It's the new A-Rod! Again! This Arodologist looks at what was the biggest key to changing his image

A-Rod today at spring training.

I check Facebook's "On This Day" each morning to see what' I was doing on previous dates in Facebook. A year ago this week, especially today, I was writing about how the New York sports media was going nuts over Alex Rodriguez. Back then, pretty much every single question in spring training was about A-Rod, after he missed a season due to PED use.

What a difference a year makes. A-Rod is *a* story, but he's not *the* story. And when stories are about him, they are mostly positive, about how he is a beloved teammate, good player, fan favorite, talented broadcaster, and good businessman.

Case in point #1: Bob Nightengale's profile of him this week in USA Today, which might have been the most positive story ever written about Rodriguez.

Case in point #2: This headline in a New York Daily News story about how A-Rod should give some advice on handling the media: "Yankees' Alex Rodriguez can help Lonn Trost, Aroldis Chapman deal with media crises." Wait, what?

As an Arodologist who wrote about "The Redemption of A-Rod" for the Washington Post last June, even I am surprised at how complete his image has changed over the past year.

So what has made the difference? I have a number of theories as to why this has happened: He had a great season, he showed his love for the game with his excellent broadcasting, he got better advisors, he stopped saying dumb things, etc.

But here are the most important things he has going for him these days: groupthink, peer pressure, and Derek Jeter's retirement. Let me explain.

I always have said that there were a certain number of fans who loved Rodriguez no matter what, or hated him no matter what. And what really moves the needle are the ones in the middle. For a long time, it was cool to hate A-Rod. Now, that is no longer the case. The perception is that he did his time, has matured into an elder statemen, and is arguably the most important player on the team. Without him, they wouldn't have made the playoffs. Sure, there are still Yankee fans who can't stand him, but most like him now, and he has gotten the biggest cheers of anybody this spring. The groupthink and peer pressure (it's no longer cool to despise him) are finally working in his favor.

That also goes with the media. Granted, so many problems of A-Rod's were self-inflicted, but at the same time, too many people in the press made mountains out of molehills when it came to him. There seemed to be an unseemly piling on over the silliest of things. Now, most reporters have realized that he (shocker) is actually a great person to talk baseball with, and they pick his brains now for strategy. And they seem to have collectively gotten away from the snickering amongst themselves about him that they used to do. Now they're falling over themselves to write positive stories. Even this Arodologist couldn't have predicted that!

The other thing that is helping A-Rod out is Jeter's retirement. No longer do fans have to feel somehow disloyal to Jeter by liking Rodriguez. No longer do reporters try to curry favor with Jeter by slamming A-Rod. In addition, Alex had always talked to players behind the scenes and helped the younger players (fun fact: he has bought several sets of suits for each rookie since he joined the team), but now that Jeter is gone, he can be more of an open team leader and elder statesman. Now he's the veteran who contacts new players to welcome them to the team. Who'da thunk it?

Shocker! A-Rod is star of this year's Yankee promotional schedule

I guess Alex Rodriguez is marketable after all. The Yankees announced their 2016 promotional schedule on Thursday. And he's the star of it! What a difference a year -- with 30+ homers for Alex -- makes. Bat Day is arguably the Yankees' most popular event. And this year, the Yanks are giving away an "Alex Rodriguez Replica Bat" on May 14 to 10,000 kids 14 and under.

But what about the children, as the cliche goes? Squawker Jon pointed out that the fact that this giveaway involves kids is even more amazing. It really is a shocking turn of events!

I take a look at that Facebook "On This Day" app each day, which shows me what I was posting on previous years on this date. And last year at this time, I was Squawking -- and writing on Facebook -- about how angry the Yankees were at A-Rod, and how they were doing their best to alienate him. Remember how they got mad about him showing up for spring training *early*? It never made any sense to me then or now. They needed to get the best out of him in order to win, so wouldn't they want to make him more comfortable, not less?

At any rate, A-Rod's great year -- or at least great four months -- is arguably why the Yankees made the postseason at all. And thanks to that great season, Rodriguez is now at 687 homers. His next home run milestone is at 714, so if he stays healthy, it's possible he could get 27 homers this year and earn that next $6 million in this contract.

So given this promotional event, and given the emails Yankee fans have gotten this year featuring A-Rod in order to sell tickets, I guess the team is going to concede that he is, um, marketable? So I guess they've resigned themselves to paying that next $6 million milestone, right? I don't see how they can get out of it this time.

Speaking of which, I was trying to figure out yesterday who got the tax deduction when the Yankees settled with Alex on paying out the previous milestone for reaching 660 homers. The team's press release last July said:

Mr. Rodriguez and the Yankees have agreed that a total of $3.5 million in charitable contributions will be made by the Club, with $1 million going to the following charities that have long enjoyed the support of one or both: the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, the Boys & Girls Club of Tampa, and Pitch In For Baseball; and $2.5 million going to the MLB Urban Youth Foundation.

I could be wrong, but it sounds to me like the team is getting the tax deduction for this. So basically, they got out of paying $2.5 million to A-Rod that they were contractually obligated to do. Plus it looks like they got a $3.5 million tax deduction for this as well. But of course, they invested all that back into improving the team, right? Of course not. They didn't sign a single free agent this winter -- the only team not to do so. Instead, Hal Steinbrenner has more money in his pocket to use for getting fooled in shill auctions again. Oy.

It's funny -- fans get soooo outraged over how much money players make. But they never think about how much owners make. At least the players earned their money by being the best of the world at what they do. What did Prince Hal do to earn his money, other than to be George Steinbrenner's son? Talk about being born on third base and thinking he hit a triple!

Hal's big innovation is to take away the one remaining advantage the Yankees have over other teams -- the ability to spend. Oh, joy.

The New York Daily News did an article the other day -- complete with a puff piece back page cover about "The Art of the Steal" --  about the trades Brian (Fredo) Cashman made this winter. (Shouldn't we wait to see the players in action on the field before we call the trades "steals"?) In it, Cashman told columnist John Harper that the team had "even loftier hopes," Harper writes, with bigger deals they tried to make, but failed at. "If you knew all the different things we tried for, you'd really have a story," Cashman said. Oh, please. This isn't preschool. You don't get credit for the things you tried to do!

Cashman also talked about the team's goals for this season, saying: "If our starting rotation stays healthy we have a chance to be one of the better teams competing for the post-season.'' Quite a change from "World Series or bust," isn't it? Is that slogan going to get fans to buy tickets?

And given that the rotation consists of pitchers like Masahiro Tanaka, who is one pitch away from Tommy John surgery, the aging CC Sabathia, the injury-ridden Michael Pineda, who has yet to have an injury-free year as a Yankee, and Nathan Eovaldi, who entered the year on the disabled list, the odds of the team having an injury-free rotation are about as good as me running the Brooklyn Half Marathon in under two hours. Which is to say, it's not going to happen!

But Cash has a built-in excuse for the team not doing anything this year -- it's the rotation, stupid. Hey, it's not like there were stud pitchers like David Price or Zack Greinke on the free agent market last winter or anything. Oh, wait.

