[譯文] The A-Rod Conundrum

看板A-Rod作者fizeau ( )時間19年前 (2006/07/28 21:56)推噓4(4推 0噓 1→)

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14063787/site/newsweek/ The A-Rod Conundrum A-Rod的難解迷團 On his 31st birthday, Alex Rodriguez is looking more like the curse of the Yankees than part of the team’s salvation. 剛過31歲生日的A-Rod不像是洋基這支球隊的救星，反而更像詛咒。 By Mark Starr Newsweek Updated: 4:14 p.m. ET July 27, 2006 July 27, 2006 - I have always clung to a faith that too much may indeed be too much. Too wealthy, too beautiful, too talented—none of these lead to a happy lot in life. It is easy for me to sustain that conviction, having no personal experience with any of them. But Alex Rodriguez has it all, and the combination may ultimately provide his team with the only distinction the Boston Red Sox have had over the New York Yankees: their own curse. 我一直深信太過頭不是好事。太富有，太美麗，太有才華─這些都不會帶來快樂的生活。雖然沒有親身經歷，我很容易持續懷有這信念。但是A-Rod擁有所有這些，而且這些卻最終給他的球隊增加了原本從前波士頓紅襪與洋基的唯一區別：他們自己的詛咒。 As a Bostonian, I might be expected to take glee in the bloodletting that is the current response of Yankees fans to the man who—once upon a time, not all that long ago—would be their king. But I honestly don’t. There is something truly sad about this A-Rod and something unseemly in the response of fans who, just like those here in my hometown, don’t hesitate to devour their own. 身為一個波士頓人，我應該會樂於見到洋基球迷正在噓這個不久前還是他們球隊領袖。但是老實說我並沒有。有些關於A-Rod的事是令人難過的，以及球迷的反應就跟紅襪球迷一樣不適當。 A-Rod has never been a great fit in New York, though this wasn’t recognized at first in all the excitement over the Yankees wrestling him away from the equal- ly eager Red Sox. Fans in both places were ready to ignore that there was some- thing rotten to the core about his escape from Texas. After rising to glory as a shortstop for the Seattle Mariners, he had taken the biggest of big money (at $252 million the fattest deal in Major League Baseball history) to join the Rangers, then fled after just three seasons when Texas couldn’t get near the top. Never mind that it was Rodriguez who was supposed to get them there since his whopping salary precluded any chance that his team might be able to afford anything resembling a pitching staff. He put up massive numbers—averaging 52 home runs a year—in a ballpark designed for massive numbers and led Texas to three consecutive last-place finishes in the AL West. Indeed “last place” doesn’t quite do justice to how wretched those Texas teams were; the Rangers’ average finish in the A-Rod era was 72-90 , 33 games out. A-Rod從未能真正融入洋基隊，雖然這並沒有在一開始被看出來，當他們比當時同樣渴望的紅襪更快搶到他。兩邊的球迷都忽視了他離開遊騎兵的原因。在西雅圖水手擔任游擊手表現搶眼之後，他以聯盟史上最優渥的肥約兩億五千兩百萬進入遊騎兵隊，在經過了三年球隊無法攻頂而離開。更別提他應該是帶領這支球隊達到頂峰的人物。遊騎兵在A-Rod那三年裡的平均戰績是72-90。 A-Rod wanted out, and he ended up at the only team and town where a $25 million annual paycheck wouldn’t pinch. But he also got out to a team where he wasn’t the biggest star in the firmament. He couldn’t wear his precious No. 3 because it had been retired for a pretty fair ballplayer by the name of Babe Ruth. And he couldn’t even play shortstop because Derek Jeter had a lifetime claim on the position. 他想離開，而最終也來到這支一年支付兩千五百萬並不足為奇的球隊。但是在這裡他並不是最耀眼的巨星。他無法穿上他從前的三號球衣，因為那已經是貝比魯斯的退休球衣。他也不能擔任游擊守備位置，因為那是基特專任的。 