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2007 MLB Season (1 Viewer)

Mike Frezon

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Jason is absolutely right. A-Rod is a great talent. A great talent who has been given an incredibly hard time by NY fans (right or wrong...that's the case).

Jason's post kinda proves my earlier point. Yankee fans are going to be desperate to see if he maintains his pace into this weekend's Sox/Yankees series. If not, he's a bum again. If he does, he stays a hero...until the next important series comes up. And that's the key. One friend of mine who's a Yankee fan told me today that the fans won't really accept him until he helps them win the World Series. That's probably true (right or wrong).
 

Robert Crawford

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Some Yankee fans might feel that way, but not all of them. As far as this weekend, why would Yankee fans be desperate this early in the season? Sure, we're playing the Red Sox, but there will be still another 145 games to be played after Sunday. It's a long season with the Yankees having some injury issues now, but things can change down the road when Yankees are healthy again and the Red Sox are having their own injury concerns. The season is a marathon of endurance and not a sprint to the finish after only 17 games.
 

Mike Frezon

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Robert: I didn't mean to imply that ALL Yankee fans would ever feel one way or another. In fact, I make it a rule to try to NOT speak in such generalizations. I should have, I suppose, inserted the word "many" in front of "Yankee fans" in my second paragraph.

In fact, Yankee fans should NOT be desperate this early in the season.

But, you and I both know that emotions among fans on both sides of this rivalry (stoked by a rabid media) are always strong and often lead to irrational feelings. That is part & parcel of what makes it a true rivalry.

But I stand by my belief that A-Rod will be harshly judged on a day-to-day (case-by-case) basis.
 

Robert Crawford

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Mike,
I believe the negativity towards Arod comes from a very vocal minority of Yankee fans who have been indirectly egged on by some members of the media. However, I believe that the silent majority of Yankee fans will become more vocal in their support of Arod because they know that the Yankees are a better team with him than without him. IMO, this hot start of his will continue to motivate the latter group to let their Arod support become more apparent to others in order to minimize the effect of certain Yankee naysayers.





Crawdaddy
 

LewB

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One of the A-Rod bashers here. The reason why is that my impression of A-Rod is that he fails to produce 'in the clutch' . Like I said, that's my 'impression'. Having said that, I hope he does have a monster year. Maybe the addition of Mientkiewicz (a High School friend) has something to do with it. Perhaps it's the fact that A-Rod now wears his sox outside his uniform up to his calf. Who knows. He's on fire now and that's all that matters. He made an error to let in the last run that Cleveland scored, last year he would have struck out in the 9th. This year he puts the ball into orbit.
I did some fast math and if A-Rod keeps this pace, he'll hit 115 homers and drive in 300 runs. We all know that is not going to happen. Believe it or not, there is a problem with his current torrid pace. When he comes back down to earth there are those who will say 'see, Mr. April'.
 

Mike Frezon

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I dunno. I don't see the A-Rod negativity as a vocal minority thing. Most Yankee fans I know (and I know many) have made it clear they think the team would be better without him. Even with this hot start, they think the whole chemistry of the team would be better with him removed.

I think the feeling is that while he is the best player in baseball...he drags down any team he's on.

It will, no matter what, be interesting to see what happens when he cools down a bit.

Enjoy the weekend series!
 

Jason Seaver

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You know what would be really cool? If Fox and ESPN covered this weekend series as potentially one of the best tests of the notion that good pitching beats good hitting, with the game's best starting rotation facing its best lineup.



Yeah, that'll happen. Get ready for lots of Babe Ruth, Bucky Dent, 2004, last August, etc.
 

Mike Frezon

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I wouldn't want him on the Sox, Robert. I mean that.

I'd rather have a team with the chemistry (and diversified talent) of the '98 Yankees and '04 Red Sox than a team that includes the baggage A-Rod brings with him.
 

Robert Crawford

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Maybe you wouldn't want him on your team, but I'm so sick and tired of certain fans and media people placing all the burden at Arod's doorstep when the Yankees playoff losses was a team effort and not the fault of just one player.
 

Shane Martin

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Part of it IMHO is due to the large amount of cash he is being paid. When you are and I think it's still true baseball's highest paid player(rightfully so), and don't perform in the clutch(especially in a city which demands it), harsh judgement will come out.

It wasn't like he didn't know this going in. I think he puts too much pressure on himself to succeed and he's letting the vocals ones get to him. The top tier clutch players ignore this stuff. They "zone out" almost like a dead silence as they have stated time and time again.

As a side note, Mark Buerhle said about his no hitter that usually during one players stay away from the pitcher etc etc but Mark wanted to jinx himself. Hilarious!
 

Jason Seaver

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Wow. That was a hell of a game. There's going to be some people complaining about ESPN shoving the Sox & Yankees down the country's throat, but that was crazy exciting.

A-Rod is just terrifying right now. Schilling looked pretty crappy tonight, so if Beckett and Matsuzaka just keep pitching as good as they have, I do like the Sox' chances against the triple-A guys the next two nights.
 

EricW

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Schilling didn't look that bad at all. outside of Rodriguez (who's killing everybody). didn't he retire the last 7 in a row?

not a fan of the YES network guys. OKAY, Rodriguez is hot. you don't want to spoil his streak, it's never been done. I GET IT.
 

Jason Seaver

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Also: I'm loving NESN HD this year. Aside from them miking the ballpark for 5.1 sound, the replay of Coco's triple from overhead was fantastic - the whole park in frame and you could still clearly see where the ball was.
 

EricW

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maybe Roger Clemens will be a sign of things to come; super star pitchers in their twilight years not pitching the first couple months of the season :) i mean Rivera was off early last year too right? everybody was worried he was losing it, then he came right back and was great for the rest of the season...
 

Mike Frezon

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I LOVE HD TV! But, unfortunately, I had to watch YES HD to see tonight's game! :D

I've had my HD set for a few years now (it's a small CRT) and STILL comment most times it's on..."look at that great picture!" :emoji_thumbsup: Baseball games (especially night games) always look terrific!

I loved Coco Crisp's effort on the 2nd A-Rod homerun. I don't remember seeing Dewey Evans go over that wall too many times!

Question: If he'd caught the ball and fell over with it in his glove, that's a homerun, right?! The ball has got to stay on the infield side of the wall.
 

Chris

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People give A-Rod crap, but after watching the BOS-NY series, they better start heaping praise. I keep hearing "oh, he's got to do it in October.." Please. If you get to October, it's going to be on his back, because the NYY pitching has been bad all season and he's bailed their butts a few times.

Here, you have a series where he does well, though not insane (pardon the jacks in a game they STILL didn't win despite him dinging twice) and Yankees late inning pitching looks like the '04 Royals. That is to say: meatballs.

I don't care how much George spent or what Yankee fans think, if they have a rough year this year, it has nothing to do with A-Rod. And everything to do with pitching that sucks.
 

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