A-Rod 'never felt overmatched' enough to use 'roids

So Alex Rodriguez did 60 Minutes tonight, and of course, denied ever using steroids, Human Growth Hormone or excessive amounts of Wheaties prior to game time.
"I've never felt overmatched* on the baseball field," he said. "... I felt that if I did my, my work as I've done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn't have a problem competing at any level."

* Regular season only

Canseco says A-Rod took steroids

The New York Daily News is reporting that Jose Canseco was "surprised" not to see Alex Rodriguez's name on George Mitchell's list of Major League Baseball players who took steroids.

Wait. What?

Suzy Waldman and various media worshippers have been telling us that A-Rod's talent comes straight from the gods. That he is the pure, naturally all-powerful Adonis who is destined to break Barry Bonds' steroids-tainted all-time home run record in a few years and restore baseball to its rightful place along with Mom's apple pie and white picket fences.

"All I can say is the Mitchell Report is incomplete," Canseco said. "I could not believe that (Rodriguez's) name was not in the report."

Hate Canseco for being the douchebag that he is, but you've got to admit that his book and his outspokenness about the use of steroids in baseball, including admitting his own steroid use, was a major catalyst in getting the issue the attention and scrutiny it's receiving today.

And as annoying and self-serving as Canseco has been with his accusations, has he been proven wrong yet? He's certainly been proven right a few times.

And the obvious consensus is that Mitchell's report named only a fraction of the players who did take steroids.

As one sports radio talk show host said the day the report was released, "there are a lot of players and former players out there today breathing a big sigh of relief, having feared they might be named."

And was it just a coincidence that the Steinbrenners waited until just after the report came out to give a final sign-off on A-Rod's $275 million deal? Think, perhaps, that they wanted to make sure he wasn't on that list before committing that much money to someone the fans hate to begin with?

Why one writer didn't vote for A-Rod for MVP

Catching up with a column by the Tigers beat writer for one of The Trentonian's sister newspapers in Michigan. Jim Hawkins was one of only two voters this year not to choose Alex Rodriguez for American League MVP.

An unapologetic vote for Ordonez as the AL MVP
By JIM HAWKINS
The Oakland Press
I voted for Magglio Ordonez for American League MVP. However, as I expected, the combination of Alex Rodriguez's high New York profile, the fact that the Yankees reached the postseason while Ordonez's Tigers did not and the fact that A-Rod had the more spectacular season (54 home runs, 156 RBI) while Magglio was more consistent, were simply too much to overcome.
When the results were announced Monday, Ordonez, who put together, arguably, the best offensive season by any player in Tigers' history, received just two first-place MVP votes - from the two Detroit writers on the election panel - while A-Rod, who enjoyed a season reminiscent of Babe Ruth, won in a landslide with the other 26 firstplace votes.
Ordonez also received 22 second-place votes and four thirdplace votes.
Ordonez's second-place finish was the best by any Tiger in the MVP voting since Cecil Fielder was runnerup to Cal Ripken Jr. in 1991. It marked the 11th time since 1934 that a Tiger has been the runnerup in the voting. Tigers players have won the award eight times, most recently by Willie Hernandez in 1984.
I certainly don't apologize for my vote. I saw all but a handful of Ordonez's 157 games this season. And, night after night after night, I witnessed a player having an MVP season.
I didn't have to depend on what I read in the paper or saw on the TV highlight shows. I saw Ordonez put on an MVP performance with my own two eyes.
Don't get me wrong: Rodriguez had a great year, too. I have no quarrel with those writers who placed A-Rod at the top of their 10-man ballots. He deserved it every bit as much as Ordonez.
What I do find disturbing, however, is the fact that four of my baseball writing colleagues didn't even see fit to place Ordonez second, voting for either Vladimir Guerrero (3) or David Ortiz (1) ahead of Magglio. What league were they watching?
I began covering the Tigers on a daily basis in 1970, and this was unquestionably the best season I have ever seen any Tiger have.
And remember, the award is called "Most Valuable Player" - not "Player of the Year."
Where would the Tigers have finished without Magglio's league-leading .363 average or his 28 home runs or his 139 RBI or his remarkable 54 doubles?
Not as high as the New York Yankees would have finished without A-Rod, I can assure you. Because Rodriguez was surrounded by a much stronger supporting cast.
Adding together Ordonez's 139 RBI and the 117 runs that he scored, and subtracting his 28 home runs (otherwise, under this formula, HRs would be counted twice), we find Magglio produced 25.7 percent of the 887 runs the Tigers scored in 2007.
Making the same calculations for Rodriguez, A-Rod accounted for 25.3 percent of the Yankees' 968 runs this year.
But for me, the clincher - and this is huge - was the fact that Ordonez batted .429 with runners in scoring position, while Rodriguez hit .333 in such potentially game-winning situations.
Ordonez's .363 average was the best by any Tiger since Charlie Gehringer in 1937.
In fact, that .363 figure was the second highest by a righthanded hitter in the American League since Joe DiMaggio batted a jolting .381 in 1939. Since then, only Nomar Garciaparra (.372 in 2000) has outhit Magglio right-handed.
Ordonez's 54 doubles were the most Detroit has seen since George Kell delivered 56 twobaggers in 1950.
Ordonez outhit Rodriguez (.363 to .314) and finished second behind A-Rod in RBI (156 to 139). Ordonez's 139 RBI were the most by a Tiger since Rocky Colavito drove in 140 runs in 1961.
In addition, Ordonez was second in the AL in hits (216), on-base percentage (.434), and total bases (354). Contact Jim Hawkins by email at jim.hawkins@oakpress.com