A-Rod responded to these nuisances with perfect pitch; he agreed to don No. 13 and claimed he was content to switch to third base to accommodate the Yankee captain. The only problem is everything A-Rod says sounds too calculated to please, as scripted as one of those speeches Miss America candidates used to make about why they really, really want world peace. I think Yankee fans might actually be happier if, the next time Rodriguez strikes out with the tying run on in the ninth, he busted up the clubhouse or even—shades of Kevin Brown— smashed a dugout wall with his fist. But one suspects if that ever happens, it will be the result of “Note to self: smash up clubhouse.” A-Rod對這些作出完美回應；同意換上13號球衣，同意轉守三壘。唯一問題是這些似乎是太經過計算，以討好，就像美國小姐候選人在演講上說服他們希望世界和平。我想當下次 A-Rod在九局時追平分在壘上，而他被三振時，結束後他用拳頭打牆壁；這會讓球迷高興點。 Still, for his first two seasons in New York, A-Rod did put up more numbers, winning the Most Valuable Player award last year to match the one he got in 2003 for leading the Rangers into last place. (Imagine where they would have finished without his MVP numbers). At the same time he has become the poster boy for the old adage that, in baseball as in life, statistics lie. And he is currently the center point of an esoteric baseball debate over whether there really is such a thing as a clutch performer. 在紐約前兩個球季，他的確打出點成績，在去年贏得MVP，正如同03年帶領遊騎兵打到最後一名一樣。(想像如果沒有他的那些MVP數字，球隊會如何)同時他成為看板球星，因為套句古老諺語，在棒球就跟人生一樣，統計數字是會說謊的。而且他目前也是關於一個深奧的棒球爭論，是否真的有關鍵時刻的球員。 A-Rod’s detractors are quick to note his most infamous gaffe—the “bitch slap” in the 2004 AL championship series when he killed a critical rally by slapping the ball out of the hand of the Red Sox pitcher. And they note his bust in last year’s playoffs against the Angels when he hit .133 without knocking in a single run. Those failures only fed into a growing suspicion that A-Rod’s numbers are most often padding and rarely delivered at critical, game- winning moments. 他的非支持者會很快指出他最不名譽的錯誤，是在04年美聯冠軍賽因為把紅襪投手的球拍走而毀掉反攻的機會。還有在去年季後賽對天使，他打出一成三三的打擊率，沒有任何打點。這些失敗只引起愈滾愈大的懷疑，那就是A-Rod只能夠錦上添花，卻不能在緊要關頭發揮。 The typical Yankee diehard didn’t need to cite any numbers. They knew in their hearts that Jeter was clutch, Bernie Williams was clutch, even Scott Brosius, who held down third base for several years before Rodriguez, was clutch. And they believed that the putative greatest player in baseball was not. Ask Yankees fans—and I conducted a small poll—which player they want at the plate with the game on the line in the ninth inning, and A-Rod is ranked way down alongside the rookie outfielder Melky Cabrera. 典型洋基死忠球迷不需要引證任何數字。他們心中知道基特是關鍵，Bernie是關鍵，甚至多年鎮守三壘的Scott Brosius也是關鍵，而目前暫時的所謂最偉大棒球選手不是。問問洋基球迷─我做了個小調查─九局時比賽岌岌可危，他們希望誰上場打擊；A-Rod與新手小卡布一起敬陪末座。 These feelings were festering among Yanks fans well before things turned really sour this summer. Still, this has been the season of their greatest discontent. From a distance, one might not even realize how things have gone awry. A-Rod was once again voted to his regular all-star perch at third base. While his batting average is down a bit—at .280, it’s his lowest mark since he was a teenage rookie in Seattle—his 22 home runs and 73 RBIs put him on the leader boards but hardly atop them. Think David Toms, not Tiger Woods. And far too often, Rodriguez not only looks bad at the plate, but downright feeble. With 90 strikeouts, he is on pace for a career high. 