Since We Last Spoke...

It's been a hot minute since my last post. For that I apologize, but the stinking, festering A-Rod situation is too much to bear on a daily basis. I don't hate Alex Rodriguez for this. I hate A-Rod. I hate the public persona of the Yankees 3rd baseman. I hate the omnipresent media eye and media mouth that feeds off of and into this larger-than-life figure. It overshadows everything and is mostly meaningless, trite, and exploitative.

With that in mind, I am putting a moratorium on the nickname "A-Rod". After all, if Sean Combs can go by "Diddy" when the names "Puffy" and "Puff Daddy" held too much negative connotation and association with violence and murder, Alex can do it too when the name "A-Rod" is more a harbinger of doom, disaster, and PEDs.

It's incredibly hard to ignore the Alex Rodriguez story as it will venture on for the next nine years of all of our Yankee lives. Alex and his glove-slapping, steroid-injecting, She-Hulk loving ways will continue to weigh on and nag the most staunch of his supporters and admirers. Those who despise him will remain unaffected as every story that comes out serves only to reinforce the negative disposition and disdain they already hold towardds him.

With that in mind, the prevailing debate that rages on is whether or not the Yankees are better off without him as he rehabs the bum hip. It's an interesting debate to be sure as logic tells you no, but emotion tells you yes. Clearly, it's tough to reproduce what Alex's bat gives you on a daily basis. Then again, he's such a media magnet and lightning rod for controversy that his absence has got to be a relaxing and soothing change of pace in the already dangerous media jungle that is the Yankee Universe.

Personally, I really think we're better off without him, but for the short-term only. I don't care about missing him for a month, especially when it's the first month of the season. Those predicting doom and gloom for the Yankees because of no A-Rod in April won't even remember he was on the DL when August rolls around.

The game is still based on two things pitching and defense and Alex's presence has little to no bearing on either. In fact, after watching Cody Ransom flash the leather in a few Spring Training games, I'm fairly convinced that we're getting a bit of defensive upgrade over at the hot corner.

Yes, I expect less homeruns in April and less overall scoring for the month. It's all irrelevant though if we're able to prevent the other team for scoring any and with that rotation heathy and productive (knock on wood), we're sure to keep the crooked numbers off of the scoreboard. People still forget that during the most important stretch of the season last year we were going with Mussina, Pettite, Ponson, Pavano, and a prayer (the prayer being enough strength for Mussina to pitch everyday as he was the only effective starter from August to September). C.C., Wang, Burnett, Pettite, and Joba represent the best single-season upgrade in all of baseball and probably the best rotation in all of baseball as well. This fact is obviously being lost in the wash in the face of the Alex Rodriguez mellowdrama(s). Alas, such is life though.

Turning the page, I have been obsessed with the WBC thus far. I know, I know, Robby and Marte are hurting from their participation, but they were hurting before it started and played anyway like true Yankee A-holes. Watching the Domincan team get eliminated was both bittersweet and familiar. As a Yankee fan I can relate when an obviously more dominant team on paper loses to a team of seemingly lesser players. It was a textbook Yankee failure. A couple of poor defensive plays and an inability to hit offspeed stuff led to team DR's downfall, plus just piss poor management.

Team USA goes tonight, I think, on ESPN so check it out if you get the chance. Andy Pettite takes the hill for the Yanks against the Twins. The Gardner/Melky battle leans more toward Garnder by the day as does the Nady/Swisher battle lean toward Nady. It's definately going to be interesting to see how this shakes out as we progress towards opening day. Alex's injury also helps us out in this aspect too as we pretty much have an extra month to decide on how the outfield should look.

Well That Was Fun

Any hope of just getting through Spring Training without much distraction or hoop-la just left town. A-Rod tested positive for steroids in 2003. That's great. The one thing I've been looking forward to since September has just been tainted with the stench of scandal, sensationalism, and all the other fat, juicy, gossip-laced mass media-driven entertainment horseshit that sells papers, leads broadcasts, and stays in the public consciousness for eons.

Thanks, Alex. Thanks, Sports Illustrated. Thanks, MLB. Thanks, Players Union. Thanks, Federal Government.

What I want to know now is who else is on that list? There should be 103 more names to follow now that Alex Roidriguez (yeah, expect that and a ton of "A-Roid" chants this year) has been shoved into the spotlight. When are those 103 other shoes gonna fall?

Am I surprised? No. Once the Federal Government got involved I knew the sealed list of names would be opened. The Feds can't keep important military secrets concealed, keeping this collection of baseball cards out of the news would be impossible. Sports Illustrated is fighting for any sort of credibility in the world of new media and has no qualms with reporting a sensational story such as this despite any agreements in place between MLB and the Union. Major League Baseball knowingly allowed or blindly looked the other way for years as its players and marketable commodities bulked up and broke records. The Union made sure of it. And A-Rod averages like 120 and 40 hrs a season for his career as a SS, notoriously the least productive position the game has seen. This really shouldn't surprise anyone.

So what does this all amount to? More headaches for Yankee fans and more ammo for Yankee haters and little else. The players in the Yankee clubhouse have had to deal with such distractions before. They stood by Giambi's vague apology. They backed Pettite's admission. They're gonna have to embrace whatever A-Rod does too.

Third time's the charm?

Mushmouth's Revenge

I usually never read articles that deal with unsubstantiated clubhouse stuff, but I was bored and bit on an article about a supposed rift between Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira.

It seems that ol' Dribble glass himself, Peter Gammons went on WEEI in Boston, the nation's most obnoxious sports radio station and took some not-so-surprising shots at Teixeira and A-Rod. It seems the guy who used to write Diamond Notes is now just an old, cantankerous Red Sox mouthpiece with a megaphone. He's already in the Hall of Fame for sportswriters so why even try anymore?

Gammo on A-Rod and Tex:
As you probably remember, there was a lot of testiness between Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira when they played in Texas together [...] And I don't think Alex really cares about communicating with other players, we know [that] from Derek Jeter.

You're right Peter. They hate each other. A-Rod hates Tex and Jeter. Jeter hates A-Rod and Tex hates A-Rod. Jeter and Tex are just OK. They don't hang out, but you know how it is. They're all catty little 13 year-old girls.

Gammo on Teixeira:
Also, we haven't really seen Teixeira in a situation where the expectations are really that high, and he's going to have to deal with them in New York. It will be very interesting to see how it goes with the Yankees."

Yeah, Anaheim never expected to win anything last year. They were just satisfied with dominating the AL West. Right again, Pete.

Gammo on Teixera's deal with NY:
The Red Sox didn't know it, and in the end there was nothing they could do about it. He wanted to go to the Yankees, his wife doesn't like Boston -- apparently she doesn't like the stores on Newbury Street or something -- and in the end that's the way it goes.

What a ridiculous homer.