I'd have a lot more readers if I wasn't, you know, so awesome and shit.

Doug:
So in a moment of introspection A-Rod wondahs aloud if one reason people don't like him is because he's "good-looking."

 

---

Doug:
!!!!

 

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Mike:
I know, unbelievable. I read that bit five times ovah as it just didn't seem possible anyone could be that clueless. It's like some whacked out reverse zen koan or something.

 

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Doug:
I find myself in the in the bizarre circumstance of actually being embarrassed for the guy.

 

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Mike:
Absolutely. As much as I enjoy busting A-Rod's balls any chance I get, the truth is, I could nevah come up with anything even half as damning as the shit talk that comes out of A-Rod's own mouth.

 

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Doug:
I think this Verducci piece finally pushes A-Rod bashing into a jumping the shahk moment.

 

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Mike:
Seriously. It's one thing for us Red Sox fans to pile it on, but when his own teammates can't stand him or suggest that he might be afraid of the ball. Wow.

 

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Doug:
And, the coup de grace, Reggie Jackson, Mr. Octobah fercrissakes, thinks A-Rod's a pussy. I mean how do you top that?

 

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Mike:
Dave Pinto thinks all it'll take is one World Series victory and all this A-Rod Agonistas talk will fade away, but I'm not so sure.

 

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Mike:
I mean if anyone can totally fuck up the simple joy of victory by saying and/or doing something witless, it's Alex Rodriguez.

 

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Doug:
All I know is A-Rod ought to be thankful he's not a Red Sox fan. I mean as much as he's hated at least God still loves him.

 

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Mike:
No shit. After cutting us some slack once in 86 years, Yahweh's gone all Old Testament on our asses again.

 

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Doug:
David Ortiz hits 50 homahs with the Sox 11 back and on the same night the Yankees clinch their 11th consecutive division title? Can't wait to genuflect on that, I tell you what.

 

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Comments

[IkeG]

"Ike speaking some sense"?

jim, please don't ever say that again.

[Kaz]

h.b., what a great strip. You get a lot more readers all of the sudden AND you're so awesome and shit.

You're no A-Rod; that's for sure.

[Dave S.]

HB...did I not say that A-Rod is a jackass, a pussy, Stu Smalley-like and mincing? Personally, I couldn't care less. He can play. I'm sure that his being a fool and a dick adds to the media portrayal and public's rapt lapping up of his being "non-clutch" (see above point: team RBI leader; league leader in game winning RBI). My point is that criticism of his ability isn't steeped in reality: it's in the same irrational la-la land that those who dissed on Ted Williams as being cold,indifferent to winning and totally focused on his own stats were. Reggie Jackson had his own little emotional confession moment when he suggested that Martin's dismissal of his defensive ability froze him up in the field. There are assholes aplenty in baseball. Is A-Rod one? Absolutely. Do words fall out of his mouth like shit from an ass? No doubt. Does the guy get shafted by the media with out-of-text commentary and irrational arguements suggesting he's unclutch and useless?

[jim]

h.b. -

See, that is a diversionary strip from your crappy season. Really, why should I care about what the Yankee players have said about A-Rod. They see a guy with a stick up his ass and they're trying to change him. Good for them. That says more about team than anything else - esp anything you guys have seen in a while.

See today should have been a reflection on how meaningless Papi's homerun was. Instead, you bought the mass media nonsense even with nothing to sell. You're better than that.

Keep enjoying your day. You have another 180 of 'em just like it in front of you. It's called the off-season.

[Follower of Tito]

Let's just say that A-Fraud still needs to get his cred/stats in October before even his own fans lighten up on him. Regular season stud...post-season ball-slapper...we can see where Reggie is coming from.

[jim]

FOT -

That's why you'll be watching this post-season with your stomach churning. The old mass media has done a fine job amping it's case. I mean without Yankees-Red Sox to hype or anything.

[h.i. soxfan]

50 comments on 1 strip papi-like #'s

[h.b.]

Honestly, I had a choice of two strips today. One was going to have Doug saying how ridiculous it was to celebrate Ortiz's feat considering that, really, in the end it's about team and not that individual performance stuff.

Then I had the A-Rod thing.

Thought about doing two distinct strips, one on each subject, but I just didn't have the time.

Since the A-Rod thing was funnier (and that is my #1 choice for strip topic, whether it's funny at the expense of the Red Sox, the Yankees, or Paris Hilton is beside the point) I went with it first.

I tried to bring in some of the Ortiz stuff at the end, but it wasn't as developed as the original idea.

Meanwhile, for all you Yankees fans clutching at your balls and wailing about picking on A-Rod, if you were to go back an keep a tally of how many times this strip and the characters make fun of the Red Sox as opposed to A-Rod and/or the Yankees, it'd be like 80%/20%.

You can look it up.

Moreover, anyone who has been here when Marty, the Yankees fan, rears his ugly head, knows I give youseguys your bully pulpit from which to piss over us.

So the thrust of arguments suggesting this is a rah-rah Red Sox site 24/7 only shows how naive the commenter is with regard to the typical Soxaholix content and how, most likely, you're a newbie as far as this site goes.

But I enjoy your histrionics just the same.

[Kaz]

I'd like to know where the "league leader in game winning RBI" stat is coming from, just to see it for myself. If this is the "single in the 1st inning that scores Damon from 2nd and the Yankees go on to hold the lead the rest of the game" stat, then shove it up A-Rod's oh-so-pretty tailpipe.

I'd also like to know how many chances he has to score the game winning RBI and how many of those he converts. Morneau hit his 18th game winning RBI against the Red Sox and that actually tied A-Rod for the AL lead in this "stat". Except, I'm willing to guesstimate that A-Rod has seen 2x-3x more situations where he could get that RBI with the lineup around him.