The Red Sox' knockout punch?

The Boston Herald is speculating that fans might quickly get over their hatred of Alex Rodriguez if Boston were to pursue the most aggressive strategy possible this offseason and move to re-sign World Series MVP third baseman Mike Lowell AND sign A-Rod.

Rodriguez has made it known that he's willing to switch back to his natural position of shortstop.
Julio Lugo, acquired last offseason by the Red Sox to bolster their offense from that position, has been a disappointment at the plate.

Boston would shop Lugo around in a heartbeat, perhaps to further bolster its pitching staff or pick up a catcher to eventually succeed the aging Jason Varitek.

Imagine, Yankees fans and Yankee haters, Josh Beckett on the mound and a Red Sox lineup of Ellsbury, Pedroia, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, A-Rod and Mike Lowell. And it wouldn't be too shabby to have Kevin Youkilis and Varitek as your #8 and #9 hitters.

With Ellsbury's emergence as an offensive power who has unbelievable speed in center field and on the base paths, the Sox also have the luxury of trading Coco Crisp this offseason for further pitching help or prospects.

The balance of power may have shifted for a long, long time in the AL East.

Major League Baseball blasts A-Rod, agent

NEW YORK (AP) -- Major League Baseball had this message for Alex Rodriguez and agent Scott Boras: Shame on you.
Boras announced during Game 4 of the World Series on Sunday night that A-Rod was opting out of the final three seasons of his contract with the Yankees. The timing left baseball officials livid, and Boras apologized Monday evening, just after Rodriguez filed with the players' association and became a free agent for the first time since 2000.
"We were very disappointed that Scott Boras would try to upstage our premier baseball event of the season with his announcement," Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief operating officer, said Monday in an e-mail to The Associated Press.
"There was no reason to make an announcement last night other than to try to put his selfish interests and that of one individual player above the overall good of the game," DuPuy said. "Last night and today belong to the Red Sox, who should be celebrated for their achievement, and to the Rockies, who made such an unbelievable run to the World Series."
Boras said causing a distraction was an unintended consequence.
"I apologize to the Boston Red Sox and Colorado Rockies and their players, Major League Baseball and its players, and baseball fans everywhere for that interference," he said in a statement. "The teams and players involved deserved to be the focus of the evening and honored with the utmost respect. The unfortunate result was not my intent, but is solely my fault. I could have handled this situation better, and for that I am truly sorry."
Red Sox fans sure took notice fast. After their team won the title for the second time in four seasons, they stood behind the visitors' dugout at Coors Field and chanted: "Don't sign A-Rod!"
"Kind of strange timing," Red Sox president Larry Lucchino said after Boston completed its sweep of Colorado.
New York, which failed to make the World Series in all of Rodriguez's seasons, maintained Monday that it will not attempt to re-sign A-Rod now that he has opted out.
"No chance," Hank Steinbrenner, a son of owner George Steinbrenner, said Monday at Legends Field. "Not if it's made official."

Why A-Rod won't land in Boston

Alex Rodriguez' announcement yesterday was a big slap in the face to the Yankees, but that by no stretch of the imagination means, as some in the media have portrayed, that he will be running into the waiting arms of Theo Epstein.
The timing of A-Rod's public announcement that he won't be rejoining the Yankees was as big a slap at the Red Sox as it was the Yankees.
How dare the most selfish player in Major League Baseball try to steal headlines from the Red Sox as they were only 10 outs away from winning the 2007 World Series?
Even Peter Gammons, about as courteous and conservative of a broadcaster you can get, and an elder statesman of baseball knowledge, took time out of his reporting on the field in Colorado last night to blast Rodriguez, paint him as selfish and suggest, in exactly these words, that "maybe that's why he's never won a World Series."
That, combined with the incredible stats and World Series MVP trophy 3rd baseman free agent Mike Lowell pulled down this year, mean there's slim to no chance that A-Rod will become a member of the Red Sox.
The Nation don't want him.

