Give Alex Rodriguez credit, I guess. The guy can change the conversation 180 degrees in a second, and yet still keep that conversation all about him.
Consider that A-Rod woke up Wednesday morning with his face on the cover of the New York Post, having been photographed with a woman who isn't his wife. By the time he finished his work shift, he had drawn the wrath of the entire Blue Jays roster, for an entirely different reason.
In the ninth inning of the Yankees' 10-5 victory over Toronto at Rogers Centre, A-Rod _ running from second to third, with two outs _ reportedly shouted "Mine!" to Jays third baseman Howie Clark (A-Rod claimed he said "Ha!") as Clark planted himself under Jorge Posada's pop fly. Clark clearly thought one of his teammates called for the ball, and he let it fall, keeping the inning alive. The Yankees subsequently padded their 8-5 lead with two more runs.
What a bush-league stunt by A-Rod. It reminds me of the games in my back yard, circa 1982, when Jimmy Colling would successfully rattle me with a "Drop it! Drop it!" A-Rod's post-game media scrum, as seen on YES, was classic A-Rod, as he insisted that opponents did that to him several times a week (on foul balls near the dugout) and emphasized how badly the Yankees needed this victory. Not an impressive performance with the words.
But hey, at least it steered some of the conversation away from that Post front page. That was pretty gross, yet to speak from an entirely cynical viewpoint, it seems like it could have been easily avoided. Why wouldn't A-Rod and his mystery woman simply enter the hotel at separate times _ say, 10 minutes apart? I'm pretty sure that tactic has been used and will be used again.
But then we wouldn't have been talking about A-Rod 24/7. And that just wouldn't have been right.
Comments (7)
A-ROD YELLED "MINE!" TO DISTRACT AN INFIELDER? AWESOME! NOW THAT'S MOXY. IF HE KEEPS IT UP, BONDS WILL BE MY SECOND FAVORITE PLAYER. UNWRITTEN RULES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN!
YOURS TRULY,
POSTOFFICEDUDE5000
Ken, your hatred of arod is kind of comical. Not to defend him, but you can see he said Raahh loudly to distract the 3B (who still should have made the play). Why try and change the facts to make him look worse?
For a columnist, why join the herd mentality of kicking arod at every opportunity. I thought you guys were supposed to be above that.
Keep those Met pom-poms waving though.
As usual, spot-on, Ken.
I'm getting a good laugh out of all the people who honestly believe he said "HA" when you could clearly see on the replays that he yelled out something starting with a hard consonant.
It's bad enough he does these stupid things, then he makes them worse by trying to explain, justify and/or blow them off...and ends up looking even more foolish.
A-Rod has nobody to blame but himself for the continued soap opera atmosphere that whirls around him...from his unsportsmanlike swat against the Red Sox to last night's bush league display...the list goes on and on...it's no wonder Jeter opted out of the sleepovers.
A Rod and the Yankees deserve each other!
ARod is so consumed with his image, yet he is photographed out with another woman and pulls dirty tricks on the ballfield. It is sad, and the Yankees should hope he opts out in October. Unfortunately he has become the face of the Yankees now. How very sad......
i stink!