straight World Series games.
2) Hope Carl Pavano returns to deflect the abuse.

By Mark La Monica

Understanding why French legend Zinedine Zidane turned into French skunk Pepe Le Pew will take quite a bit of time.

Why Italian midfielder Gennaro Gattuso celebrated winning the World Cup by running around in his tighty whities will take even more time, and no one has or wants that kind of time.

How Italy was so successful on the world's biggest stage -- No, seriously America, it is -- when facing a huge scandal at home requires very little time. But first,we need a moment or two to explain what is going on in the Italian courts.

Prosecutors in Italy are wrapping up their case in which 26 people -- referees, soccer federation officials and executives -- are accused of fixing soccer matches for four of the biggest teams in the country (Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio). No players have been charged with anything.

This is huge. Maybe not here in America, but in Italy, one newspaper called it "football's funeral," according to a report in the Los Angeles Times.

To put this in terms we Americans can relate to, imagine the NBA actually going on trial for telling referees to make calls that could help bigger-market teams reach the next round of the playoffs. Or the NFL owners conspiring with referees to get more penalties against the other team. Or the federal government actually prosecuting Barry Bonds (that one may not be that far of a stretch in the coming weeks).

Better yet, just imagine the Chicago Black Sox scandal of 1919 happening today.

Of the 23 players on Italy's roster, 13 play for teams involved in the scandal. Of those 13, five are on Juventus, the 29-time Serie A champion which could get bumped down to Serie C if the prosecution successfully proves it case. This is the American equivalent of putting the Miami Heat in the NBDL or the New York Yankees in the South Atlantic League.

There is much talk that should any of the four teams get knocked down into less presitigious leagues in Italy, most of the players will bolt to other teams and other leagues. Again, to put this in American terms, break up the top four NFL teams and let every other team have a shot at signing those players.

Basically, many of the Italian players in Germany for the past month at the World Cup have nothing to come home to except for questions, scandals and perhaps some legal hassles. They were in Germany, playing for their country, a country whose government is threatening to seriously alter their lifestyles. (That is not meant to presume innocence or guilt of any of the parties involved, but rather is a statement of what they're dealing with.)

It's like when you were a teenager and you stayed out two hours passed curfew then said, "Screw it, I'm already late. I might as well just keep going and enjoy the time now because Pops is gonna kick my butt when I get home and I will likely not be allowed out for the next month."

If these players were to stop and think about what will happen when they go home, they'd likely not want to go home any time soon. Which helps explain just how this band of Italians stayed out late and won the World Cup.  Of course, having Gianluigi Buffon in goal, Fabio Cannavaro on defense and a bunch of talent everywhere else doesn't hurt either.

By Mark La Monica

Jose Canseco is a dangerous man. More so with his mouth than with a bat these days.

Sure, he holds a bit of a grudge against Major League Baseball and has no problem admitting it. And sure, some of the things he wrote in his 2005 book "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big" were a bit embellished and a bit questionable.

He endured plenty of public criticism from current and former big-leaguers, baseball-related people, fans and the media. But when he talks now, baseball fans should listen. The events of the past 17 months since his book hit the shelves have given Canseco an impressive amount of credibility. He swings a bigger microphone than he does a bat.

So, when Canseco said on Monday before his first game in the independent Golden Baseball League, “I think what we’re seeing is just the tip of the iceberg. I know for a fact that’s what we’re seeing,” then there's a good chance that is fairly accurate.

Canseco made more claims that MLB plays favorites with big-name players when it comes to positive drug tests. MLB refuted the claim as “complete nonsense.”

Between Canseco, MLB commissioner Bud Selig and Players union chief Donald Fehr, who do you think the public should believe? The "Godfather of Steroids in Baseball" who admitted to using steroids, or the former Brewers owner who now is in charge of the entire sport, or the guy whose job it is to protect the players and get them the most money possible?

I'm going with Canseco. Maybe his calling Major League Baseball "the mafia" was a bit extreme, but if he claims there is more to come with steroids and positive tests and the like, I'll side with Canseco until proven otherwise.