Tag: Alex Rodriguez (Page 7 of 13)

      Pete Rose would back A-Rod for Hall of Fame

      May 14, 2009 /

      Even though he loathes the use of steroids in baseball, former player Pete Rose said that he would back an admitted user like Alex Rodriguez for the Hall of Fame.

      “I’m willing to give a guy a second chance,” Rose said in an interview on “The Dan Patrick Show.” He later went on to say that steroid use is worse than someone such as himself betting on his own team to win.

      “When you take steroids you have a direct outcome of the game,” Rose said. “That’s the integrity of the game. And when you can change records when you do something illegal, it’s just not right. … Baseball records are sacred. If you do something illegal to surpass those records, it’s just not good.”

      Rose, however, considers Barry Bonds to be the all-time home run king because “he hit the home runs. … I don’t think anyone has proven that he took steroids.”

      ” … With Bonds, how many home runs are you going to take away from him?” Rose asked. “That’s a tough situation for the commissioner. … It’s a mess.”

      I don’t question Rose’s sincerity in regards to saying he would back an admitted steroid user like A-Rod, but it’s interesting that he’s so willing to say that steroids are worse than a manager or player betting on his own team to win.

      In one instance, you have players cheating in order to gain a physical edge on the field. In the other, a manager is influenced by the way he manages a game in which he has a financial stake. Neither is good for baseball and while you can make a claim that each wrong should be viewed separately, both actions shame the game.

      MLB

      A-Rod set to return to Yankees’ lineup tonight

      May 8, 2009 /

      The New York Post reports that Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez is almost certain to make his 2009 debut on Friday night after missing over a month recovering from hip surgery.

      The plan is for Alex Rodriguez to be in the lineup as the third baseman tomorrow night in Baltimore, the Post has learned.

      A conference call was scheduled between Rodriguez and members of the Yankee front office for this afternoon, and A-Rod was going to tell the organization how he felt and what his preference was for when to return from hip surgery. But the understanding going into the game, according to two sources, was that if there were no problems in today’s intra-squad game, then he would rejoin the Yanks tomorrow and play.

      Rodriguez went 0-for-2 with two walks and played three innings of defense in the intra-squad game.

      Rodriguez had hip surgery on May 9.

      Even though he’s going to create a media distraction, the Yankees need this guy in the lineup. Xavier Nady is done for the year (although Nick Swisher is filling in admirably), Jorge Posada was just placed on the disabled list and Mark Teixeira is hitting below the Mendoza Line. The quicker A-Fraud starts hitting, the sooner the Yankees can stop skidding into the basement of the AL East. Although that would mean that their expensive pitching staff would have to stop serving up gopher balls, too.

      MLB

      Big Papi: ‘I would beat the crap out of a teammate who tipped pitches’

      May 7, 2009 /

      When asked his thoughts on the allegations that state Yankees’ third baseball Alex Rodriguez used to tip pitches to opponents while a member of the Rangers, Red Sox DH David Ortiz said he didn’t want to believe that A-Rod would do such a thing.

      However, if Big Papi ever found out that a teammate was tipping pitches to another team, he wouldn’t hold back any punches – literally.

      “I would beat the crap out of him,” Ortiz said. “I mean, seriously. You’re my teammate. I mean, I don’t care if that’s your brother pitching out there. We’re trying to win the game. That’s not the right thing to do.”

      The difficulty of succeeding at such a complicated ruse throughout a 162-game schedule left a number of players in serious doubt that this could be true.

      “How can you hit it — you’re focusing on somebody giving you a sign, and then you’re focusing on the pitcher at the same time?” Ortiz wondered. “Sometimes there’s guys tipping their pitches out there, and I still won’t hit it because I can’t focus on that.

      “If you have a position player giving you a sign of something that’s coming, it’s a distraction.

      There’s not much time between the catcher giving signs, the pitcher coming to the plate, and the guy giving you signs. I might be too stupid to understand it, but that’s what I think.”

      How can you not respect a man that says he would beat the crap out of a teammate if they were caught cheating? And how much would you pay to see Big Papi pummel A-Fraud in steel cage match?

