They are both future Hall of Famers because they redefined the shortstop position for a generation. One of them moved off the position for the other so that they could play together and bring championships to the Bronx. They've been teammates for four frustrating postseasons in pinstripes that have made a huge impact on one's reputation and left the other one totally unscathed. One is lauded as the ultimate stand-up guy who never shirks from a pressure situation, the other has been called a choker, derided as selfish and generally been made the butt of jokes despite putting up ungodly numbers. Here's how they responded to last night's 6-4 loss to the Indians and the end of another ring-less season in the Bronx. Player 1:
"It's on me. Whatever blame you put on me, that's fine. The most courageous group of guys, that I've ever played with ... No explanations. No excuses."Player 2:
"Sometimes you do well and you lose, and you don't do well and you win. It doesn't really make a difference. We didn't get the job done and that's the only thing that really matters."While I'm sure you figured out who the two players are by now, I thought it worth noting that the first comment came from Alex Rodriguez while the second one came from Derek Jeter. Neither man played well in the playoffs but A-Rod played better. He didn't make an error that opened the scoring for Cleveland in Game One. He didn't hit into three double plays over the last two games or hit .176 for the series.
Not that you'd know that from the local papers. The covers of the Post and the Daily News feature shots of A-Rod alone. Even the venerable New York Times put Rodriguez on Page One of the entire paper, not the sports section which they saved for a takedown of Rodriguez in words not images. Other than the fact that he might opt out, which isn't the story this morning, there's no reason to single out A-Rod this morning but it happens all the same.
I write this not to argue that A-Rod had some brilliant series amid the depressing, wholesale flameout of the Yankees. I write it to argue that the guy standing up and saying "Blame me" should be the Captain who disappeared during the four-game loss. A-Rod had a better series than Jeter, Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui but he still stood in front of the press and put it on himself. He did that knowing that he'd get killed regardless while Jeter shunned the harsh spotlight safe in the knowledge that nothing could ever knock him off his perch atop the Yankee rolls.
Neither man deserves to be judged by the last four games. Yet there's A-Rod on every paper in town, standing alone as the symbol of Yankee failure while Jeter is nestled inside proclaiming his love for the manager and shrugging his shoulders about how the breaks didn't go their way.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 2)
1. I just wanted to say thank you for this article. Baseball is a team sport, though people like to forget that. You win as a team, you lose as a team. One person cannot be solely responsible for a postseason collapse. It doesn't make any sense logically (though, as I type that, it occured to me that most fans don't think logically.) A-Rod's an easy target, though, because he's good-looking, a phenomenal player, and makes an obscene amount of money. Oh, and he's a Yankee.
To be honest, if you absolutely had to pin the collapse onto just one person, I'd point to Wang. But that's just me.
Posted at 9:50AM on Oct 9th 2007 by Jen
2. Jen - That's an awfully good place to start if you want to blame one person.
Posted at 10:19AM on Oct 9th 2007 by JAlper
3. i agree with you jen,i'm not NYY fan, but i kind of feel sorry for a-rod at times. as good as he is, they still want more............ derek jeter is wishy, washy personality and gives impression of goody two shoes. wang sure had a bad time. there is no i in team.
Posted at 10:21AM on Oct 9th 2007 by jeanbean0762
4. No matter who manages the Yankees next year they still need starting pitching?How about Wang and Farnsworth(eat as much of his salary as you have to)
for Yohan? Then just pay Giambi off and get a real first baseman? Matsui seemed old and injured and
Mussina is done. Also get rid of some of the dead meat in the bull pen and keep bringing up promising
youngsters .
Posted at 10:41AM on Oct 9th 2007 by DENNIS
5. It is amazing that we choose to put blame on any one player. But this is the contuing melodrama of the NYY. When is everyone going to realize this is ALL due to the sh*thead owner and his thinking that because he bought everyone, they should automatically win? I REALLY love seeing that the NYY did not make the playoffs. I slept so well last night knowing I will not have to look at the same faces I saw every year for the wold series in the late 1990s for at least another year. Wouldn't it be exceptionally nice for baseball if the NYY could go as long as the Chicago Cubs without a championship? Think about how nice that would be for the game!
Posted at 10:44AM on Oct 9th 2007 by Neil
6. Even though I've never liked the Yankees, I really admire Alex for being a Stand-up Guy with REAL Class.. Derek Jeter is full of himself and not half the player like Alex.. Money, in most cases, can't buy a World Series.. Charley Finley proved many years ago that you don't have to empty the Bank to win.. No other Team exudes arrogance like the Yankees and I love to see them lose for that reason alone.. It's time for a major change beginning with Joe.. Go Cleveland!!
