SI Cover Story

[nyjunc]

Click the link for the article:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...925/index.html



it's a stunning article and we need to find a way to find a sucker to take him off our hands next year, the man has to go.

[DirtyKash]

Fantastic article, a great one for all the A-Choke fans out there.

Some highlights:

"We're all rooting for you and we're behind you 100 percent," Giambi recalls telling Rodriguez, "but you've got to get the big hit."

"What do you mean?" was Rodriguez's response, according to Giambi. "I've had five hits in Boston."

"You f------ call those hits?" Giambi said. "You had two f------ dinkers to rightfield and a ball that bounced over the third baseman! Look at how many pitches you missed!

"When you hit three, four or five [in the order], you have to get the big hits, especially if they're going to walk Bobby [Abreu] and me. I'll help you out until you get going. I'll look to drive in runs when they pitch around me, go after that 3-and-1 pitch that might be a ball. But if they're going to walk Bobby and me, you're going to have to be the guy."

(Asked about Giambi's pep talk, Rodriguez said he could not remember what was discussed, though he added, "I'm sure we had a conversation.")

Said another teammate, "I honestly think he might be afraid of the ball."

As younger players Rodriguez and Jeter enjoyed a close friendship, often staying with each other when the Yankees faced the Mariners. But they have had little personal connection since 2001, when Rodriguez referred to Jeter as a number-two hitter in an Esquire story, code for a complementary player. Giambi referred last month to "the heat that exists between them."

Jeter, who publicly supported Giambi when he was being blasted for his BALCO involvement, has refused to throw any life preservers to Rodriguez this summer.

Sample A-Rod headlines from the summer:

E-ROD

K-ROD

A-ROD GETS A HIT....

DO YOU HATE THIS MAN?

x 100

[DirtyKash]

I also found this great:

In December 2003, when the Red Sox were frantically trying to acquire Rodriguez from the Texas Rangers, several Boston executives called on Rodriguez in his New York hotel suite after 1 a.m. Rodriguez answered the door in a perfectly pressed suit, tie knotted tight to his stiff collar. The Red Sox officials found such polished attire at such a late hour odd, even unsettling.

http://www.deadspin.com/sports/baseb...lly-201891.php

[yhova]

Oh man, i read the entire thing and i just could not stop laughing at the various stories in it. Bottom line: come through in October, all is forgotten.

[Looshius]

I thought it was a good article, but it greatly reinforced why new yorkers don't like A-Rod. I don't care that much about stats, I mean they measure a players performance but they only go that far. A-Rod seems to know every little statistic for everything he's done. Do you think Jeter knows his own lifetime average? Doubt it. Do you think A-Rod knows his own? Definitely.

Jeter has more important things to think about than what his stats are, he plays to help the team win and that's it. I can't stand A-Rod because of the number of times he comes up with 1st and 2nd and nobody out, knowing full well that at the very least he should hit the ball the other way to move the runners along, and yet he takes strike one, flails at strike 2, and if he's lucky and makes contact he rolls it over to the shortstop....does that help the team? Hell no. But he's still looking to drive the ball out of the ball park 0-2, and ends up missing a pitch he should either serve the other way or take for a ball. His approach just sucks, and he refuses to accept it.

And I love how quick he is to point a finger at Giambi, Mussina, Jeter, Mo...at least they're ****ing team players. I don't give a shit that Jeter went 0-32 in 2004...I care that he has 142 postseason hits and has won a world series MVP award. I don't care that Mo blew 3 games in a week in a season where they still make the playoffs, I care that he is widely considered the best postseason pitcher of all time. I don't care that Giambi makes a boatload of money too, I care that despite walking 108 times in front of A-Rod, Giambi still has only 7 fewer RBI's.

I could go on and on but I won't...A-Rod is just so ****ing oblivious to how team baseball is played, how sometimes moving a runner over on an out with less than 2 outs might get cheered while striking out or popping out will get booed.

[Killah Sith]

No doubt A-Rod has his faults and has had his problems in New York. But still, in my opinion all of this has been way overhyped.

[Looshius]

No doubt A-Rod has his faults and has had his problems in New York. But still, in my opinion all of this has been way overhyped.

True enough, but every story in the New York media gets blown way out of proportion, it's the nature of sports in the city. It is the greatest city in the world to succeed and by far the worst to fail.