May 24, 2006
The New York Daily News
Blasts Bosox and then critics
BOSTON - Be fair, Yankee fans.
If you're going to hammer Alex Rodriguez every time he fails to deliver in the clutch, or even when he hits too-late-to-matter home runs, you have to give him his due for taking Tim Wakefield out of the ballpark last night.
Was it a high-drama situation? No. But it was the Red Sox. It was a game the Yankees needed badly.
The home run was a three-run shot that turned a 4-1 lead into 7-1 in the seventh inning, and it proved to be just enough cushion in a 7-5 victory on a night when the Yankee bullpen was shaky in relief of Jaret Wright.
And as A-Rod himself said, "In this ballpark, 4-1 is like 2-1. So I felt it was huge."
If you're going to call it a lucky shot, well, OK, even A-Rod admitted he was swinging from the heels and hoping for the best against Wakefield's knuckleball. Indeed, he didn't even realize he'd nailed the home run ball, looking skyward upon contact, thinking he popped it up.
But in that case, you have to say he was unlucky on Sunday night when he hit that screamer with the bases loaded against the Mets that happened to be right at Cliff Floyd in left field.
That's baseball.
That doesn't mean A-Rod doesn't deserve much of the criticism he has taken for failing in the clutch. There is too much evidence of his struggles.
But the criticism has taken on a witch-hunt tone of late, as if A-Rod is to blame for every game the Yankees lose.
He is surely aware of it, because he always seems to be aware of everything, but at his locker last night he insisted it doesn't bother him. He did call it "an injustice," meaning this idea that he never hits in the clutch, but he said he is resigned to living with it.
"It'll never stop," he said, "until I win five or six world championships, and hit a Joe Carter home run to win one of them.
"I don't take anything personally. I think it's comical. Anyone who drives in 130 runs has to hit in the clutch. I've done a lot of special things in this game. For none of that to be considered clutch is an injustice."
It hasn't been much of a season so far for A-Rod, but he's still hitting .275 with 11 home runs and 35 RBI. Reggie Jackson, who is here with the Yankees this week, said he thinks A-Rod is just heating up.
"He hasn't hit at all and he's got decent numbers," Jackson said. "He's going to get hot soon and then, look out."
If A-Rod is warming up, after his second home run in two nights here at Fenway Park, it could prove to be great timing for the Yankees, now that Gary Sheffield is back, returning last night from his month-long absence due to a wrist injury.
A-Rod seemed to think Sheffield's return will make a huge difference for a team that has been weakened so significantly by injuries the last few weeks.
"Sheff is so important to us," A-Rod said. "Regardless of whether he goes 0-for-50, his presence in our lineup is so important."
For that matter, Sheffield has some Barry Bonds in him, which may be exactly what the Yankees need right now. He's nothing if not defiant, determined to prove the world wrong about him, even if whatever battle he's fighting is all in his head.
Right now Sheffield is determined to prove, among other things, that he deserves a big contract next year, whether in the form of the Yankees picking up his $13 million option or some other team paying him as a free agent.
Toward that end, he is determined to disprove the notion floated in the media that he was trying to use his wrist injury as leverage of some sorts to get the Yankees to pick up his option.
"It wasn't an issue," Sheffield said yesterday, speaking of the contract situation. "I'll be playing somewhere next year. I'm not worried about it."
For anyone who knows Sheffield, that sounded a lot like: I'll show you.
He looked rusty last night, going 0-for-3, but he took some hellacious swings against Jonathon Papelbon in the ninth inning, striking out on a 95mph fastball, prompting Larry Bowa to say to Joe Torre on the bench: "Well, at least we know his hand is OK."
Yes, even while Sheffield was striking out, the force of his swing provided comfort to the Yankees.
"He makes the club feel better about itself," said Jackson. "He brings a toughness to us, a presence that we need."
Perhaps most significant, he makes A-Rod feel a little more comfortable, like he doesn't have to carry the load. By now we know that A-Rod is at his best when relaxed, not getting in the way of his talent.
So maybe his home run last night was no coincidence. Certainly it mattered. Be fair about that.
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