Posted at 11:00AM on Oct 9th 2007 by Andy
7. I loved A-Rod this season. He hit homers while the pitching staff floundered, and he did it and said the homers don't mean anything unless they made it to the playoffs. He did, we went, and we lost. But this isn't his fault. It isn't even Wang's fault, cuz you know what? The LINEUP didn't give him a cushion. We left runners in scoring position so many times - and that's A-ROD'S fault? No. Its EVERYONE who didn't step up. That homerun he had last night could've started a rally, and it didn't. That's NOT his fault. This loss is on the shoulders of everybody, not just Rodriguez. We lost by only 2 runs. Is A-Rod always going to be responsible for providing those 2 runs, while the lineup constantly hits into double plays? I think not.
Posted at 11:10AM on Oct 9th 2007 by Mella1204
8. Having grown up in Massachusetts, it was in my genes to hate the Yankees. Although I moved away many years ago my dislike for the pinstripes has remained strong, but because of loyalties. George Steinbrenner represents everything that is wrong in professional sports ... season after season he tries to buy a team rather than building one, he bullies and derides his players and management rather than promoting unity and a spirit of comradship. He may be the owner - and therefore can do whatever he wants - but like Art Modell in Cleveland, his legacy will not of the great things he did for the city and his team, but for what a miserable and selfish human being he was.
Posted at 11:20AM on Oct 9th 2007 by Peter
9. Having grown up in Massachusetts, it was in my genes to hate the
Yankees. Although I moved away many years ago my dislike for the
pinstripes has remained strong, but not simply because of blind loyalties. George
Steinbrenner represents everything that is wrong in professional
sports ... season after season he tries to buy a team rather than
building one, he bullies and derides his players and management
rather than promoting unity and a spirit of comradship. He may be
the owner - and therefore can do whatever he wants - but like Art
Modell in Cleveland, his legacy will not of the great things he did
for the city and his team, but for what a miserable and selfish human
being he was.
Posted at 11:20AM on Oct 9th 2007 by Peter
10. I love the New York Yankees and Joe Torre He is a
Great Mgr Please dont fire Joe Torre if you do the yankees will failed I love ARod because he really prove himself to New York and the fans we love him and dont want him to leave.And also jorge,MO ,Andythey are the heart and soul of the team.Brian Cashman is the blame not Joe.He should got,the team help when they really need it.
Posted at 11:23AM on Oct 9th 2007 by hst carol
11. JAlper--
Like I said, blaming only one person is ridiculous. But instead of A-Rod, I can think of four or five others. Sure, Alex didn't hit his usual .300+ in the postseason. But none of the others did anything either.
jeanbean0762--
I've finally come to terms with the fact that yes, I'm a Yankees fan. And Alex Rodriguez is a ridiculously unbelievable player. I still don't understand how he gets booed...well, ever. He's just so good.
Granted, I wouldn't want him on my team (the Houston Astros) simply because of the fanfare he brings. But if I could get Alex without the media dogs following him around, I would take it in a heartbeat.
Posted at 11:32AM on Oct 9th 2007 by Jen
12. Peter, I totally agree with you. I grew up a Mets fan and remain one to this day. At first, I really didn't care one way or the other about the Yankees. But as I got older, I got very tired of the Boss's act: firing managers left and right, overpaying for over-the-hill free agents, etc. People forget that the core of the team that Joe Torre inherited and guided to four championships in five years was built during Steinbreener's exile forced on him by the commissioner's office. If that never happened, guys like Jeter, Pettite, Mariano, Posada and others would have been traded away as prospects for over-the-hill guys with marquee value.
As for A-Rod, he has nothing more to prove to me. He should opt out of his deal and go somewhere else. It's possible to win it all in places other than the Bronx. This is the seventh straight year that it's going to happen.
Posted at 11:34AM on Oct 9th 2007 by Brad M.
13. I agree with this article, Alex Rodriguez is not the only player on this team so why is everyone blaming him. Get off his ass, and realize that blame should be put on all the players not just Alex Rodriguez. It's call the New York Yankees not Alex Rodriguez's Yankees.
Posted at 11:51AM on Oct 9th 2007 by mrl
14. To see such a great come-back season end with such controversy makes me sick. But welcome to New York. Every fat, no-talent, armchair second guesser can sit there and point fingers while the teams play their hearts out. I don't think they lost on purpose, but maybe I'm way off base. But there are some things that need to be changed, and Torre isn't one of them. He is the ultimate manager, and a gentleman. To have "The Boss", a self-centerd, egotistical, maniacal, power-hungry jerk embarrass Joe in the middle of the play-offs, is something no team neads. His reputation for firing managers is really an embarrassment to himself. I am sick to death of his antics, and although a life-long Yankee fan, I cringe when the playoffs come around and hear his assinine rantings. I guess some people will never grow up.
