A-Rod Fails In Must-Win For Yankees

I like Alex Rodriguez. I really do. I think that he’s the best and most exciting player in baseball today. I also feel bad for those Yankee fans who truly dislike him because they are missing out on one of the best ball players in the history of the game.

But then there are nights like last night where it is almost impossible to defend him.

In the biggest game of the season, a must-win to get into the playoffs, A-Rod came up short. He came up so short that you could debate whether or not he actually showed up at all.

Going into last night’s game the Yankees had 32 games left to play and were five games out of control of the Wild Card. Coming back would be nearly impossible, but they had six head-to-head games remaining against the Red Sox. If they could win all six they could easily take the Wild Card. If not, it would still be a monumental task to overtake them.

The Yankees lost last night’s game to the Red Sox 7-3, but had multiple chances at making the game a closer contest. A-Rod in particular came up a few times with a chance to do some damage, but failed to come through.

His night: 0-for-5, a pair of double plays, two strike outs, seven runners left stranded, and a throwing error to top it all off.

In the first inning he struck out looking. What a way to start off the night. In the third, with Boston up 3-2, he got up with a man on and one out and hit into a double play to end the inning. In the fifth the Yankees trailed 6-3 and he got up with two runners on and just one out and proceeded to fly out to center.

The seventh was his worst performance of all. With the Bombers down 7-3 he came up with one out and Johnny Damon on third, Derek Jeter on second, and Bobby Abreu on first. A home run ties the game, a double puts them down one run, even a single puts them right back in it. Instead A-Rod comes up with a 6-6-3 double play.

The boos A-Rod heard after that at bat would only be topped by the boos he heard as he struck out swinging to end the game.

“He’s the best player in the league,” Damon told the AP. “Unfortunately, he had a bad night.”

Unfortunately it seems like Alex’s worst nights always come when the team needs him most. Now the Yankees are in a position where they practically must sweep the remaining five games they have left against the Red Sox. Let’s see if baseball’s best player can live up to his hype.