Do you savor and rewatch good Yankee games? I do. I was still basking in the afterglow of Friday’s Yankee walkoff win when it was time to watch Saturday’s game. And whaddaya know – Alex Rodriguez’s tremendous walkoff homer was even more epic than the end of Friday’s game.
How has this weekend been so far for the Yanks? Incredible. Nick Swisher describes the games this way in his Twitter account:
“A Rods back…back again. Hell of a win”
“Most amazing night. Couldn’t have been scripted any other way. Make sure you drink your milk tomorrow. The milk man is coming”
Which reminds me, I kind of wish the Stadium had played that Eminem song “Without Me” Friday night before A-Rod’s first at-bat. That’s the song that goes, “Guess who’s back, back again/Shady’s back, tell a friend.”
As it is, I can’t even remember what song they played for A-Rod. But I do remember that the Stadium showed clips from “Rocky Balboa” in the ninth inning of Friday’s game. Squawker Jon thought that the movie was a perfect metaphor for the Yankees – an athlete past his prime trying to recapture his glory days!
Anyhow, Alex Rodriguez, of course, hit that tremendous walkoff homer yesterday. But there has been a bit of a debate on whether to support somebody who used steroids. Here’s where I stand on it:
The way A-Rod was treated over the steroids issue has changed a lot of fans’ opinions about the PED issue, including mine.
As I’ve said more than once, it’s hard not to be cynical over the issue when there are 103 other players who failed the same test as Alex, but we still don’t know any of their names, more than three months after A-Rod was revealed to be a juicer. Or when there has yet to be a full-scale media investigation of Angel Presinal’s other clients, including David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, or Vladimir Guerrero. (Especially Ortiz, given what a bad season he’s had, capped by his 0 for 7 performance in Thursday’s game.) Or when media names like Peter Gammons make excuses for Manny Ramirez. And don’t get me started on the whole Mike Piazza thing.
A-Rod’s legacy is tainted, and fans and the media have a right to wonder if he’s still using PEDs when he hits a homer like he did yesterday. And I have no problem whatsoever if opposing fans chant “steroids” at him or hold up foam syringes, as they did in Baltimore.
But for A-Rod to have to be the sole guy in baseball to endure the slings and arrows of the media over steroid use is ridiculous. Remember, we know about Alex using steroids in the first place because one reporter decided to investigate him personally. Do you think Selena Roberts or any other baseball reporter is going to look into any other player in the same way? Doubtful.
And from the “better late than never” department, it looks like A-Rod has been cleared of pitch-tipping charges. Selena Roberts’ former employer, The New York Times, finally did some number crunching – to determine what fans like me did over two weeks ago – that A-Rod actually hit worse, not better, in Rangers blowouts. So the Times “Keeping Score” column concludes today that Alex didn’t tip pitches.
That’s good to know. But it would have been better to know that two weeks ago. After all, the damage is already done from Roberts’ unfounded smear. Another reason fans get cynical about the press.
What do you think? Tell us about it!
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