It is going to be interesting to see how many fans show up in the Bronx this year. There are only so many walks down memory lane (the Yanks also announced yesterday that they had special days planned for Mariano Rivera and the 1996 team) that will put fannies in the seats. The product on the field will need to be compelling as well. And that remains to be seen.

Yankees-Astros Wild Card: Why we're calling this "The Gravy Game"

I was interviewed for my pal Paul Francis Sullivan's Sully Baseball podcast for a preview of today's New York-Houston Wild Card game. Sully, the Astros fan interviewed before me, and myself are all calling this matchup The Gravy Game. Meaning that since we never expected our teams to make it to the playoffs this year, just having one postseason game is gravy to u!

Way back in March, I couldn't foresee the Yankees making it into the postseason. Heck, I said then I didn't think they would win more than 80 games, and I figured they wouldn't finish any higher than fourth place. I've never been so happy to have been wrong! (I did correctly predict, though, that the Mets would have a better record than the Yankees. And that A-Rod would have an epic year, although even this A-Rod apologist couldn't have predicted 30+ homers!)

Most baseball prognosticators didn't even think either the Yankees or the Astros (or the Rangers or Mets, for that matter) would make it into the postseason. Check out the teams 80+ experts predicted for ESPN; the vast majority of the teams picked didn't even make it into the postseason!

Don't get me wrong. I want the Yankees to win it all. I can't tell you how many times I have run this year (I am training for a half-marathon that I'm running this weekend) when I have visualized the Yankees winning the World Series, and Alex Rodriguez winning the World Series MVP. I want a Subway Series, too. It would be good -- make that great -- for the Squawkers! I have big plans for world domination. They start with a win tonight!

All that being said, I have to remember that just being in the postseason this year, with this team, is a pretty good accomplishment. A-Rod talked some yesterday about how the Yankees are the "major underdogs" this year. He told Newsday:

"I think with everything we've done this year, we've surprised a lot of people, and that's hard to do when you wear pinstripes," he said. "But I think going into this year, if you rewind seven months and told us we'd have an opportunity to play at home and defend our home court in a wild-card game, I think we all would have signed up for that."

And Rodriguez told the Daily News this about CC Sabathia checking himself into rehab:

“It’s a very courageous thing to do,” A-Rod said. “We play for CC now. CC has gone to the mat for us many, many times. … So now we go to the mat for him. 

“CC is a friend and a great teammate; like a brother to me. If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have a championship ring from ’09. What he did was very courageous. It takes a very tough guy to do what he did.”

I wish CC well. He is my second-favorite current Yankee, after A-Rod. And it says a lot about the esteem Sabathia is held in that he has received such positive feedback about his decision to enter alcohol rehab at the beginning of the postseason. (That being said, I have to wonder if there is something that happened this weekend that precipitated this!)

In addition to talking about CC, and also how the Yankees won in 2000 when they slumped at the end (something Joel Sherman also covers in his column for the New York Post today), Sully and I   discussed how amazing it would be if Alex was the big hero tonight. Dare to dream!

On the podcast, I also blamed the lack of greenies for causing the older Yankees to drag towards the end of the year. Yes, I went there!

Anyhow, I'm calling for a Yankees win tonight. And I really want the house to be rocking. Bring back the home field advantage, Yankee fans!

On A-Rod's grand slam, Katy Perry's 'Roar,' my Tuesday track night, and how 'I'll show you' is a valid motivator

Doesn't A-Rod look like he's roaring after
hitting his grand slam?

I am exhausted now from running as fast as I ever had in my life tonight with my Tuesday night speed work as part of my half-marathon training. I am also exhausted from screaming my head off when Alex Rodriguez hit a grand slam to win the game tonight for the Yankees! Good thing my landlords are Yankee fans!

I have to say that the redemption of A-Rod is my very favorite baseball-related storyline this year. I wrote in my Washington Post article with that The Redemption of A-Rod title (shameless self-promotion alert):

We want our role models to be perfect, especially for our children’s sake. But what can flawless, contour-free statues — the marble creatures on pedestals — really teach us about overcoming adversity? The reality is that most of us have more A-Rod in us than we do Jeter. No. 2 is cool but boring; No. 13 is the one who, after decades of trying, finally bested his demons — the flawed human who dug his own grave, then climbed out of it.

Outside the #13 luxury suite at
Yankee Stadium last week.

I really am inspired by Alex. Both of us hit rock bottom, in our own ways. (When I look back at photos at my heaviest, I can't believe I let myself go that much.) Both of us didn't exactly have a slew of people believing in us at our lowest points. Both of us faced the snickers and the derision of those who laughed at us, whether openly or behind our backs.  But both of us crawled our way back, and are much better off now in life than where we were last year. As Drake would say, "Started from the bottom/Now we're here." (Actually, he raps, "now we here," but the proofreader/copy editor in me can't abide by that!)

Look, I have tried to stay positive throughout my fitness journey -- I have lost 50 pounds so far, and am trying to do the right things each day. And when it comes down to it, not only do I have people in my cheering corner, but my efforts have also turned some of the doubters into supporters.

However, I have to admit that there is more than a little "I'll show you" spirit in me, especially when I run!

Katy Perry's song "Roar" is reportedly
about Russell Brand, who reportedly told her via
 a text message that he wanted a divorce!

I noticed that tonight at my running club's weekly speed work session at the track. I am usually pretty incoherent when running quickly (yes, I know Squawker Jon will say I am incoherent much of the time!), but tonight I focused on one idea: "I'll show you" -- not really directed at one person or thing, but to the universe.

So as I ran around the track, I kept on playing Katy Perry's "Roar" on my iPhone, one of my go-to "I'll show them all" songs! Some of my favorite phrases in the song are the following (emphasis added to my favorite parts):

I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath
Scared to rock the boat and make a mess
So I sat quietly, agree politely
I guess that I forgot I had a choice
I let you push me past the breaking point
I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything

You held me down, but I got up
Already brushing off the dust 
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder gonna shake the ground
You held me down, but I got up
Get ready 'cause I've had enough
I see it all, I see it now

I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire
'Cause I am a champion and you're gonna hear me roar.'

So anyhow, tonight I ran my fastest-ever times. (Granted, we are talking 10+-minute mile speeds, but given that two years ago, I couldn't even walk faster than 16:30 a mile, this is huge progress for yours truly.) That's at least partly because I channeled my anger at the universe into my running.

I wonder if Alex channeled his own anger at the universe into his plate appearance tonight, in which, after going 1-for-27 and not hitting a home run since his birthday last month, he hit his 25th career grand slam to win the game for the Yankees. Not bad for the "unclutch" Rodriguez, eh?

* * *

I have recently started writing down my vision for myself, to help manifest it in the universe. (It sounds New Agey, but I don't care!)

My vision for A-Rod and the Yankees is that they win title #28 this year, beating the Mets in a Subway Series (good for the Squawkers, remember!) and that A-Rod is the World Series MVP. Part of my vision for myself is that I finish my October half-marathon in less than three hours, and that I am in striking distance of my goal weight at that point.

