[新聞] Rodriguez in a Comfort Zone at Bat and in the Clubhouse
文章來源：http://tinyurl.com/322lms
Rodriguez in a Comfort Zone at Bat and in the Clubhouse
By PAT BORZI
Published: September 11, 2007
KANSAS CITY, Mo., Sept. 10 — In the visitors’ clubhouse at Kauffman Stadium
late Sunday afternoon, Alex Rodriguez tried to catch Hideki Matsui’s eye
near a back hallway. Matsui did not see him, so Rodriguez walked over, gently
touched Matsui’s right biceps to get his attention, then took an exaggerated
uppercut swing.
Matsui’s face twisted in frustration as Rodriguez talked to him, and the
interpreter Rogelio Kahlon jumped in to facilitate. Matsui has been slumping
lately, opening his front shoulder and trying to pull the ball too much — he
has 3 hits in his past 27 at-bats — and Rodriguez was trying to offer help
and support.
This is a conversation Rodriguez probably would not have initiated with
Matsui last season. Almost daily now, Rodriguez says he finally feels
comfortable in his surroundings and accepted by his teammates after four
successful yet turbulent seasons as a Yankee.
He engages Robinson Canó daily in animated conversations in the clubhouse.
When Rodriguez homers — as he has in his past five games — his teammates
rotate their left shoulders and arms in a curious salute. (Rodriguez jammed
his left shoulder on a headfirst slide last week; he rotates his shoulder to
keep it loose. Teammates had started to needle him for his awkward feet-first
slides.)
“I’ve been in a good frame of mind all year,” Rodriguez said.
Jorge Posada, whose own terrific season has been overshadowed by Rodriguez’
s, said he noticed the difference in Rodriguez during spring training.
“I thought he was more comfortable with everything,” said Posada, who is
hitting .336. “He’s used to the whole thing now, and he’s having fun with
it. He took it upon himself to have more fun and enjoy the game, and a lot of
good things are happening.”
Manager Joe Torre said, “This is different from last year, when he
internalized a lot.”
Rodriguez’s streak of five consecutive games with a home run ties the best
of his career. According to Trent McCotter of the Society for American
Baseball Research, Rodriguez and Roger Maris are the only Yankees in the last
50 years to have at least five total bases in five consecutive games; Maris
did it from August 12-16, 1961. Tino Martinez was the last Yankee to homer in
five straight games, May 7-11, 2005.
With 19 games to play and the Yankees holding a relatively comfortable margin
leading Detroit by three and a half games in the wild-card race, Rodriguez
leads the major leagues with 52 homers and 140 runs batted in, making him a
leading candidate to be the most valuable player in the American League. He
has 8 homers and 15 R.B.I. in eight games this month, and is batting .533 (16
for 30). His hitting has boosted the Yankees to the cusp of the postseason
after a dreadful start.
Rodriguez is finishing the season nearly the same way he did in 2005. That
year, he was the American League player of the month for August, then carried
the surging Yankees through September to win the M.V.P. award. He had 20
homers and 49 R.B.I. in his final 58 games, going 4 for 5 with his 48th homer
on the final day of the season as the Yankees clinched the A.L. East title in
Boston.
But Rodriguez’s 2-for-15 performance in a division series loss to the Angels
overshadowed his regular-season accomplishments for many.
Last year’s division series against Detroit, when Rodriguez went 1 for 14
and Torre dropped him to eighth in the batting order in Game 4, proved
equally humiliating. Torre said, “I never want to be at that point again.”
But could it happen? Last weekend the Royals made it easier for Rodriguez by
refusing to pitch around him. After he hit his 52nd homer in the first inning
Sunday, his fourth homer of the series, he struck out swinging three times in
his final four at-bats.
Teams may not pitch him so aggressively in the playoffs, even if Matsui, who
bats behind him in the fifth slot, comes out of his slump.
“The hardest thing to get across to fans, the public, whatever, is they’re
not going to let him beat the other team,” said Yankees first baseman Doug
Mientkiewicz, also Rodriguez’s teammate at Westminster Christian High School
in Miami. “They’re not going to give him the opportunity.
Mientkiewicz added: “He has to let the other team work around him and let
somebody else beat them. When that happens, we’re dangerous. It’s really up
to us to make sure we do a good job, to get him in a situation to make him
successful. He can’t do it alone.”
Rodriguez is understandably reluctant to talk about the playoffs until, and
if, the Yankees clinch. Mientkiewicz said they discussed last season over
dinner Saturday, and Rodriguez’s distasteful memory of his finish continues
to drive him.
“He never wants to go through what he went through last year,” Mientkiewicz
said. “Thirty-five homers and 121 R.B.I. is not a bad year, but in his mind,
he failed.
“He pushed himself so hard to do this. I think if you asked him if this is
what he envisioned. ...
“He never forgot what it felt like last year,” Mientkiewicz said.
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