      Ortiz brings up a good point in that there isn’t a lot of time between when the pitcher gets a sign and when he delivers the ball, so therefore it might be near impossible for fielders to tip batters off about what pitch is coming. But if runners are on, some pitchers do take a fair amount of time to get set and it’s not like a batter would have to exert himself much to quickly look at the shortstop in order to get a sign. Like Ortiz, I hope that the allegations aren’t true, because the last thing baseball needs is players finding new ways to cheat.

      MLB

      Girardi’s job is safe for now

      May 7, 2009 /

      According to a report by the New York Post, it appears that Yankees’ manager Joe Girardi’s job is safe for now.

      At 13-14 after last night’s 4-3 loss to the Rays, voices in and out of baseball are wondering if Girardi, who is in the second season of a three-year contract, is safe.

      According to several organizational sources Girardi’s job security isn’t an issue. Too many injuries too early in the season and slow starts by CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira. And he hasn’t had cleanup hitter Alex Rodriguez play a game, lost Chien-Ming Wang early and Jorge Posada recently.

      Though Girardi said he understands the attention that comes with managing the Yankees, he said he isn’t fixated on those who blame him for the pedestrian start and being dominated by the Red Sox.

      “That’s not something I really focus on. I focus on the task at hand. Every day we do the best we can to prepare our club and every move we make is to win the game and that’s what I focus on,” said Girardi, who has been hamstrung by an awful bullpen.

      As the article notes, Girardi can’t do anything about veterans like Sabathia and Teixeira getting off to slow starts, A-Fraud not being in the lineup and Wang forgetting that he’s not pitching in a home run derby contest every fifth day. Girardi will continue to catch heat because he replaced a manager in Joe Torre who should have never been fired in the first place, and the pressure to succeed will always be bestowed on Yankee managers because of how much the club spends to win. It just comes with the territory.

      The manager is always on the front lines when a team is losing, but at some point the players are going to have to just step up and freaking produce. Girardi can’t manage situations that are unmanageable (i.e. the pitching staff turning the new Yankee Stadium into Coors Field).

      MLB

      Whitlock: Serena Roberts has credibility issues

      May 7, 2009 /

      In Jason Whitlock’s latest column for FOXSports.com, he writes that author Serena Roberts has credibility issues stemming from a column she wrote about the Duke lacrosse rape case and calls her new book about Alex Rodriguez a “celebrity-gossip book.”

      During her interview with Jim Rome, she claimed she went into her investigation of Rodriguez believing he had never used steroids. She said that A-Rod’s interview on 60 Minutes convinced her of his innocence. “I didn’t think he was dirty,” Roberts said. “I thought he was clean.”
      This is nearly impossible for me to believe. Roberts is a cynic, at least she is in her column writing. When she worked for The New York Times, she wrote numerous columns about A-Rod with the same theme: Rodriguez is a phony. Read this, this and this and then read this blog for examples of her A-Rod cynicism.

      In those columns, does she come off like someone who would take Rodriguez at his word? She comes off like someone who doesn’t believe a word that comes out of A-Rod’s mouth.
      What I’m about to write is pure speculation.

      Selena Roberts believes America is a safe haven for sexism (I happen to agree, but that’s beside the point). She wanted the Duke lacrosse players to be shining examples of how deep-rooted and protected our sexism is, and she was more than willing to ignore their innocence to make her point (this repulses me).

      Selena Roberts believes professional sports — the money, fame and power they primarily give young men — are corrosive of good values and a haven for sexism (I happen to agree, but that’s beside the point). She wants Alex Rodriguez to stand as a shining example of what’s wrong with American sports, and she just might be willing to ignore flattering truths about A-Rod and publish hearsay and gossip to make her point (and this is unfair).

      She’s written a celebrity-gossip book, “A-Rod: Game of Innuendo.” Maybe you despise Rodriguez so much that you don’t care about her methods and whether the rest of the alleged mainstream media characterize her work properly.

      Whitlock brings up a good point that we must question what an author’s motives are for writing a non-fiction book, especially when the content matter essentially attacks a person’s character as in this case. Is Roberts trying to uncover the truth behind A-Rod’s use of steroids or does she have a personal agenda as Whitlock suggests?

      MLB

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