A-Rod to Schilling - We'll Beat You Up

OK the actual quote from A-Fraud was, "I just hope he [Schilling] continues to talk about me and my teammates. It's going to give us great motivation to beat him up in the future." Here's the link to the story.

Schilling is right when he says "consider the source." The last time A-Rod tried to get into it with the Red Sox he got a faceful of catcher's mitt for his trouble and many people point to that day as the spark that lit the Sox championship run. It's not fair to ask Curt Schilling to psychoanalyize A-Rod - so I'll give it a shot.

To me - this is the key quote:

“I played well at times, I played terrible at times,” Rodriguez said. “And at the end of the day, I feel like my job was a failure because I was basically taken there to be the final part of a world championship team. So if you have to blame someone or point a finger at someone, you have to look in my direction, and I take 100 percent of the blame.”

The quote screams "look at me". I'm the superstar on this team. He has to scream this because it's not true. A-Rod is being paid to be the stud of the team but if you asked any Yankee fans who the MVP of the team was last year - I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who mentions A-Rod. You'd get a lot of Sheffield votes, some Jorge Posada votes, some for Hideki Matsui and even some for Derek Jeter based upon his hot second half. Nary a vote for the guy who now wants 100% of the blame.

Sure A-Rod put up great numbers last year but they were mostly meaningless. Something that Jason Varitek pointed out to A-Rod when he told him "we don't throw at .260 hitters." Ask any Yankee fan if A-Rod was a clutch hitter last year or if he pumped up his numbers with late inning HR and RBI's in games that were already out of reach.

More self-aggrandizement:

“Coming in for me was totally different than most players,” he said. “I think you have to ask Rocket (Roger Clemens), myself, probably Randy (Johnson) and the upper-echelon-type of player, because there’s a much grander responsibility that comes along with being who I am, and I understand that completely. ...

Umm... last year was also Gary Sheffield's first with the Yankees and he basically whipped your ass in every statistical category. How come you didn't mention Gary? Is it because you hit just .248 with runners in scoring position last year (just a .785 OPS with RISP) while Sheffield hit .325 with RISP with a .977 OPS? Is that .248 average with RISP part of that "grander responsibility." You're a Dandy - that's what you are.

A-Rod at heart is just one scared little boy who's afraid people will stop bowing down for him. He's chicken. When all that money, talent and arrogance are combined - it only leads to one conclusion.