I also am throwing out to the universe my desire to interview Alex (whether on or off the record) after the year is over. I really would like to know more about how he got off the proverbial mat when he appeared to be down for the count. Dare to dream!

Shocker! I actually liked seeing an NYCFC soccer game at Yankee Stadium

Me standing in front of our suite's seating area before the game.

One of the cool things about my day job in advertising is that we sometimes get some great perks. Over the past year, I have gotten to see a number of games from luxury suites: the Mets at Citi Field, the Nets at Barclays Center, and now the New York City Football Club (NYCFC) at Yankee Stadium. Thursday night, I saw NYCFC beat D.C. United, 3-1. And guess what? I actually enjoyed watching the game! (Yes, I am surprised as you are!)

When I was a kid, I went to a few New York Cosmos games, but that was the extent of my soccer fandom. Frankly, as an adult, seeing the games on TV, like the World Cup, were very boring. Oh, and that vuvuzela sound was extremely annoying!

So I didn't expect to be entertained by this soccer game. I initially went so I could 1) see what the Yankees' luxury suites were like, and 2) check out the food! The actual game itself was a distant third.

Some of the food featured in the suite. And condiments!
Michael Kay would not be pleased!

The food was not quite Legends Suite levels (no shrimp or prime rib or Frank Pellegrino cooking, the way Squawker Jon and I once experienced in the Legends section!) but it was pretty decent. I particularly enjoyed the chicken strips, which had a remoulade-type sauce with them, and the carmelized onion dip. Oh, and a variety of beers, including Goose Island, were included!

And the pre-game ceremony was epic. Whoever plans this for NYCFC deserves a raise -- or a promotion to doing it for the Yankees! They had members of the NYPD and FDNY stand in full dress uniforms, across from each other in a ceremonial line, and the hometown players ran through these lines. When the players came out, they each had a kid with them (not sure who the kids were -- if they were local soccer players or family members or what -- but it was still cute.)

The game was surprisingly entertainning!

Xavier High School's JROTC presented the colors before the game. Then an actual LIVE SINGER performed the National Anthem (Angel Reda from "Chicago") -- imagine that concept!

NYCFC has marching-band style music with a modern twist, courtesy of City Beats. They were really entertaining to hear during the game, and they had a huge crowd gathered around them when they performed outside the stadium after the game. It was high-energy music that was more entertaining than what you usually hear at the ballpark.

The game was pretty compelling -- had actual scoring and movement and excitement! I found myself paying attention to the action much more than I expected to. It did make me chuckle, though, to hear NYCFC captain David Villa being serenade with a chant of his name that sounded an awful lot like "DER-EK JE-TER"!

The crowd of 28,000 was pretty intense and noisy -- arguably just as noisy, if not more, than a typical Yankee game!

Look who's here in the suite! A-Rod!
(And me with shaggy bangs! I got a trim
 the next day after seeing this pic!)

Since this was my first time at the suite level at Yankee Stadium, I made sure to soak it all in and pay attention to detail. Yankee Stadium's luxury suites are individually numbered, and have pictures related to the uniform number of the players who wore that number. For example, Suite 7 had a ton of Mickey Mantle photos outside (and presumably inside.) We were in Suite 17, and there was a plaque at the entrance listing everybody who wore that uniform number.

I also made it a point to sashay down to Suite 13, to see if they had any A-Rod stuff. To my surprise, they had multiple pictures outside the suite of him. This, even though the anti-A-Rod New York Daily News provided the photos outside and inside the suites! Heck, A-Rod was even featured inside our suite, which shocked me!

I walked the entire length of the hallways to see what Yankee pix were up. I wonder when they added the A-Rod stuff (I am pretty sure that he wasn't featured in the suite we were in until this summer!) but he is pretty well-represented.

A photo of Derek Jeter from the suite -- I thought this was
 one of the best-ever pix of him!

You know who doesn't seem to be represented at all? Graig Nettles! He wasn't even pictured outside the No. 9 suite. I wonder what the story is with him and the Yankees. Pretty much every major player of his era has gotten recognition in Monument Park except for him!

One of the best things with the photo displays is the way they have multiple photos to represent the same event. The best was seeing multiple action shots of Chris Chambliss' reaction to his 1976 pennant-winning homer!

Back to the game. It indeed was entertaining and got me my sports fix! I also have to say I really like the length of soccer games as opposed to baseball. It was only about two hours or so long, which is great! It is rare I am able to get home to Staten Island by 11 p.m. after going to Yankee Stadium for a night game, so that was a refreshing change.

And that was with staying after the game a little to see how they started to get it back to baseball-playing shape -- we saw them remove some of the grass from the infield. One of my cohorts from work -- a UK soccer fan -- said that the players were tripping on the parts of the pitch that covered the infield. It defiintely looked a little uneven!

Anyhow, if you want to have a fun evening checking out a sporting event, I actually recommend taking in an NYCFC game!

Double shocker: Yankees beat the Blue Jays, and the "unmarketable" A-Rod is getting a special day!

A-Rod and CC hug it out after Alex's 3000th hit.

Well, that was a pretty exciting -- and exhausting -- day in Yankeeland! First, even I, the author of "The Redemption of A-Rod," was positively stunned when I heard that the Yankees were going to honor Alex Rodriguez with a special day for his 3000th hit. I don't seem to remember even Derek Jeter getting such a day for his own 3000th hit, so that makes this news even more amazing.

This is the most shocking turnaround in reputation since Santa asked Rudolph to guide the sleigh on Christmas Eve!

Brian Cashman claimed to the Daily News that it's "not a surprise" that the team would honor Rodriguez this way. Child, please. Talk about revisionist history!

Cashman also said (emphasis added):

“I think it certainly shows how far he’s come, how far we’ve come,” Cashman said. “Mistakes can happen, and you can move past it over time. What he has accomplished on the field is pretty special. You can’t argue with the amount of hits he’s put together over the course of his career. It’s an amazing accomplishment.”

My jaw is on the floor, it has dropped so far! "You can't argue with the amount of hits" A-Rod has put together? Um, the Yankees *did* argue just that when they refused to pay him $6 million for him reaching the 660-homer milestone! Or are we in some alternate universe where homers don't count as hits?

And even I am flabbergasted that Cashman would describe repeated PED use as merely "mistakes."

The cynic in me initially thought that the A-Rod 3000-hit day is just meant to sell tickets and garner buzz on the first NFL Sunday of the year. But it is before a critical game against the Blue Jays, so that should be worth selling tickets on its own.

At any rate, the very idea that this day could be meant to sell tickets and create buzz belies the notion that Rodriguez is unmarketable. I can't see how the Yankees can refuse to pay A-Rod's next home run milestone after marketing this.

When I was at the Yankees-Red Sox game on August 4, they showed clips of Alex's 500th and 600th homers, which were on that same day. I also noticed when I was at the ballpark Thursday night for an NYCFC soccer game (more on that in a future Squawk!) how many photos of Rodriguez are in the luxury suite area, something that I doubt was the case last year or even at the beginning of the season!

Did the team simply finally wake up and notice that Alex is their most popular player by far these days?  Or is there some behind-the-scenes story that we don't know about? Is this day a quid pro quo in exchange for A-Rod's charitable settlement with the team over the milestone money?

