[新聞] Can A-Rod keep the magic going?

看板A-Rod作者PerryRod (Partridge)時間18年前 (2007/10/03 23:23)推噓0(0推 0噓 0→)

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From: http://tinyurl.com/2cylo5 Can A-Rod keep the magic going? The Yankees slugger has put up a banner year, but with the pressure ready to rise, the spotlight will become a lot hotter. BY KAT O'BRIEN | kat.obrien@newsday.com 9:04 PM EDT, October 2, 2007 Alex Rodriguez has tried to be perfect his whole life. He tried to be a flawless baseball player. To be the poster child for all that's right about professional sports. To please the world by always saying and doing what will make everyone else happy. And he came close for a long time. Rodriguez grew from the teenaged top draft pick to the best player in the game. The only criticism was the occasional dig about his going to Texas for a 10-year, $252-million contract. Yet after enduring a trio of postseason failures in New York, particularly last year's 1-for-14 disaster, Rodriguez realized he never could please everybody, and trying to do so was, he said, "restricting my potential." He loosened up just in time to have a monster year. Given that he has an opt-out clause in his contract that he can exercise at the end of the season, someone is going to be paying him a lot of money to play baseball in the future -- maybe even more than he's getting now. "I'm not even thinking about that right now," Rodriguez said. "We have a lot of guys on our team who are in my situation. I'm not the only guy." Rodriguez did say, "I love New York and I love my teammates." Still, the 32-year-old could guarantee himself mega-money, perhaps $30 million annually for seven or eight seasons, with a new contract. "When Alex hit his 500th home run, the meter begins to start running on your career," said Rodriguez's agent, Scott Boras. "People begin to look at you in a different way in that you're a part of history, and you're there at the youngest age. Teams know he's going to challenge a lot of records. "Alex is comfortable in New York, and he's said it all along, and he enjoys playing for the Yankees. That's not to say that there couldn't be four or five other franchises." Before A-Rod's opt-out date, he'll get one more chance to alter perceptions that he can't carry a team in October. He's saddled with the same "can't win the big one" tag that plagued the Indianapolis Colts' Peyton Manning until he won the Super Bowl last season and that still hangs on stars such as Barry Bonds, Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki. Rodriguez's new attitude of tuning out the critics -- the media, the fans and the perfectionist within -- could help him. Said A-Rod: "I know that every player on our team wants to win [a championship], but I think part of winning it is not wanting it so bad that you're going to push it away." To Yankees third-base coach Larry Bowa, who was a Mariners coach when Rodriguez was in Seattle, it was high time he eased up on himself. Said Bowa: "I think this game, the more you play it, the more you let roll off your back. You want to make everybody happy. You want to be the perfect player. In this game, there's no such thing as the perfect player. You have to deal with failure." Last year's postseason might have been the kick in the teeth Rodriguez needed to learn that. He spent the offseason devoting himself to ensuring there would not be a repeat of 2006. He trained ridiculously hard and also tried to change his psyche to not be consumed by failure. Yankees first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz, a high school teammate of A-Rod's, said: "He trained so hard that he left no questions unanswered. There was not going to be any way he'd have to say, 'If only I trained harder.' " The result is that Rodriguez had the best regular season of his career. He batted .314 and led the major leagues with 54 home runs, 156 RBIs, 143 runs, a slugging percentage of .645 and an on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS) of 1.067. Rodriguez's plan to change was tested early. On Opening Day at Yankee Stadium, he dropped a foul pop-up in the first inning, earning him a chorus of boos. Rather than following his inclination and harping on the mistake, Rodriguez looked at shortstop Derek Jeter and second baseman Robinson Cano and laughed at himself. "I think Opening Day was kind of a microcosm of my season," Rodriguez said. "The first pop-up I dropped and 56,000 people booing . . . I'm sure there were 56,000 people saying, 'Here we go again."' But Rodriguez rebounded. His two-run homer in the eighth inning helped secure the Yankees' 9-5 win. "I think the ability to laugh at yourself is something I haven't been good at my whole life," Rodriguez said. "I've probably laughed at myself more this year than I have in my whole 12- or 13-year career. A season like this, I would never have been able to enjoy it, because I was always so critical of myself, always trying to overanalyze my game." Rodriguez didn't mess up much this season. He had the fifth-highest RBI total in the majors since 1950. No Yankee has driven in more runs since Joe DiMaggio had 167 RBIs in 1937. He hit the most home runs by a Yankee since Roger Maris' 61 and Mickey Mantle's 54 in 1961, and broke his own record for home runs by a right-handed-hitting Yankee. Yankees fans now chant "MVP!" when he bats. "It's about as complete an MVP season as you could find, as far as I'm concerned," manager Joe Torre said. Parse Rodriguez's numbers this season any way you like, and he has come through in critical situations. His 15 winning RBIs were tied for third-most in the American League. His 36 go-ahead RBIs led all of baseball. He hit .349 (second in the AL) in the seventh inning or later. He hit .333 with runners in scoring position and was 7-for-14 (.500) with the bases loaded. Yet Rodriguez's greatest source of pride had nothing to do with statistics. "My relationships with the guys," Rodriguez said. "I've done pretty good stuff before in the past, but the friendships that I have with those 25 guys make me feel better." Johnny Damon said people don't realize "what a good teammate Alex is." Rodriguez even grew comfortable enough to host the entire team -- players, coaches and staff -- for a Labor Day barbecue. Previously, he would never have thrown such a party. There would have been too much pressure to make it perfect. And without that barbecue, this indelible moment would have passed him by: Torre, who had a rocky relationship with Rodriguez last winter after batting the slumping slugger eighth in the final ALDS game against the Tigers, attended the barbecue with his wife, Ali. Rodriguez had expected Torre to stop by briefly. Instead, A-Rod said: "Four hours later, he's still the last guy. I had to push him out of the house. I was really touched by that gesture. He didn't have to do that. First one to get there and the last one to go." The night the Yankees clinched the wild card, Rodriguez mentioned to Torre how much his staying at the barbecue meant. Said Torre: "Good, I'm glad it did, but I didn't do it for that reason. I did it because I was having a good time." Now Rodriguez's marvelous regular season is over. He has been swinging well lately, driving in 13 runs in his last seven games and winding up the season with a 13-for-29 streak. But he is 4-for-44 in postseason play dating to ALCS Game 4 in 2004, so what comes next is his chance at postseason redemption. Can he do it? Bowa cut off the question mid-sentence, saying: "I'll just say this. If it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here. People are entitled to think what they want, but if it wasn't for him, we don't make it in the playoffs. Without Alex, we're making golf times." -- Drive to my World: http://www.wretch.cc/album/album.php?id=rodvader&book=19 -- ※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 61.229.31.36