As of June 20th, in games in which A-Rod was at the plate with a 1 or 2 run deficit, he was hitting 0.087 (54 ABs, 4 hits, 13 Ks).

http://www.waswatching.com/archives/2006/06/its_a-rod_seaso.html
Laconic commentary from a Yankeeland zealot

ESPN's close and late (7th inning, blah blah) has him at 22Ks, 16H for 75 ABs with a stat line of .227/.318/.360/.678.

BA of 0.227 in close games and the 7th, 8th, or 9th inning? Weak.

"Game winning RBI"s in the 2nd inning notwithstanding, A-Rod is a chump...a pretty chump, but a chump nonetheless.

[jim]

h.b. -

I've been stopping by for a while now. And I do enjoy the strips. But you bought into the mass media hysteria when usually you rise above, or better, mock it. That's fine - none of us is perfect, well except A-Rod. But you should have gone with the Papi strip if you were incapable of foghorning the ESPN/SI party line. It's a non-story at this point.

[Jason O.]

Kaz, you can contort that "stat" to make Pujols, Travis Hafner, or any player look like Bubba Crosby, give it a rest. Why not add the phase of the moon or high vs. low tide?

hb, you even-handed sonofabitch.

In general, I try clutch my balls whenever possible, not just when rising to Alex's defense.

[h.b.]

It did enter my mind that the media was doing it's typical hack job re A-Rod.

Then I read that line about "Do they hate me because I'm so good looking?" and it was just too much to pass up.

But, alas, A-Rod bashing has jumped the shark... well, I think, who knows what A-Rod will say or do sometime in the future that'll open it all up again.

We'll mostly be going totally insular here as we transition into the offseason, so only Yankees stories that get major play will be alluded to here, if at all.

[buckner was framed]

Kaz- that GWRBI stat must come from the same Wonderland that has Slappy "play(ing) the best 3B in AL during his worst year." Wow- guess those Yankee fans were yelling "Bluuuuuuuuuue" every time he booted one, eh?

[Dave S.]

Kaz...it's from the Elias Sports Bureau. It's the RBI that creates the final run differential that results in the game being won. So, say, it's 4-4 in the fifth, and a player hits a two-run single to go up 6-4. If the final score has the opposing team scoring 5 runs or fewer, that hit represents the game-winning RBI.

Kaz, it's your "guesstimate" and "2nd inning" innuendo that describe my point. His late and close this year absolutely suck. No doubt. He's having the worst year of his career. But you'll shrug off his 2003-2005 late and close OPS of .948, and explain that they were all weighted in games in either April, or September after the race was over, do anything to justify to yourself that his value is diminished by an emptiness that you would impose upon it. But I'm more the fool for trying to find reason here.

[Kaz]

His 2003-05 close and late OPS is 0.945, but who's counting.

Maybe I'm just jaded when he gets stacked up against 03-05 stat lines like .326/.408/.724/1.132 from Ortiz or .347/.413/.631/1.044 from Matsui in the same game situations (all 3 have approx 220 ABs).

From 2002, A-Rod has been 40th, 6th, 109th, and 39th in OPS in Close and Late (among players with at least 50 ABs in the situation over the season). 2003 was a hot year (hmm, looking to leave Texas...) and then back to normal or worse for the Rodster. But oh can he smash it when they're up by 4...

[yazbread]

I guess if it comes to Peyton Manning bashing versus A-Rod bashing, A-Rod wins running away. I would have thought the voting would have been closer.

[h.b.]

FWIW, with A-Rod, and similarly with Peyton Manning, his stats and performance, for me at least, are beside the point.

A-Rod could be leading the league in OBP, Slugging, homers, hits, 3B's, 2B's, 1B's, bunts, walks, HBPs, RBI's etc but if he says the stupid stuff that he does... well, he's ripe for picking.

[jim]

See, I just don't see how what ball players say is newsworthy.

The quit in the 2006 Sox (both pairs) is newsworthy.

Enjoy the offseason, kids.

[Rob in CT]

I appreciate both sides of the discussion between Dave S. and Kaz. Style points put today's win in Kaz's hands though for his Rime of the Ancient Mariner bit. (Still enjoying that one.)

Not much to add to the discussion here that hasn't already been said better than I could say it, but I'll be damned if MFY/Jim gets the last word today.

Thanks for a great day in the neighborhood, H.B.

[jim]

Of course, leave it to a CT Yankee to be all mixed up. You had a choice, son, and you didn't choose wisely. Enjoy the offseason. Theo's been on fire.

[Devine]

Hey jim, what you wanna be a dick for? That's all I'm asking.

ORTIZ!!!

[Kaz]

#51 landed 20 feet away from me!

#52 was even sweeter!

WOOHOO! There's life in this season yet!

[Rob in CT]

"leave it to a CT Yankee..."

You, talking to ME? How you dare put that damnable term next to the word Connecticut when referring to me. Pistols at dawn, sir. You have insulted my integrity, insufferable oaf! I shall have my second contact yours.

Of course should your second be down, then 'up yours'. Heh.

Kaz, very cool you caught that game last night. Nice bit o' history there. Ortiz!!

[harwich rich]

68 comments-gotta be some kind of record.

[Bob]

And not one from me. Oh, wait. One.

Sorry. I've been in meeting hell.

But what about that guy named Papi? I'm gonna write a TV show called, "That Guy Named Papi." It'll star Matthew J. Fox as Theo, the sidekick from The Garry Shandling Show as Tito, Ellis Hobbs fronm the Pats as Manny, and the guy from The Green Mile as Ortiz.

Investors?