By Kevin Nowins
The Yankees have spent 1 billion dollars and have won zero championships since their last World Series win in 2001. That marks 5 straight seasons without a title. That won't sit well with the "Boss" Steinbrenner, because like captain Derek Jeter always says, "Any season that ends with anything other than a World Series win is considered a failure."
So how come the Yankees blew it? You could say starting pitching, but the Yankees have had starting pitching problems ever since Opening Day. You could say errors on defense, but every team has the occassional defensve slip-ups. So how about instead I give you 252 million reasons in the form of Alex Rodriguez.
A-Rod: A "Dog" In The Playoffs
Okay... so here it is, the top of the Yankee order in the 9th, New York down by two, Jeter shouts "Let's Go!" to A-Rod. Derek does his job by leading off with a single to get on base. Bring up A-Rod. It's do-or-die time for the Yanks as Alex steps up to the plate. But he grounds into a 5-4-3 double play. There would be no comeback for New York. A-Rod was hitless in the deciding Game 5.
Alex Rodriguez is the highest paid baseball player in the MLB earning 252 million dollars over 10 years. Why do the Yankees pay him this much? To make big plays in the postseason when it matters most. Instead he finished the Angels/Yankees series with a horrendous .133 batting average (2 for 15) including five strikeouts. A-Rod failed to drive in a run. He also made a crucial fielding error that led to the tying run in Game 2, and never made up for it with his bat. "I can't put it into words; it's as low as it gets," Rodriguez says, "I played great baseball all year, but I played like a dog the last five days."
Yes, Alex will most likely walk away with the AL MVP Award, but two years into his Yankees career, Rodriguez has a historic loss to the Red Sox and a grueling defeat to the Angels to look back on. "Maybe if I would have contributed some, we'd be moving on to Chicago. I have to take a long look in the mirror myself, because I didn't do my part," concludes A-Rod.
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