As many are well aware, Alex Rodriguez has long been considered a playoff choker, what with his .856 OPS and 17 RBI overall and .808 OPS and 9 RBI as a Yankee coming into this series.
Alex proceeded to blow up against Minnesota, hitting a pair of big dingers while knocking in six runs in three games. Depending on where you look, the theme of the series has been either redemption or maturation, where Alex either proved to the skeptics that he can hit in the clutch, or he just recently learned to hit in the clutch.
These themes were foisted upon us due to his performance over 12 trips to the plate, 9.6% of his career sample as a Yankee and 6.6% of his career sample overall. I don't have to tell you that 12 trips to the plate don't tell you much of anything, especially when they're part of a much larger body of data. Nick Punto took 12 trips to the plate in this ALDS and reached base seven times.
The people who think Alex's performance in the division series demonstrates a significant improvement in his ability to hit under pressure in the playoffs are getting two things wrong.
0 recs | 41 comments
GO ALEX!
I was screaming in happiness when he hit his homer tonight. I felt dirty, but it felt so right.
Teej - October 12, 2009
Maybe he only hits well against the Twins
Poochie - October 12, 2009
Let's see him do it against the Red Sox or it doesn't count
Oh wait he can’t this year because the Red Sox suck.
Gihyou - October 12, 2009
Maybe Nick Punto is just super clutch
seattlebruin - October 12, 2009
Maybe A-Rod wasn't making out with himself in the mirror
but was instead switching places with Bizzarro A-Rod – a man that performs well in the playoffs and isn’t an anal douche muncher.
CapSea - October 12, 2009
Ty Cobbs was also one of the greatest of all time and no one liked Cobb either.
If only A-Rod had played for some other team, I could have rooted for him more. That said, I hope he goes great in the post season. I also hope I never see the Yankees win the World Series again.
mark sobba - October 12, 2009
People have accused A-Rod of being a douche
Ty Cobb STABBED A MAN and beat a heckler WHO HAD NO HANDS.
Some people say A-Rod has an ego and Ty Cobb was an enormous racist. How are these similar to you?
Fez - October 12, 2009
A-Rod has been stabbing Kate Hudson since May?
CapSea - October 12, 2009
A-Rod stabbed himself regularly when he was with the Rangers.
Then he subjected himself to having sex with zombie Madonna.
It’s a toss-up.
Wilder. - October 12, 2009
I love postseason baseball but holy crap the overanalysis of every single thing that happens can get annoying
Especially if Joe Buck is the one speaking it.
OlSalty - October 12, 2009
I watch postseason baseball with the volume off and music going.
It’s much more enjoyable.
Kaorikaze - October 12, 2009
I loved the "so far in the postseason" analysis during games 2 and 3
Jeff Sullivan - October 12, 2009
I can't wait for the Ken Burns retrospective of the COL/PHI series tonight
pdb - October 12, 2009
This guy has been getting it done all series long.
Craig Powers - October 12, 2009
I was a big fan of Buck Martinez talking about how Todd Helton was hitless in the postseason this year.
It was the second inning of Game 2.
abender20 - October 12, 2009
More than anything else, postseason baseball breeds idiot fans.
Of this, I am confident.
Matthew - October 12, 2009
Lots of people who don't watch a single one of the 2,430 regular season games watch the playoffs because they're playoffs
and then try to be baseball fans for three weeks.
pdb - October 12, 2009
Lots of people who don't watch a single one of the 2,430 regular season games watch the playoffs because they're playoffs
and then try to be baseball fans the rest of the year, too.
Aaron Campeau - October 12, 2009
Cowherd made the remark the other day that at last the games meant something, and he only watched games that meant something.
There is a reason the radio gets turned off really fast some mornings.
msb - October 12, 2009
Cowherd is aggressively stupid and proudly ignorant of many things
Gihyou - October 12, 2009
You rang?
The Typical Idiot Fan - October 12, 2009
Alex tried singlehandedly to push the Mariners to the World Series in 2000
He was smoking the ball in the do or die game 6 of the ALCS (4 for5) and finished the series with an OPS of 1.253. But since it was for the Mariners instead of the Yankees, the national media created a new narrative regarding ARod and the post season.
Mr.Phelps - October 12, 2009
I think its funny.
Asking people their opinion on A-Rid is also a pretty easy to tell who is an idiot
Matthew - October 12, 2009
I've been using that question as a test like that for a few years now
and it’s pretty near foolproof.
pdb - October 12, 2009
But then I found this and now I can use this as evidence to try to convert the casuals
It’s everyone’s favorite game – Player A/Player B!
pdb - October 12, 2009
I recall hearing that Reggie Jackson's nickname was originally ironic
because he sucked so bad in the playoffs.
Matthew - October 12, 2009
Wow, so fasting for blood tests makes me type like Robert
Maybe this has been his problem all along.
Matthew - October 12, 2009
I thought it was an attempt at a clever nickname?
Dewey N - October 12, 2009
Ditto.
“Because he’s ridden himself of the not-clutch meme? Because the Mariners and Rangers got rid of him? Um.”
katal - October 12, 2009
If he had remembered the O maybe
Poochie - October 12, 2009
Robert : missing words :: JI : typos
Matthew - October 12, 2009
Aren't typos often missing words?
Poochie - October 12, 2009
Wrote about this exact topic at fangraphs today.
This just angers me so much. I’d be ecstatic to have A-Rod on my team, playoffs or not.
Jack Moore - October 12, 2009
Arod
As a Mariner fan I grow weary of the negativism directed his way- How many of you jokers would turn down 275 million smackers? Yeah right, you’’re all full of ****. As they say, this is a business, and that offer was out of this world, probably never seen again. While Arod was here, he was fabulous with the young fans, as well as a producer on the field. I was sad to see him leave, but it drives me crazy to see him dissed while Griffey is sainted despite the fact that he left the team in a bad way with a no trade clause that limited our ability to get value for him. I love Kenny, but that was business for him as well.
gitanoloco - October 12, 2009
Griffey at least made his intentions public.
A-Rod lead the FO on like he was going to re-sign.
It’s not the money, it’s his attitude and arrogance that pisses me off. His open letter to Boeing moving its headquarters away from Seattle was the nail in the coffin.
Wilder. - October 12, 2009
Once Boeing left Seattle the whole city blew up and dried away
and now it’s a ghost town where nobody wants to work.
pdb - October 12, 2009
Still an incredibly dick move to do.
But no, A-Rod didn’t lead the FO on.
Matthew - October 13, 2009
You can say shit here
Aaron Campeau - October 12, 2009
shit
pdb - October 12, 2009
He's making a point, there was no need to celebrate it
Robert - October 13, 2009
well, shit
pdb - October 13, 2009
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