As for the team, including A-Rod and Jeter, they pulled off a very stunning come-back year, and fell short. Despite the bad pitching, and cool bats, the team as a whole showed grit and determination in the stretch. They just ran out of gas and came up against a very young, talented bunchof players. (Watch out Boston).
It's time to regroup, and find new young talent. The dream of the last decade has aged and needs an overhaul. But I'm sure Steinbrenner can buy more aging talent and place his team in bad light once more before he runs out of money. Too bad he can't use some of it to buy some smarts. In his case, it's better to be lucky than good.
Posted at 12:02PM on Oct 9th 2007 by RayGK9
15. Baseball is a business, never is it more obvious than in New York . George Steinbrener is the CEO and has chosen to try to buy the World Series by scouring the world to find the very best players. Then he pays them way more than they are worth and punishes them if they don't win. Even the Yankees must rebuild. This time, George, think it thru completely before you pay anyone the vulgar amounts you have paid in the past. Oh and to the Yankee fans and national media, the Indians outplayed the Yankees with little media attention and a MUCH smaller payroll! Go Indians!!! Way to go Mark Sharpiro!!!!
Posted at 12:26PM on Oct 9th 2007 by Monica G
16. A few simple facts: the Yankees were beat by a team that consists of no superstars, whose combined team salary is ONE THIRD the Yankees. Steinbrenner is a spoiled child held prisoner in an old body with a feeble brain. He thinks, like lots of people today, that money can buy just about everything. It doesn't. The Indians in a very small way have proven once again the best things in life often are the simplest. GO TRIBE !
Posted at 12:57PM on Oct 9th 2007 by Ray B.
17. The truth is the tables have turned on the Yankees, it finally caught up with them that trying to buy WS rings doesn't always work. Sorry George it doesn't. Did you get your money's worth with Clemens? Why not do it again, hell yeah a guy goes 6-6 with an era over 4 and makes over 20 million sure thats a bargain every day lol. 200 million plus payroll year after year and where does it get you, usually a division title but not this year simply a wild card team that got their butts kicked by a much better team. Money cant buy everything sorry Yankee fans but all that money and you havent won a WS this decade yet, maybe the Boss should up the payroll next year to 300 million lol that might help.
Posted at 2:03PM on Oct 9th 2007 by Marc
18. Its been know for years good pitching beats good hitting, yet we spend stupid $$ for has beens,everyone has been saying this for the last six years, but Torre will pay the price, maybe Cashman should be the one going. As far as A-Rod goes they wouldn't be in the playoffs with out him this year. A-Rod is the AL MVP!!!!
Posted at 2:09PM on Oct 9th 2007 by Ron
19. As the old adage goes, good pitching stops good hitting. It doesn't matter who the manager is. If you don't have good pitching, you will not win championships.
Joe Torre is arguably the best manager in baseball today. To fire him because upper management could not provide a superior rotation is absurd. Torre's leadership is the only reason the Yankees even made it into the playoffs. His team never quit. But if you can't pitch, you don't win.
It seems like everybody is again jumping on A-Rod, blaming him for all the Yankees' problems. I suggest we take a look at Mr. Wang, the supposed ace of the team. He blew two games of this short series, and it seems to me he failed miserably at crunch time every time he was matched with the ace of an opposing team. Remember his debacle against Beckett?
I don't think Wang has the belly for championship baseball. Maybe he should be traded for someone who does.
Posted at 2:22PM on Oct 9th 2007 by Ron
20. Pitching--Pitching--Pitching!! Connie Mack said it is 70% of the game and in the playoffs probably 80%. Cashman gave Torre Wang and Pettite the only legitimate starters (Mussin and Clemens weren't ready at the outset of the season). How Cashman could let the trading deadline elapse without "trying" to add an additional starter is inexcusable-----he is the TOTAL blame, without even mentioning that abominable bullpen (save for Mariano and Joba). Joe Torre brought a team that was 14 1/2 games back and still almost won the AL East, and he did it by using his "knowlege of the game!!" It would be a tragic mistake to fire Torre, when it is Cashman that should "GO!!" Melky, Jason, Abreu and A-Rod should not be brought back. And some legitimater back-up to an aging Posada is a MUST!!
Posted at 3:49PM on Oct 9th 2007 by Herb Nagle