A-Rod Vs. Tiger
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by user Thefeed
Alex Rodriguez faced the New York media following last night’s 6-2 win over the Rangers and discussed his continuing struggles on and off the field. He said that he hoped to emulate the British Open champion Tiger Woods and rise from the deck to prove the naysayers wrong. “Tiger Woods missed three cuts and was thrown under every bus. Then he came back to win the British Open. Hopefully I can come back and shut people up.”
I have a little issue with the math on the number of cuts Woods missed, but that’s not the part of the comparison I take issue with. For the last two months the Yankees lineup, ravaged by injuries to three key cogs, has needed Rodriguez to take charge and carry the team to the other side of the river. They needed him to get clutch hits, keep innings alive and pick up the slack left by the missing bats but instead they got middling production at the plate and, most unforgivably, woeful defensive play. If any slack has been picked up it’s been by the MVP candidate Derek Jeter or the unexpectedly strong rookie Melky Cabrera with Jason Giambi providing the only consistent power to be spoken of in the Bronx.
When Woods missed the cut at the U.S. Open, so close to losing his father, no one really threw him under a bus. People were surprised, but given the circumstances, and his prodigious record, he pretty much got a pass. When Phil Mickelson imploded the furthest thing from anyone’s mind were questions about if Tiger was past it. He needed to work on his game, he went back to work mentally and physically to assure that he wouldn’t have another lackluster performance. He played in just one PGA tournament between the two majors and finished tied for second at the Western Open over the first weekend in July. When the British kicked off at Royal Liverpool Tiger had a killer game plan, renewed focus and his familiar red shirt ready to tackle the field. A-Rod hasn’t had a comparable run in this 2006 season. One of those runs David Ortiz goes on from time to time where he’s impossible to get out for 10 days, driving in runs like crazy and making up for whoever’s not stroking the ball at that moment.
To his credit A-Rod is attacking the problems head on. He’s done extra defensive drilling with Larry Bowa, spoken to people about his swing and hasn’t gone into the tank to the point that the Yankees have had to seriously think about replacing him. Until the throwing issues prove to be Knoblauchian in scope it’s reasonable to believe that this is a momentary problem that will work itself out. But what about the mental part of the problem? The booing isn’t going to go away as long as his inconsistent play lingers on, whether people hate him for his contract – as Brian Cashman believes – or his performance or his shirtless forays in Central Park, they are going to boo him whenever a game or two goes by without a big hit.
Reggie Jackson spoke to Mike Lupica about the booing at Yankee Stadium, a sound he was familiar with from his time as the straw that stirred the drink. Reggie was the lightning rod because he was the hired gun. Unlike Thurman Munson or Ron Guidry, he didn’t come up as a Yankee and become Reggie Jackson – he was signed to be Reggie Jackson. “I signed the biggest contract once, and I knew when I did what I was taking on. And you better believe I knew that it was one more thing that I was going to have to carry up the hill with me. Alex is going up that same hill now. And it's like I just said: He'll make it because he has to, because we've got more than 60 home runs and 200 RBI on the bench (Matsui, Sheffield) and because he's as great as he is and because he just has to.”
Just like Reggie, A-Rod is a hired gun. He’s not Mr. Yankee like Derek Jeter or an aging champion like Bernie Williams. He’s the highest profile, best paid, most scrutinized player on the highest profile, best paid, most scrutinized team in sports and that brings with it outsize expectations and an easily disgruntled audience. No one will remember it three months from now if Rodriguez and the Yankees win the World Series, just as no one talked about Roger Clemens’s struggles in 1999 and 2000 because all you need to do as a hired gun is bring home the prize. Just like Tiger Woods had to get the job done in Liverpool this weekend. That's how A-Rod makes good on this comparison.And then he gets to start the whole damn thing over again next year because, as Mr. October says above, he has to get the job done.
Date
Tue 07/25/06, 10:47 am EST
