May 23, 2007

A-Rod Elbow - Payback For Pedroia Slide?

Dustin Pedroia called Alex Rodriguez's slide (and elbow jab) into second base in the eighth inning a "cheap [but] no big deal. ... He probably just got a little carried away." (YouTube)

What has gone unmentioned in the media reports I've seen is Pedroia's out-of-the-basepath slide into Derek Jeter in the second inning. (You can't see the bag in photo #13 at the Globe, but it's about seven feet to the left.)

Pedroia's slide was clean -- trying to break up what turned out to be a 4-6-3 double play -- but he was pretty far away from the bag. Possibly something we'd be bitching about if the roles were reversed.

***

Headlines from the Post (Back To Reality) and Daily News (Clutch Klutzes)

George Willis, Post:
As the long fly ball off the bat of Manny Ramirez sailed over the left-field wall and deep into the seats, it was as if all the air had been sucked out of not just one game, but an entire season.
Yes, it's only May with four months of baseball to be played, but Ramirez's three-run home run in the first inning last night continued a pattern that likely isn't going to change with the calendar.

5 comments:

Jere said...

I remember that--Remy said at that the time he was sure Dustin couldn't have reached the bag. I disagreed. He was about as far away as you can get without being called for being out of the basepath, but I think he was close enough--and, like you said, it was just a slide, not a slide/standup/elbow/push/after already reaching the bag.

And now that you bring this up, I remember, probably from Monday night, A-Rod going into second sticking his arms up in the air at the last second, which is also legal but a little less-than-"classy." Who knows if any of these have anything to do with each other. I don't think so, I think the A-Rod play ("Slap II: The Push") was just Slappy Being Slappy on his own. Tonight I picture him getting beaned, and him fighting the entire Red Sox team as the rest of the Yanks watch from the dugout...

I guarantee, though, if there is a fight tonight, the meida will talk about how it unites the clubhouse of the Yankees and will lead them to the promised land. But they'll be wrong.

thatdietcokegirl said...

true about pedroia and his slide. but the difference is that alex shoved/elbowed pedroia like after the play. i dunno..i always dislike those slides into 2nd to break up double plays. they always look cheap, deliberate and kind of sneaky. i know its gone on in baseball forever and lord knows i like it when it goes in our favour, but it still feels kinda low somehow.

youtube vid was taken off. god they've really cracked down with everything on there. shit, it's only a highlight clip.

Jackie said...

A-Rod vaguely reminds me of myself, playing soccer in 2nd grade. I was so desperate to score a goal that at one point I actually grabbed the shirt of a girl on the opposing team in an effort to get the ball away from her near the opposing goal... it didn't work. But anyway, my point is, it seems like A-Rod is just so desperate to win that he's instinctually going to try anything he possibly can to win. In the same way a 7 year old girl would.

Sean O said...

jackie-
I think he wants to be seen that way, I don't think that's how he really is. It's like he naturally doesn't care if he's tagged out, but some part of him says "I want to look like a winner", and he does some cheapass move.

People who really will do anything to win don't hesitate. If A-rod really cared, he's sliding knees-high into Pedroia there. Instead, his natural move didn't take him there, so that weird other part of his brain kicks in and there's an elbow.

imho, of course.

Mike Drumm said...

I think we need to take a look at both the A-Rod and Pedroia slide carefully. Dustin slid directly into Jeter and was within an arms length of the base, a typical hard slide with the intent of breaking up a double play. In A-Rod's case he actually slid directly into second base, and then after the slide was complete, he stood up (as in a stand up slide) and threw a body block at Dustin (look at the video carefully). A-Rod wasn't playing hard nosed baseball, he wasn't playing baseball at all; it was more of a football or rugby move. Then again, given his history for cheap plays, not surprising.