It just goes to show how quickly a person's reputation can change! We see people's reputation sink very quickly (Bill Cosby, I'm looking at you) but we don't often see somebody have their reputation rehabilitated so quickly!

* * *

A shot of my TV screen after Miller got the save.

Last night's game was gut-wrenching, but ultimately satisfying. It was the most important win of the year, and felt like a playoff game!

We finally got to see the clutch Carlos Beltran -- the one who had such great postseason numbers with the Astros -- step up, with that awesome pinch-hit home run! It is is best moment as a Yankee, by far, so far.

And I am still emotionally exhausted from that epic 12 pitch at-bat between Troy Tulowitzki and Andrew Miller. Given how shaky Miller has been looking as of late -- and last night -- I didn't think that was going to end well.Miller Time didn't look to go down easy at first. But they still won. Whew!

Now the Yankees are back in first place, where they belong. Let's hope they can stay there today!

David Ortiz is a big ol' hypocrite. And here's why.

David Ortiz, back when he was slim
and trim and didn't hit homers.

David Ortiz is at it again. For somebody who has this jolly, beloved reputation, he really is a crybaby. Waaaaah!

The latest thing Ortiz did was passive-aggressively throw Alex Rodriguez under the bus. (Note: I also can't stand passive aggression; it drives me nuts when women do it, and even more when men do it! Especially when Ortiz does it! Be a man, not a sorority girl, dude!)

Ortiz told the New York Post the following about his former friend (emphasis added):

“It is what it is,” Ortiz said before the Yankees blew out the Red Sox, 13-3, Tuesday night at the Stadium. “The guy is playing the right way now — as far as we know. He’s having a good season and doing the right thing. I guess that deserves credit.”

Meow! Need a saucer of milk with that, Big Papi?

Then Ortiz deposited this in the litter box that is the Post:

 “He’s having a good season,” Ortiz said. “Me, personally, I thought having a year off and getting older was something that would affect you, but he looks good to me.”

Hmmmm. I seem to remember Ortiz whining in The Players' Tribune, A-Rod frenemy Derek Jeter's site, about people making assumptions about him using PEDs due to such clues. Specifically, without naming him, he slammed Bostom Globe columnist Dan Shaughnessy for asking questions:

In 2013, I came off the DL and started hot. My first 20 games I was hitting like .400. And the reporter with the red jheri curl from The Boston Globe comes into the locker room says, “You’re from the Dominican. You’re older. You fit the profile of a steroid user. Don’t you think you’re a prime suspect?”

He’s saying this with a straight face. I had taken like 70 at-bats. Anybody can get hot and hit .400 with 70 at-bats. I was stunned. I’m like, I’m Dominican? I fit the profile? Are you kidding me?

Of course, as I noted back in March, Ortiz exaggerated what Shaughnessy actually said and wrote, which was this:

But you fit all the models. You are from the Dominican Republic. You are an older player. Older players don’t get better. You’ve had injuries consistent with steroid use. You showed up on the list from 2003. You fit all the formulas.

“[Expletive], I’m a human being just like everyone else,” said Ortiz. “You can get worse or you can get better. One or the other.’’

Anyhow, I find it fascinating that Ortiz was so prickly about people suggesting the he fit a PED user profile, and then he does the same thing to Rodriguez. That's why I call him a big ol' hypocrite. 

Thoughts on A-Rod turning 40, Teix's hissy fit, the Tulo-Reyes trade, and Shane Victorino, the Cryin' Hawaiian

I was excited to see Alex Rodriguez homer on his 40th birthday last night (his sixth on his B-Day, which sets an MLB record), but I went to bed early. So I missed the Mark Teixeira shenanigans. After he was thrown out at home plate by Leonys Martin, who robbed him of a homer earlier in the game, Teix threw the mother of all hissy fits, tossing around a trash can in the dugout. Turns out that Yankee third-base coach Joe Espada told Teixeira "easy" when rounding third, and it cost him the chance to score. And Mark openly criticized the coach to the media after the game.


 

Then I woke up this morning to see that the New York Daily News actually had a positive back page about A-Rod! I can't remember the last time that has happened, or if it has ever happened. Oddly enough, though, Bill Madden hasn't written about Alex lately. (Remember, Madden said Alex was "finished" as a player and would never play again. Hardball Talk lists the most egregious Madden pronouncements on Rodriguez.)

The New York Post, on the other hand, had a negative cover of Rodriguez, regarding him telling reporters yesterday that he was "clean." Pretty nifty Photoshop, though. Glad they made sure the "Mr. Clean" A-Rod had an earring!

But the News' back page wasn't the most shocking thing in the baseball world I saw this morning. No, the Troy Tulowitzki-Jose Reyes trade takes the trade for that. Toronto, along with Baltimore, is seven games behind the Yankees. But they are clearly going for it this season -- they haven't made the postseason since 1993, as Joel Sherman notes.

I think the Yankees have to be considered to be in the catbird seat for the postseason. But they still need another starting pitcher. Will it be Cole Hamels? Or David Price? Or somebody else?

And what about the Mets? They traded for ex-Yankee Tyler (The Yankee) Clippard last week. But they need a big hitter. Will it happen?

The trading deadline is this Friday at 4 p.m., just around the time I have to phone in to find out if I am going to be in jury duty next week! So that should be a momentous afternoon in a variety of ways. (Squawker Jon said this comment is very solipsistic, even for me!)

In other trading deadline news, Shane Victorino, aka the Flyin' Hawaiian, got traded from the Red Sox to the Angels. Victorino cried -- repeatedly -- in the presser announcing the deal. Dude, you should be happy to get out of Boston! The Angels actually have a playoff-worthy team!

Squawker Jon and I were talking about the trade, and I mentioned that Victorino is retiring the use of Bob Marley's "Three Little Birds" as his at-bat music. That song became a rallying cry for Red Sox Nation in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing and subsequent World Series championship.

Jon knew the song but didn't know the title, so I had to mention the lyrics about "every little thing gonna be alright." His excuse was that he wasn't a Deadhead. Huh? What do the Grateful Dead have in common with Bob Marley? Oh, wait!

Shocker! It's an A-Bomb, and another A-Bomb, and another A-Bomb from A-Rod!

A-Rod smirks after his first homer last night.

I was home last night working on a writing project, but I didn't get all that much done. That is because the Yankee game, which looked like a blowout loss for much of it, turned out to be arguably the best win of the year.

Although CC Sabathia had another step back, putting the Yanks in a 5-0 hole, Alex Rodriguez carried the Yankees on his back by hitting three homers, the last one to tie the game in the ninth. Then John Ryan Murphy improbably hit the game-winning homer.

This was my reaction at home while watching all of this unfold:






And none of the three homers Alex hit were cheap home runs; the first one even went into the third deck of Target Field.

Squawker Jon had just finished crowing to me about what a great game the Mets were having last night, with Matt Harvey pitching well, Michael Conforto going 4 for 4, and the Mets having the most runs and hits they had had this season, beating the Dodgers 15-2. And then it looked like A-Rod's third homer -- and the Yankee win -- would steal the back page from the Mets. Snicker.

