A-Rod a big problem for Yanks

Friday, October 6, 2006 | Feedback | Print Entry

Alex Rodriguez was not the only Yankee who made outs in Game 2 of the American League Division Series. Derek Jeter didn't get hits in three of his four at-bats, and Gary Sheffield went 0-for-4, and so did Robinson Cano, leaving six runners stranded. And for good reason: Justin Verlander was throwing 100 mph and bending his curveball perfectly, and Joel Zumaya set some sort of unofficial radar-gun playoff record, hitting 103 mph. No matter who you were in the Yankees' lineup, it was not an easy day to be a hitter.

But A-Rod is the guy in the blame vortex again after he racked up his 10th consecutive playoff game without an RBI. From the front page of The New York Daily News: A-WOL. From the back page of the New York Post: TIGERS TIE IT UP AS A-ROD FLOPS. The whole A-Rod thing is rolling downhill fast, and two things have to happen to make it stop.

(A) The Yankees must win the World Series.  
 

To continue reading this article you must be an Insider
  • Buster Olney Buster Olney

    Buster Olney is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine. He began covering baseball in 1989, as the Nashville Banner's beat reporter assigned to the Triple-A Nashville Sounds. Later, he covered the San Diego Padres (1993-94), the Baltimore Orioles ('95-96), the New York Mets ('97) and the Yankees ('98-2001). Olney joined ESPN The Magazine in 2003, after six years at The New York Times, and he's the author of the Times' best-seller "The Last Night of the Yankee Dynasty," a book about the Paul O'Neill-Tino Martinez Yankees dynasty of 1996-01.

    He grew up in central Vermont collecting baseball cards and listening to Red Sox, Expos, Phillies and Pirates radio broadcasts, and was a rabid fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He graduated from Vanderbilt University the same year as hoops legend Will Perdue, and ranks among the all-time leading scorers in pickup basketball at Memorial Gym. He claims to have witnessed the Commodores' winning football season in 1982 (although anthropologists have not yet confirmed this).

    Olney also contributes to ESPN.com, ESPN Radio, ESPNEWS, "SportsCenter" and "Baseball Tonight."

    Follow Buster on Twitter: @Buster_ESPN

    Ask Buster a question: Buster's Mailbag

Links

Subscribe

RSS RSS Feed

Recent Updates

Archive

More