A-Rod gives Yankees the finger

The timing of Alex Rodriguez' announcement yesterday that he would not pick up his option to play for the Yankees for the remaining three years of his contract was a calculated slap at the team.
He had 10 days until the end of the World Series to make a decision ... and made his announcement as soon as he possibly could, saying, in effect, that he couldn't wait to be out of pinstripes.
It's no surprise, considering the way fans in New York treated A-Rod, and the way his own manager embarrassed the greatest player in the sport last year by dropping him to eighth in the lineup.
So it's clear now, if it wasn't already, that A-Rod was playing this year not to help his team, necessarily, but to put up as strong a set of personal numbers as possible so that he could then thumb his nose at New York and its fans as well as get as much money as possible somewhere else.

Mr. 0 for October

Have you heard all the talk on ESPN, sports radio and the newspapers about how Alex Rodriguez, after the year he's had, was bound to redeem himself in this year's playoffs?

No longer would he be known for choking in October?

He'd be clutch, like he's been for the first time consistently in the regular season this year, except he'd be clutch when it really mattered?

Well, A-Rod choked again last night, and now the Yankees are 0-2 against Cleveland, one loss away from going home for a long, team-dismantling winter.

So far, A-Rod is 0-6 in the playoffs, with three strikeouts and four men left on base.

Meanwhile, in Boston, the enemy continues to get clutch performances out of its stars in the playoffs.

Torre, who regularly instructs his pitchers to throw at people, upset with video game depicting A-Rod getting hit

NEW YORK (PA SportsTicker) - Joe Torre apparently is getting tired of the Toronto Blue Jays' ongoing feud with Alex Rodriguez.
Torre told the New York Daily News on Thursday that he was unhappy with the Blue Jays' depiction of Rodriguez on the Rogers Centre scoreboard during Wednesday night's game.
According to the Daily News, Torre was referring to an incident which occurred during a video promotion in the middle of the sixth inning.
The massive scoreboard screen showed a pair of fans playing a baseball video game. While pitching to Rodriguez in the video game, one of the fans intentionally threw at the superstar twice - hitting him once to the delight of the crowd.
"It's ridiculous," Torre told the Daily News. "Some of the videos they have period, it's all about violence. There are certain cities, one of our players gets knocked down and (the fans) start laughing and cheering. I don't understand it. To me, this game is about playing it and not about hurting somebody.
"To me, if you show it at a ballpark, you're telling the youngsters it's OK to do it and that's not a good message to send. I don't know if it's hockey - it's a little more of a violent game than ours - and I'm not sure if that's a carryover in what they do or how they promote. It certainly lacks good sense, I think."
The incident marked the latest chapter in a season-long feud between Rodriguez and the Blue Jays.
The saga began in Toronto on May 30, when Rodriguez sparked controversy while running between second and third base. The two-time MVP appeared to yell at Blue Jays third baseman Howie Clark, distracting the rookie from catching a routine pop fly.
The Blue Jays were enraged by Rodriguez's antics. Manager John Gibbons called it a "bush league play" while several veterans, including designated hitter Matt Stairs, referred to the play as "garbage."
The Blue Jays retaliated the next time the Yankees visited Toronto, throwing behind Rodriguez's head on August 6 and plunking him in the calf the following day to incite a pair of benches-clearing incidents.

Saturday at Fenway: A whole lotta suck

Alex Rodriguez was 0 for 3, struck out twice and left two men on base.
Johnny Damon was 0 for 4, including a strikeout.
Hideki Matsui was 0 for 3, including a strikeout, and left two men on base.
Posada, Giambi and Cabrera were a combined 0 for 7.
The Yankees gave up today at Fenway, pulling many of its failed stars for scrubs on the way to a 10-1 defeat.
Detroit is already beating up on Johan Santana, 4-0, and if that trend continues tonight the Tigers will be only 2 1/2 games back in the Wild Card.
Meanwhile, New York sends a cortizone-injected 45-year-old Roger Clemens to the mound.
Detroit has a realistic shot of catching the Yankees for the Wild Card.
Even if that doesn't happen, Dice-K's success against the Yankees early in yesterday's game and Beckett's and the Boston bullpen's dominance over New York today make it increasingly clear that there's little chance of the team getting by Boston in a seven-game playoff series.