However, Jon got the last laugh. the New York Daily News treated the Mets' game as bigger than the Yankees' win, featuring the Mets on the front and back pages, while the Yankees' win was only mentioned at the top of the back page. The New York Post also kept the Mets on the back page, although they did put A-Rod on the front page. Oh, and both tabloids used the phrase "Trey-Rod"!

Now to the elephant in the room. Is Alex juicing again? I don't think he is, but I can't say for sure. And I think it is understandable for people to speculate -- that's part of the price you pay for getting caught twice doing performance-enhancing drugs.

What I do know is that this is so much fun to watch. Can you imagine if A-Rod can somehow lead the Yankees to No. 28? Wouldn't that be amazing?

ESPN New York's Andrew Marchand had a very good piece last night on Rodriguez's resurgence. He also touched the third rail of Yankee coverage, actually criticizing Derek Jeter. Check this out (emphasis added):

One truth that can't be denied is that A-Rod is a leader on the club. He is different than his all-time frenemy Derek Jeter. Rodriguez is vocal. He goes out of his way to be involved. He is very willing to laugh at himself.

"He's a teacher," Girardi said. "He brings people together because he teaches, but he also likes to have fun. I have said a lot of times, people around him are laughing a lot. It is important during a long season."

It amuses me to no end to see that, after the past decade of building up Derek Jeter as this awesome captain and great clubhouse leader, to see somebody in the media write something negative about Jeter like this. And to praise Rodriguez as a leader, too. 

We fans have been fed the myth of A-Rod=Bad, Jeter=Good. But the truth is more complicated than that binary look at things. And now that Jeter is retired, we are finally getting a more realistic look at him -- and a less one-sided negative view of Rodriguez.

The New York Times' Harvey Araton sez Barry Bonds should be in the Hall of Fame. I agree.

Like many baseball fans, I have had a number of thoughts and emotions over the years on what MLB should do/should have done about performance enhancing drugs. It is bizarre to me the way this has all shaken out. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who are HOFers even if you cut out their steroid years, are left out of the Hall. Meanwhile, Joe Torre, Tony LaRussa, and Bobby Cox, who won championships based on PED users, are in the Hall.

Oh, and Matt Williams is an MLB manager, Mark McGwire is a trusted hitting coach, and Nelson Cruz and Ryan Braun make it to the All-Star Game, and Jason Giambi was a beloved elder statesman of the game. Andy Pettitte is getting a monument plaque in Monument Park and a retired number. All admitted PED users. There is little or no consistency.

Not to mention that the players who use PEDs assume all the risks and the punishments, while the ownership that profited and still profits off their use just gets to cash the checks.

Anyhow, the New York Times' Harvey Araton has a terrific column that touches on this issue. Now that the feds have finally dropped their last remaining charge against Barry Bonds, after the obstruction of justice count was overturned on appeal, Araton argues that Bonds deserves to be in the Hall.

The whole thing is worth a read, but here are some of the most relevant points (emphasis added):

It has long been argued that Bonds had pretty much earned a spot in the Hall as Skinny Barry, with a decade’s worth of greatness before the 1998 preponderance of steroid benefits produced by McGwire and Sammy Sosa seemingly, and rather infamously went to Bonds’s head. What came after was surely a distortion of his previously immaculate stats. But in the context of continued revelations about baseball’s culture — foremost among them the Mitchell Report, which fingered Roger Clemens and shattered all notions of steroids as primarily a slugger’s scourge — the achievements of the bloated Bonds can no longer be permanently and completely discredited, viewed in a vacuum.

And this:

Baseball’s original sin wasn’t that it had — and certainly still has — athletes surreptitiously seeking an edge. It was management’s willful neglect of the problem for the sake of profits along with an obstructionist union wrongfully working to shield the guilty at the expense of the innocent.

As I always say, do you think Brian Cashman didn't know that A-Rod was juicing before they re-signed him? Heck, he could have known before trading for him in the first place!

Speaking of Rodriguez, Araton cites him as a positive example of somebody who has been accepted again into the game:

For many, it would no doubt be painful to hear an induction speech from Bonds, Clemens and the like. But wasn’t the notion of A-Rod again circling the bases after all that went down equally distasteful just months ago? Now what you hear is that he’s a great teammate, who served his time, paid his dues. So, in many ways, has Bonds, albeit with a smirk or a sneer. But how he has acted is not the point in the grand scheme. He deserves to be in the Hall, and baseball deserves to have him there, to deal more realistically, or honestly, with the industry’s original sin.

Ultimately, to me, it comes down to a number of things when it comes to putting PED users in the Hall:

• Bonds et al had to compete against pitchers who were juicing (and we will probably never know the full extent of that!) And Clemens had to compete against hitters who were juicing. And they were still superstars.
• PEDs themselves don't make you a great player, or Jeremy Giambi and Randy Velarde would have been big names.
• Bonds, Clemens, Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, etc. were the best players in the game in their era. How can you represent their generation in the Hall if they have been left out? 
• Jose Canseco has said there is at least one PED user already in the Hall. When that ever comes out, what will be the justification for keeping the rest out?
• What about players (cough, David Ortiz) who get a pass for PED use? Should they go in because writers like them, and they were never punished for such use?

It is a complicated subject, to be sure. But it seems to me that Bonds (and Clemens) need to be in the Hall of Fame. It's time for some consistency on this issue. If Torre, Cox, and LaRussa can be in, then so can Bonds and Clemens.

One other note on Bonds: for a guy who is supposed to be such a jerk, Greg Anderson, his trainer and childhood friend, literally went to jail -- twice! -- so as not to testify against him. Think about that for a second. I don't care how much money one could be given for doing so (some have suspected Bonds paid him off). Nothing is worth sacrificing your freedom that way. It says something about Bonds that Anderson did so for him.

If you think A-Rod's stop, drop, and roll slide was graceless, wait until you hear about my own shenanigans!

He's safe!

I was at work yesterday afternoon when the Yankees-Orioles game was going on, so I missed seeing the final game in the Yanks' sweep. But I saw my Twitter feed blow up afterwards with talk of Alex Rodriguez's crazy successful slide to home plate in the first inning.

Instead of a traditional slide, Rodriguez did a stop, drop, and roll maneuver, with somersaults and barrel rolls and everything!

It took a while for somebody to post video of this crazy slide that only A-Rod could pull off, but it was even more glorious than I expected. Here is a GIF showing what happened. And yes, he was safe!

Speaking of crazy moves, I ended up taking not one but two dance classes yesterday, both of them way outside my comfort zone. But isn't that where the magic happens, as the saying goes? (I can picture Squawker Jon rolling his eyes at what he would call the "navel gazing" nature of this, but oh well!)

A little background: although I love music, I haven't really danced in many years, and I was never very good in the first place. Back in the day, in addition to my punk slamdancing, I used to actually go out to nightclubs and stuff and dance. You know, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth! Put it this way -- the last time I really went to the club and danced, people were doing the "Macarena." And not ironically.

