Alex Rodriguez vs. Ryan Howard. Can You Dig It?
Baseball, Video October 21st. 2009, 11:00am
Alex Rodriguez in his first five postseason series (2004-2007) with the Yankees: four homers, nine RBI. Alex Rodriguez this postseason (two series): Five homers, 11 RBI. He went 3-for-4 with another homer last night as the Yankees pounded the Angels, 10-1. It had to be a bittersweet moment for MLB commish Bud Selig – yes, the Yankees are a huge TV draw, but with the NLCS and ALCS almost certain to be complete by Thursday night, fans are looking at the prospect of five nights without baseball. The World Series is slated to begin on Wednesday, October 28.
The praise has been warranted. A-Rod at-bats this postseason have the same feel of the times when Reggie Bush was at USC and would drop back to field a punt. You might text a friend or alert your wife: “A-Rod’s up.” Here’s his postseason history at the plate, excluding last night’s game.
Mike Vaccaro sums it up nicely: “In only 245 days, he has risen from pariah to messiah, from reviled to revered, from a rogue whose reputation was left stranded on the side of the road to a player who makes grown men shake their heads in wonder.”
The Angels are done. The Dodgers will fold tonight. Ryan Howard vs. Alex Rodriguez slugging it out in the World Series will be exciting.
After a few more suspect calls last night, it would be remiss of us not to mention the questionable officiating in the baseball postseason. We know that the elite umpires all seem to be on the shelf, but the reserves have been so bad that even the NY Times is hammering them today. Buck and McCarver – a significant upgrade from Caray and Darling, for sure – need to be much more critical of all the terrible calls. Bud’s offseason priority list should begin and end with instant replay.
41 Responses to “Alex Rodriguez vs. Ryan Howard. Can You Dig It?”
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October 21st, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Was Ryan Howard mentioned after the title?
October 21st, 2009 at 11:05 AM
Teixeria’s defense, has been out of this world. He is doing less then zero @ the plate, but his defense is nails.
CC = BEAST.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:06 AM
Was Ryan Howard mentioned after the title?
Ryan Howard vs. Alex Rodriguez slugging it out in the World Series
Yes.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:06 AM
can’t wait for the media hype of this series – everyone will be expecting the coronation of arod and title number 27 or the yankees, and everyone will be ignoring the world F-in champions, just like they did all year and at the start of the playoffs (national media overwhelmingly picked the dodgers to win this series).
and then the phils will win the series. again.
(yes, as a philly fan i should know better than to get ahead of myself before we’ve closed out the dodgers, but i hate the yankees like nothing else and have waited my lifetime for this WS matchup)
October 21st, 2009 at 11:08 AM
Anything is better than the garbage we all would have to endure if it ends up being Yankees versus Dodgers with all of the Torre stories.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:09 AM
ed hocken eats like steve phillips girl
October 21st, 2009 at 11:09 AM
oh well. At least we wont get to see a montage of the brooklyn dodgers, the 88 la team and mannys arrival and subsequent world series trip
October 21st, 2009 at 11:09 AM
the yankees are awesome. it feels dirty to root for them, but damn is it oh, so good.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:10 AM
with hamels struggling, does Philly go Cliff Lee game 1? or do you save him for game 3 at home because he’s so good there?
would philly dare go pedro in the 2nd game? the yankees will pound him.
lee 1-1 vs. NNY in 09
1-0 vs. NYY in 08
October 21st, 2009 at 11:10 AM
and then the phils will win the series. again.
Really? With that bullpen?
Yankees pitching MUCH better. As is NYY’s bullpen.
don’t get ahead of yourself.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:13 AM
3-1 series lead….it is over.
/2004 New York Yankees
October 21st, 2009 at 11:17 AM
A-Rod = Barry Bonds circa 2002 WS
October 21st, 2009 at 11:17 AM
if the yanks and phils close it out in the next games, CC and Lee in Game 1. That should piss off Indians fans.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:18 AM
oh…it does.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:26 AM
And if the Dodgers come back, then you’d have Blake, Thome and Manny.
Am I missing any other former Indians?
October 21st, 2009 at 11:28 AM
You sure it definitely would be Lee in game 1? I think it makes sense, but if that is the case, why hasn’t he pitched game 1 in the other two series?
October 21st, 2009 at 11:29 AM
ben francisco, but nobody’s really missing him.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:30 AM
Really? no one else is going to say it?