這些想法早就存在於洋基球迷心中。這還是他們最不滿意的球季。甚至無法理解問題出在哪。A-Rod又被選入全明星賽。雖然他的打擊率下滑到二成八，是自從在西雅圖新手以來的最低，今年的22支全壘打及73分打點還是能榜上有名，但是沒有前幾名。而常常，A-Rod 不僅打得不好，甚至完全一榻糊塗。已經90個三振，快要創生涯新高。 But hitting is the least of his problems. If A-Rod doesn’t have an incipient case of “Steve Sax disease,” which is an advisory to all fans behind first base to duck, he has some related problem. He has already committed 18 errors, the most of any third basemen in the majors, and had a three-error game recent- ly that the New York Daily News termed “a debacle.” It has come to the point where, with the MLB trading deadline just days away, A-Rod’s name actually surfaces in trade rumors: A-Rod for a host of notable Phillies including Bobby Abreu; A-Rod to any team that will take on his salary and free up some cash so that the Yankees can pursue Dontrelle Willis or Barry Zito for their rotat- ion. 但是打擊不是最嚴重的問題。如果他沒有"Steve Sax疾病"，也有類似的問題。已經有18次失誤，是聯盟裡三壘手最多的，最近還單場三次失誤。甚至在交易期限只剩幾天的這時候，他的名字已經出現在交易謠言裡：用A-Rod交換費城好手包括Bobby Abreu;釋出A-Rod，清出薪資空間來補強先發投手例如Dontrelle Willis或Zito。 Virtually every publication has used the same two-word phrase—“laughed off” —to describe Rodriguez’s response to the current rumorfest. (“Note to self: laugh it off.”) But whatever he may say or do publicly, A-Rod can’t laugh off the fact that he may be the premier talent at his position, but not remotely the premier performer in his league. He hasn’t played as well as the third basemen on two teams—Boston (Mike Lowell .294, 13 homers, 52 RBIs, four errors ) or the White Sox (Joe Crede .295, 21 67 and eight errors)—with which New York is competing. If the Yankees don’t make the playoffs for the first time in 13 seasons, the scapegoating of their third basemen figures to be savage sport. 幾乎每份報導都用同樣兩個字來形容A-Rod的反應：一笑置之。但是無論怎麼反應，他不能以笑否決一個事實，那就是他可能是最有天份的，但是完全不是表現最好的。他在三壘比不上紅襪的Lowell與白襪的Crede；這兩隊都是洋基的競爭對手。如果洋基今年是13年來首次無法進入季後賽，這個三壘手會變成代罪羔羊。 This week Yankees general manager Brian Cashman stepped in to try and quash the rumors, insisting that his third baseman is not going anywhere. I would take that as gospel—and not just because A-Rod has a no-trade contract. He is a throwback to a different management era; no team today would invest $25 million per season in a single superstar, let alone one who might be fading. So A-Rod and New York are stuck with each other until at least 2010 in what, short of some postseason heroics or a championship, figures to be a long, scornful unlove affair. 本週現金人出面澄清謠言，堅持這個三壘手不會離開。我會當它是福音，而不是因為A-Rod 有不能交易的契約。他令人聯想到一個不同的經營方式的時代。沒有一個球隊會一年投資兩千五百萬在單一球員身上，更別說是一個可能在退化的。所以A-Rod和紐約會一直在一起到至少2010年，一個缺乏季後賽英雄式表現與冠軍的邂姤。 But since A-Rod turns 31 today, let’s, if only for the moment, cut him some slack. If he wants to compare himself to the defensive whiz Brooks Robinson at third base, as he did recently, well we all have our delusions. If he wants to sun himself—conspicuously shirtless—in Central Park, well the New York tabloids are truly grateful. It really isn’t easy being A-Rod; as I could have told him, too wealthy, too beautiful and too talented isn’t the recipe for a happy lot in life. 但是既然今天是他的三十一歲生日，就讓我們給他輕鬆一點。如果他想把自己比喻為三壘的守護神Brooks Robinson，就讓我們幻想一下吧。如果他想赤著上身在中央公園曬太陽，紐約的八卦小報會很感激。當A-Rod真的不容易；就像我應該告訴他的，太有錢英俊聰明不是快樂人生的保證。 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 59.117.179.14