So in my fitness/weight loss journey, I have been making a point as of late to get back into the modern world and take some dance-related classes at the gym, even though, as I said, they are way outside my comfort zone. I am far from a natural at it, that's for sure!

I have done Zumba a number of times (and I will do so again this weekend.) All the many moves confuse me, and my enjoyment of the class is directly related to what music they play, but I have at least been trying to get better at it!

I have also done Urban Rebounding, which features a few dance-type moves, like the Tick Tock, on a personal trampoline. That is probably my favorite of the dance-related stuff I've been doing, because of the feeling of defying gravity while doing so.

Last week, I took a PonDeFLO class. I didn't really care for that, because we had to do floor work (burpees and mountain climbers) in the middle of the class! Wait, what? I wanted to dance to Caribbean-style music, not be doing Spartan Race stuff in the middle of it! So I wasn't as impressed by that.

Anyhow, yesterday I took two dance classes at my gym, the New York Health and Racquet Club. Both of the classes were not what you would normally expect me to do.

The first was a Belly Dancing Abs class! The description says it is "a 30-minute belly dance inspired workout that targets your core muscles." And that was basically it, with Middle Eastern belly dance type-music in the background. We did a lot of hip (as in body part hip, not "cool" hip) movements around the room. I also found myself really enjoying it, to my surprise! The moves were challenging for me, but not impossible. Stephanie, the instructor, was fun and a good teacher. And yes, it was a real workout. I am sore today from it!

Then I took a Masala Bhangra class taught by the same instructor. The description for this is that the class is "a blend of traditional Bhangra dance steps and Bollywood moves" What a trip! I felt like I was in a Bollywood movie! We learned various dance moves and performed them to high-energy Indian music.Again, the moves were challenging for me, but not impossible. And man, was it fun! We did a whole routine of going around the room doing these various moves, and I can't believe how much I enjoyed it!

I will definitely be back at the Masala Bhangra class, as well as the Belly Dancing Abs class. Who knows? Maybe I will actually show some sense of rhythm on the dance floor one day!

I have joked for years with Jon that we need "Subway Squawkers: The Musical." So now I have at least one scene mapped out: we do a group dance Masala Bhangra style!  Jon said we could call the number "Slumdog Squawker!"

Shocker! I am actually feeling a little confident about the 2015 Yankees' chances!

I know I can be a bit of an Eeyore when it comes to how I think the Yankees will do. (Although Squawker Jon was the one who recently got called that by one of our readers!)

After all, in my preseason predictions, I figured the Yanks would finish in fourth place in the AL East, not win more than 80 games, and have a worse record than the Mets. And even though the Yankees have exceeded everyone's expectations, and are in first place, albeit in a pretty weak division, I still keep on waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Masahiro Tanaka's arm to finally get that Tommy John surgery. For other teams in the division to get hot.

But after Sunday, I am about as positive on this team as I have been all year. Two things impressed me. The first, of course, is that the Yankees got a series win against Seattle, winning a game that King Felix started, with CC Sabathia pitching like the CC of old. CC even roared and pumped his fist after striking out Robinson Cano! Also, Mark (Gluten-Free) Teixeira continued his phenomenal year with the game-winning homer.

The second was that Carlos Beltran did a fundraiser for his baseball academy Sunday night with an "80s Strike Back" theme, and many members of the team showed up, wearing goofy 1980s-style outfits. Although I don't remember some of these styles, and I lived through the 80s!

However, I did so many fashion and hair monstrosities back then, it's not even funny! I do think somebody should have worn a skinny leather tie with parachute pants -- that was a popular guys' style when I was in high school.

My favorite looks from the photo above are from Michael Pineda (the man in the yellow hat), CC Sabathia rocking the overalls, Garrett Jones as Bruce Springsteen and Chris Young with the Run-DMC look. The worst is A-Rod -- he should have gone for a Miami Vice look instead of the generic blazer and shirt!

Anyhow, one of the reasons for the team's success in 2009 seemed to be that they really liked each other. They had the walkoff pies and the kangaroo court and all sorts of silliness. I get the feeling that this 2015 team really likes each other as well. These sorts of bonding events are great for team chemistry.

So I don't know if this team has what it takes to win it all. But Sunday is the best I have felt about their chances all season!

One sour note about Sunday -- was sad to see Rob Refsnyder sent down to the minors. The incriminating picks Stephen Drew must have on Brian Cashman must be really something!

Who let the dogs out? A-Rod! Yes, Alex Rodriguez was responsible for the song being a hit

I loved the Ken Jeong/Alex Rodriguez apology skit at the ESPYs this week (see clip below). The comedian read apologies from A-Rod for inventing gluten, for the Knicks (as well as even for the TV show "The Knick"!) and for a slew of other silly items. The clip got Mike Lupica so angry that the Daily News writer channeled his inner Mushnick and wrote a whole column about how offensive it was.

There is one thing, though, that Alex still needs to apologize for: making "Who Let the Dogs Out" popular!

No joke. This is the 15th anniversary of the song, and Ben Reiter of Sports Illustrated looked back at it as part of their "Where Are They Now" issue. Even NPR (!) got into the act, interviewing Reiter about his article. And yes, it was A-Rod who made the song a hit!

Here are some fun facts about the Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out":

• The Seattle Mariners were the first team to play the song. They initially did so as a goof on "a country-western catcher named Joe Oliver," Reiter said. The team "played it one time, then another player on the Mariners said, 'You know what? I want you to play that song as my at-bat music.' That player was Alex Rodriguez — A-Rod was really the one who first made this song popular."
• Steve Greenberg, the song's producer, also produced Hanson's "MMMMBop," thus making him responsible for two of the worst songs of all time.
• In the 2000 MLB playoffs, five of the teams "(the Cardinals, Giants, Mariners, Mets and White Sox) were playing 'WLTDO' as their rally song," Sports Illustrated notes.
• I had moved to New York City from Texas in the fall of 2000, and my uncles took me to see the Mets in a postseason game -- they clinched the first round of the playoffs against the San Francisco Giants. I don't remember much about the game except for them playing "Who Let the Dogs Out" after they won!
• But the SI article notes that when the Mets met the Yankees in the Subway Series that year, actually hired the Baha Men to play their hit before Game 4 at Shea Stadium. To which I note, no wonder Derek Jeter had to shut fans up with his leadoff homer in that game! 
• Nelson Doubleday hated the song: "I can’t stand that ‘Let Out the Dogs’ song," he said then. "I have three dogs of my own."

So c'mon, Alex, you have to apologize for this song, and the fact that it's stuck in my head right now and won't go away!

Shocker! A-Rod gets snubbed for All-Star Game

Well, I guess I can understand why admitted PED user Alex Rodriguez got left out of this year's All-Star Game. We can't have juicers on the team. (Except that three other admitted PED users are on the team: Nelson Cruz is starting in the AL DH spot, the Cardinals' Jhonny Peralta is starting as NL shortstop, and Dodger Yasmani Grandal is a reserve.) 