Holy small sample size Batman!
October 21st, 2009 at 11:30 AM
At this point, I almost want the Phils to put me out of my misery and close the series out tonight. I got other sporting fish to fry what with NFL, NHL, soccer and now the NBA coming back.
Knock the Dodgers out and let me get on with other sports!
October 21st, 2009 at 11:30 AM
phils starters are as good as yanks. yes, i said it. and we won’t be relying on a 3 man rotation. which reminds me, you might want to check how cc sabathia did the last time he faced the phillies in the playoffs.
as far as the bullpen is concerned, they really aren’t as BAD as they’ve been all year. lidge is pitching better than he has, though he still makes me very nervous, and i am more confident in chan ho park right now than i would be in joba or hughes. rivera is a big edge, but aside from him, it’s a wash.
keep underestimating the phils, i want you to.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:31 AM
when was this? oh, right…never.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:33 AM
That was one really good point followed by one vomit inducing point.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:34 AM
oops…nevermind.
im an idiot. totally forgot about last year.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:34 AM
We should wait to see if the Yankees win 5 more games before closing the book on A-Rod. They literally have not won or lost anything yet. He’s a monster and prone to stretches like this that prove it, but he was awesome for the first part of the 2004 postseason too and the Yankees still shit the bed spectacularly.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:35 AM
Seriously… the title of this post is deceiving. Both have broken Gehrig’s record of 8 straight post season games with an RBI. Give Ryan some cred, TBL.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Cant believe no one else has mentioned this, everyone was felating him during the first 3 games of that ALCS too. If you wanna crown him, crown him. But why cant we ever wait for things to play out before we decide that he has “broken through” or whatever. Everything has to be such an extreme, either he’s super duper clutch or a fraud. I think he’s a very good player who has bad games. But that doesnt write stories I guess. I’m rambling.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:48 AM
Didn’t Lee pitched game 1 of the NLDS
October 21st, 2009 at 11:50 AM
As long as the LA series doesn’t go 7, lee will definitely be starting game 1 of WS. I would suspect it will be hamels in game 2, then some combo of blanton/happ/pedro back in philly. not sure pedro will start again, but we’ll see….
October 21st, 2009 at 11:50 AM
so what happens if the yankees do shit the bed and lose this series, a-rod going 1-13 the finals games. do the yankee fans who loved him at first, then hated him, now love him, start to hate him again?
October 21st, 2009 at 11:53 AM
Seriously TBL?
Lee did pitch game 1 of the NLDS. Also Lee only pitched game 3 of the NLCs because Lee pitched Monday in the NLDS and Games 1 and 2 were on a Thursday and Friday.
Lee will definitely pitch game 1 of the World Series with the option of pitching game 4 and 7 on short rest.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Carson Palmer saw the title of the video as “good quality, longer” and thought it was about him.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:56 AM
Lee did start game 1 against the Rockies. The only reason he didnt start game 1 of this series is because it wouldve been on short rest.
October 21st, 2009 at 11:57 AM
I’m just waiting until Bud has to postpone the completion of this year’s WS until next April. What a joke.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:03 PM
As a Phillies fan, I would MUCH rather face the Yankees, just to hear the shit our fans come up with for taunting ARod and possibly, Andy Pettite.
The taunting Manny is getting in this series will be minor league compared to what ARod will hear. ARod just has so much more material to work with.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:08 PM
A-Rod has already played in Boston. Whatever the Phillies fans come up with, the Sox have fans have done it.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:10 PM
I’m more looking forward to the “Who’s your daddy?” chants in Yankee Stadium should Pedro take the mound.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:10 PM
but the WBC was so worth pushing back the season!!!!!!
in 15 years there will be no offseason, the WS will be played on a neutral field in February, the WS teams will go play in Japan and Europe for 6 weeks, then the WBC will be played and the season will start sometime in June.
October 21st, 2009 at 12:17 PM
Carson, baby……that’s not a good look.
Fire your agent immediately
October 21st, 2009 at 12:21 PM
Seriously… the title of this post is deceiving. Both have broken Gehrig’s record of 8 straight post season games with an RBI. Give Ryan some cred, TBL.
Since one of them is awesome at baseball, and the other is Ryan Howard, I’m okay with this.
October 21st, 2009 at 1:14 PM
Pfffft….
October 21st, 2009 at 2:06 PM
What does this have to do with Steve Phillips?