The whiff of A-Rod

A-Rod struck out with a man on base in the top of the 9th inning, and the Yankees lose.
That leaves Detroit within striking distance and New York all but out of contention for an AL East title comeback bid.

A-Rod in Boston? Not if Red Sox fans can help it

It's increasingly apparent that Alex Rodriguez won't be a Yankee next year.

He's having an incredible season, and even though the fans now love him, he surely remembers being booed on his way to the MVP Award. He's getting ready to say, as he heads out the door, "Screw you, New York, how you like me now?"

Many have speculated that A-Rod is bound for Boston.

Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell is a free agent after this season, and the Sox have made no overt public moves toward re-signing him. Hell, A-Rod could probably move back to his old shortstop position if he went to the Sox or pretty much any other team without a Derek Jeter.

The problem with Alex Rodriguez in a Boston uniform is that Red Sox fans HATE HIM.

Affectionately referred to as "Gay-Rod" and much worse, he's the antithesis of what makes the Red Sox special and what won them a World Series in 2004.

Sox fans have come to love hard-working, humble, working-class players like Kevin Youkilis, Jason Varitek, Tim Wakefield and the likes of Kevin Millar and Trot Nixon from seasons past.

To them, A-Rod in a Red Sox uniform would be like Justin Timberlake taking over as lead singer of Aerosmith.

And WHY NOT just re-sign Lowell? He's easily the MVP of the Red Sox this year, and has put up numbers that rival A-Rod. Plus, he's not a friggin' wussy attention whore.

Wounded

Oops, A-Rod's got a boo-boo.
And so does Wang.

Abreu? Outta here! Damon? Outta here!

The Boston Globe has reported that the Yankees have no plans to re-sign Bobby Abreu when he is a free agent after this season, and that they might also try to get rid of Johnny Damon.

Add that to Jorge Posada's potential departure, Alex Rodriguez's potential departure, Roger Clemens' move to the nursing home, the fact that Mike Mussina is toast, Carl Pavano is toast, Jason Giambi is almost toast.

And there won't be much left of the 2007 squad.

Will the team really make a shift toward trying to develop younger players next year?

Yeah, right.

Expect a new roster of overpaid high-profile free agents with zero team chemistry to replace this roster of overpaid high-profile free agent-signed losers.

It's the Yankee way.

In case you missed it: A-Rod's outta here

If anyone missed this story last week, the Evil Empire is taking a firm stance on A-Rod's contract situation.

"Live with your contract or suck it," to paraphrase Brian Cashman.

In other words, if Alex Rodriguez opts out of his bazillion dollar contract at the end of this season hoping the Yankees will renegotiate for a gazillion dollar contract, he can go play for the Cubs or Angels next year instead.

Don't worry, Yankees fans, you've got Wilson Betimet ready to fill those shoes.

What will $195 million buy you? Not pitching, apparently

The Yankees' total team salary stood at $195,229,045 before signing Roger Clemens to a $28 million, one-year deal.

The Angels, who have destroyed Yankees pitching in the past two games at a critical time for New York's playoff chances, are among the top-spending teams in the Major Leagues - fifth overall. But their payroll is still nearly $100 million a year less than the Yankees.

And there are four teams - Washington, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Florida, with payrolls less than the combined single-year salaries of Alex Rodriguez and Jason Giambi.
New York Yankees 2007 Salaries from ESPN.com:
1. Alex Rodriguez, $27,708,525
2. Jason Giambi, $23,428,571
3. Derek Jeter, $21,600,000
4. Andy Pettitte, $16,000,000
5. Bobby Abreu, $15,600,000
6. Johnny Damon, $13,000,000
7. Hideki Matsui, $13,000,000
8. Jorge Posada, $12,000,000
9. Mike Mussina, $11,070,423
10. Mariano Rivera, $10,500,000
11. Carl Pavano, $10,000,000
12. Kyle Farnsworth, $5,666,667
13. Luis Vizcaino, $3,000,000
14. Doug Mientkiewicz, $1,500,000
15. Jose Molina, $1,350,000
16. Robinson Cano, $490,800
17. Chien-Ming Wang, $489,500
18. Melky Cabrera, $432,400
19. Wilson Betemit, $405,000
20. Darrell Rasner, $384,523
21. Sean Henn, $382,048
22. Humberto Sanchez, $380,000

LA-LA-Losers

Should have stayed up last night to watch "phenom" Phil Hughes get rocked, the Yankees blow the lead and the team lose ground in the AL East and Wild Card race.

Four pitchers, 10 innings, no "W." And A-Rod (3-5, home run) had a great night in adding to his meaningless stats.

Nice.