I saw that Royals manager Ned Yost, the AL manager for the game, made sure to take care of his team, even though thanks to Kansas City fans stuffing the ballot box, four KC stars were already in the starting lineup, and Wade Davis was picked by players for the bullpen. Yost then obnoxiously went and picked Kelvin Herrera, one of his setup guys, saying:

“The one thing he had that a lot of others didn’t was he pitched in game seven of the World Series last year,” Yost said. “That was kind of a deciding factor for me.” 

Um, the All-Star Game is supposed to be about *this* year, not last year.

Then Yost also picked yet another Royal, third baseman Mike Moustakas, for the Final Vote competition over A-Rod. Puh-lease. Dude, you already have six of your players on the team, and you try to get a seventh on? Good grief. Yost claimed it was about flexibility -- A-Rod is a DH -- but don't tell me Rodriguez couldn't play third or first for one inning.

Due to a quirk in the system, Prince Fielder was on the fans' first base ballot, but the players' DH ballot, and Fielder, who is having a slightly better year than Rodriguez, got the nod.

But, as the New York Post's Ken Davidoff points out:

The Yankees’ first half proved far more enjoyable than many (including the hack writing this column) anticipated, and for that, A-Rod deserves a healthy share of the credit. He ranks among the league leaders in on-base percentage (.390, sixth), on-base plus slugging (.902, eighth) and OPS-plus (149, 8th). Consider that no other player ranking in the top 10 in any of those categories — not all, but any — failed to make the club.

Even writer Bob Klapisch, who has slammed A-Rod a lot in the past, thinks leaving him out is an injustice, and writes:

The layers of arrogance and narcissism have been peeled away. Beneath the psychological flesh is a goofy, semi-geeky ballplayer who’s made terrible decisions and told appalling lies. But Rodriguez loves baseball in a deep and profound way. I remember the first time he confided about a veteran Yankee who didn’t share his passion for the sport. “I asked [the teammate] if he wanted to come over after one of our games and watch the West Coast games on TV,” Rodriguez said. “And [the teammate] looked at me like I was crazy. “Why would I want to do that?” he said. “I was blown away.” Rodriguez is obviously not the player of his youth, but his enthusiasm remains intact.

Hmmm -- I wonder which player he was talking about here?

At any rate, A-Rod in the ASG would have been must-watch at-bats. Love him, hate him, people would watch the game to see him.

The Yanks do have Mark Teixeira and Dellin Betances on the All-Star roster, and Brett Gardner in the Final Vote competition, but A-Rod should have been on the team. Here's hoping that somebody drops out in the next week or so and he is added on.

My thoughts on the state of the Yankees, the A-rod milestone deals, and other assorted shenanigans

Looks like I missed two of the best Yankee games this year, in Friday's and Saturday's epic walkoff wins, the first two walkoff wins of 2015 for the Bombers! Back in 2009, I was at the first "pie game' that May, and the Yanks seemed to start to have an aura again about them. That aura translated into ring #27.

I am still not sold on this current team being a World Series winner, even though they are in first place and playing much better than I expected them to. Of course, as ESPN notes, 44 wins in the first half only works out to 88 wins in the second half. So unless the league-wide mediocrity continues (the Yanks actually have the third-best record in the AL, believe it or not) they need to pick it up in the second half.

It is hilarious to me that one of the main reasons they are contending at all is because of Alex Rodriguez, the very player they wished would just go away. You know Brian Cashman is gritting his teeth every day!

It also is hilarious that the Yankees, as per orders from Hal Steinbrenner, negotiated with Zack Hample to give a $150,000 donation to the Pitch In for Baseball in order to get A-Rod his 3,000 hit ball back. And Alex even was such a good sport in the presser with Hample, who is even more of a self-promoter than I am! Hample apologized for saying some jerky things about Rodriguez, and Alex said he forgave him for it, and added: "I have a Phd in saying dumb things over the years." Me too, A-Rod!

As for the 660-homer milestone dispute, I think the Yankees got off easy. $3.5 million to charity -- an amount that is tax deductible -- plus they don't have to pay the luxury tax? IMHO, they should have paid the whole $6 million to A-Rod, or at least to charity. The organization looks a little chintzy here.

* * *

Me bandaged up after the race.

I have had a busy weekend, and will miss today's game as well. Yesterday, I ran the Arielle Newman Run, a five-mile Staten Island race which was a very eventful one. Just after the race started, I tripped over a stroller and banged up both knees and my right elbow. My mind is a blur as to how it happened but I was very shaken up by it. 

But I picked myself up, dusted myself off, and ran the five miles, bloody knees and all. The first mile or so, I was thinking about the pain in my knees, but I just kept on going. And I even ended up with a personal record for not just that race, but for a five-mile race. I looked like a hot mess, though -- I even had a bloody sock!

Afterwards, I got bandaged up (there were some EMTs stationed at the race who helped me) and I got my picture taken. 

I was in a bit of pain last night -- every time I moved my knees when trying to sleep, I ended up waking myself up. But I'll live. 

Today, I have a lot going on. I am going to see "On the Town" on Broadway, and then I have the Grateful Dead simulcast in Times Square. I don't expect to get much sleep tonight!

What a long, strange trip it's been: Getting ready for the Grateful Dead's "Fare Thee Well" tour

I know I should be writing something about the Yankees and Alex Rodriguez making a deal on his milestones (my opinion is that the Yankees got off easy) or even the Yanks paying $150K to a charity of Zack Hample's choice to get his 3,000 hit ball (my opinion is that he is even more of a self-aggrandizer than me, which is not easy to do!)

But tonight is a very important night. The Grateful Dead are doing their "Fare Thee Well" farewell tour at Soldier Field over the next three days, starting this Friday. (I will be watching a theater simulcast of the last show at a Times Square movie theater on Sunday!) And in honor of the shows, I was going to come up with a top 10 Grateful Dead playlist. But then I found this very excellent one, and my work was mostly done! (I do have some additions, though. See below!)

I am a very recent convert to becoming a Dead fan. Until 2014, the most that I knew about the band was when a lefty/hippie boyfriend of mine in college used to play the Dead's greatest hits collection "Skeletons From the Closet" during our makeout sessions.

But I was terrified of the Grateful Dead's concert noodling -- 30 minute jams weren't -- and really still aren't -- my thing. However, as I discovered after seeing the terrific documentary on Bob Weir, "The Other One: The Long, Strange Trip of Bob Weir," which Squawker Jon and I saw last April at the Tribeca Film Festival, and then when watching the 1972 Bremen Beat Club concert at last year's Meet Up at the Movies, the Dead actually had some very catchy songs, and ones which didn't have interminable navel-gazing!

In case you haven't figured this out about Squawker Lisa by now: I am a very passionate person! Stuff I like, I really, really like. So when I finally discovered the Grateful Dead, I found myself listening to them constantly, and driving Squawker Jon and others crazy by talking about the band all of the time! Hey, I am what I am. Take it or leave it!

My favorite Dead era is in the early 70s, preferably when Pigpen was still alive and performing with the group.  To that end, check out this video, which has some of my all-time faves: "Bertha," "Mr. Charlie," and "Sugaree." If this concert had "Mama Tried," it would be the perfect show! Here is another good Dead show, from 1972. Then there is this before its time tribute to Aaron Hernandez in "Mama Tried."

Anyhow, I listen to the Dead all the time now. When I'm happy. When I'm sad. When I'm angry. When I'm tired. When I am running. When I am writing. They have such a diverse oevure (yeah, I went there, with the ten-dollar words!) that they have music for pretty much every mood! I wouldn't call myself a Deadhead, per se -- I am such a latecomer to all of this! -- but I would call myself a big fan! Shocker, I know!

On the hot mess that is Masahiro Tanaka, and why pitchers can't throw at A-Rod anymore

Ladies and gentlemen: the Tanaka face!

Have you ever been in one of those tumultuous relationships in which your boyfriend or girlfriend is a hot mess? You know, where you have real passion for the other person, and you think you click with them when you go out together, but they constantly let you down? Yet just when you are ready to give up on the relationship, your boyfriend or girlfriend comes sniffing around again, doing something immensely appealing and keeping you hanging on some more, until they let you down again and the cycle continues?

That's kind of what Masahiro Tanaka is like.

Ever since he tore his elbow, he has simply awful starts, then shows flashes of brilliance. Unfortunately, he is in the "awful starts" part of his repertoire now.

In his previous start, Tanaka had tanked in every way — allowing 10 hits, seven runs and three home runs over five innings in a 12-4 loss to the Tigers. The three home runs allowed, one to Victor Martinez and two to J.D. Martinez, marked a career high. Tanaka also tied a career high in runs (7) and earned runs (5) and he has never allowed more hits in a start.


Yesterday, Tanaka was staked to a 6-0 lead, and promptly gave it back over six innings. He gave up six runs, seven hits, and only had three strikeouts. He tied the 3-homer record that he established in his last start, and gave up more earned runs (6) than he ever has before. And when he melted down in the sixth, most notably when Jose Altuve hit a homer off him to tie the game, we got to see the Tanaka Face for the first time!

As Mike Vaccaro of the New York Post puts it:

Of course, the thousand-pound rhinoceros (or, in Alex Rodriguez’s preferred parlance, the pink elephant) in the room is, and will for the foreseeable future be, whatever hidden rat traps lurk within Tanaka’s elbow.

But what if it is not his elbow?

The whole situation reminds me of a joke about the Grateful Dead: A hippie runs out of drugs before a Dead show. After he listens to the concert sober, he says, "Wow, this music really stinks." (Of course, I love the Dead, and listen to them sober, but I still think this is a funny joke!)

What if it is just that Tanaka really stinks, and it is not his elbow causing this? But if it is his elbow, when is he going to get Tommy John surgery?

The Yankees did come back and win the game yesterday, 9-6. But if they are going to make the postseason, they need Tanaka to be a good boyfriend an ace again!

* * *

I missed watching the first half of the game live, although I did later on see the clip (see below) of Astros starter Brett Oberholtzer throwing inside to Alex Rodriguez after Houston hometown hero Chris Young's homer, the pitcher promptly getting ejected for doing so, and then Oberholtzer appearing to blame his glove for the bad pitching, hurling the glove in the dugout. The Houston starter was sent to the minors after the game.

The Yankee broadcasters called Oberholtzer "bush league," said the pitch was not the mark of a true competitor and said he should "take it like a man."

A few things I noticed about this:

Remember how Boston Red Sox pitcher Ryan Dempster threw four times in a row at A-Rod and the umps let him get away with it? Those times are over. Thought it was telling about Rodriguez' current reputation in the game that one inside pitch to him is enough to get the pitcher ejected.


It's clear that CC Sabathia is A-Rod's BFF. When A-Rod hit #3000, one of the players he hugged was CC. Then Sabathia spent big coin on "Ace of Spades" champagne for a postgame toast.  Now the pitcher was the first out of the dugout, ready to rumble after Alex got hit. Big change from the early days of A-Rod on the team! I wish I had CC in my posse! Heck, I wish I had a posse!

Is Zack Hample, the guy who caught A-Rod's 3000th hit, a righteous dude or a jerk?

Zack Hample hold's A-Rod's 3000th hit ball.

So, I have been on record advocating over and over that if a fan catches a historic ball at a game, whether it be Derek Jeter's 3000th hit or Alex Rodriguez's 660th homer or 3000th hit,  that he or she should make as much money as possible out of it. Sorry, but if it were me catching such a historic ball, I would want some cold hard cash in return. Getting some trinkets wouldn't cut it.

The only exception is what happened to Frank Burke, the person who caught San Francisco Giant Travis Ishikawa's pennant-winning home run. Burke, as I noted in an article for Guideposts.org, got to throw out the first pitch at Game 3 of the World Series that year. That is something unique you would not be able to buy on your own with the money you would get from selling the ball.

That being said, Zack Hample is really testing my patience. He is the professional ballhawk (or, as I call him, ballhog) who caught A-Rod's 3000th hit, which was a homer. Today, when he was whining online about A-Rod not following him on Twitter, I pointed out what he said earlier in the week, when somebody asked what he would do if he caught #Arod3k.

Hey, @AROD, I'm the guy who snagged your 3,000th hit. Any chance for a follow back? It would mean a lot to me.
— Zack Hample (@zack_hample) June 23, 2015

.@zack_hample You mean the guy you said you would give the finger and a dummy ball to if you caught 3000? https://t.co/VLN6ZhEkyj

— Subway Squawkers (@subwaysquawkers) June 23, 2015

Folks, what is problematic for me is that Hample is, pardon my French, a world-class douche bag. Seriously, if you type his name into Twitter, the first search terrn that comes up is "Zack Hample douche." (Sorry, I try to keep the Squawks G-rated, but sometimes the truth must be told here!)
I have heard too many stories from various people about how Hample knocks down children to snag balls before games to disbelieve them.

Not to mention the way he conducts himself. Squawker Jon pointed out Friday that the spotlight would not be kind to Mister Hample, and he was right. And I really have an issue with a 37-year-old man trolling for balls like this. Leave the glove at home, dude.

Anyhow, Hample, who apparently comes from a wealthy family, is now talking with Yankee front office bigwigs Randy Levine and Lonn Trost about what he might want for the ball. Talk about a meeting of the minds -- or, more to the point, of the d-bags! Sorry, pardon my French again, but the truth must be told here! (Squawker Jon said that me using this term burned a bridge to Yankeeland here. I said that bridge was napalmed long ago!)

At any rate, how ironic is it that the team that won't pay A-Rod for the 660-homer milestone is negotiating on his behalf for another milestone! Jon said that Hal Steinbrenner authorized the front office's pursuit of the ball. Hilarious!

In his negotiations, Hample brought up a "wish list," including donations to charity, to try to make it seem as if he isn't a jerk. Won't work, dude! You pretty much emanate jerkitude. You wear an umpire's cap to games, for goodness sake! But own it! I say go for that cold hard cash, and forget pretending that this is about charity or any such other high-minded pretense. They need to show you the money.

However, that also means giving the Yankees a simple price, and not doing these drama queen negotiations. If Hample doesn't want to negotiate with the Yankees, then sell the ball at an auction house and be done with it. But please, put an end to this drawn-out saga already. Good grief.