So the press wants to make Alex Rodriguez miserable. The guy is having a Ruthian start to the season (at present .357, 6HR, 15 RBI, 10R, .471 OBP in 7 games), but the criticisms persist. Steve Philips is following the ESPN talking points, compliment A-Rod on his April home runs, but bring up the post-season.  I tend to discount whatever Steve Philips says, since he obviously wasn’t a very good general manager for the Mets and he generally makes no sense on Baseball Tonight. However, the coverage of A-Rod by both ESPN and the NY media is nothing short of J. Jonah Jameson-esque.    

ESPN writers

You’d think that A-Rod was out smacking little children in the face or throwing them in front of a bus. If you remember, the opposite is true. But ESPN (and all the little Red Sox fans crawling around the place) appears hell bent on running A-Rod out of NY and forcing his hand on the opt out provision.

His teammates notice the media’s assualt.  (So did Nomaas by the way with a great parody of A-Rod on SNL Jeopardy).  After Tuesday’s against the Twins game Mussina said in front of a bunch of reporters “C’mon! Six homers in seven games? He’s supposed to do that. Just ask you guys.”  Jeter also playfully said “Alex has been swinging the bat as well as I’ve ever seen him, I asked him if there was anything wrong with him when he flew out.”

The same ESPN article sated “Rodriguez, who struggled to ingratiate himself in the Yankees’ clubhouse and with their demanding fans during his first three seasons in New York, hit his major league-leading sixth homer in the first inning.”  OH, so it is all on the NY fans.  It has nothing to do with the way ESPN covers A-Rod.  The fair weather fans watch the highlights and read the articles and what are they bombarded with, highlights of A-Rod’s failures and constant references to the recent post-season slump. 

For good measure, the same ESPN article brought up the Post-Season assault again to shoot down A-Rod’s early success and to say Pettitte is the real winner on the team:

Skeptics will point out that all this production is coming during the regular season. But the two-time AL MVP went 1-for-14 in the playoffs last year, when he was dropped to eighth in the batting order for the final game, and is 4-for-41 (.098) without an RBI in his last 12 playoff games dating to 2004.

During his first tour with the Yankees, Pettitte became synonymous with postseason success. He helped them to four World Series titles and six AL pennants, and his 14 postseason victories are second only to Atlanta’s John Smoltz (15).

After the Grand Slam on Saturday to win the Game vs. the O’s, the ESPNews highlight package started off with the annoucer saying something like this. “Alex Rodriguez was born in New York, but Yankee fans have not accepted him as one of their own thanks to his .098 batting average and 0 RBI in his last 12 postseason games….. In order for Alex Rodriguez to earn his stripes, he’s going to have to change his spots in the postseason…Now onto the game.”

On Friday night vs the O’s, A-Rod struck out with two on and nobody out in the 7th, Yankees down 6-3. ESPN’s highlight package showed A-Rod striking out on three pitches from Chad Bradford and basically said “oops A-Rod didn’t come through AGAIN” “Look he got fooled on pitches that were only 77mph.” No mention of Giambi striking out behind A-Rod. Or the fact that after Matsui walked, Posada drove in a run to make it 6-4 or that Cano popped up with the bases loaded.

Nope it was all A-Rod.

The media sets unrealistic and unfair standards for A-Rod simply because he is a phenonmenal player.  Remember, in A-Rod’s “Off” year he still hit .290, 35HR, 121RBI, 113R.   

I am now on a media watch.  This is crazy.  The point is, A-Rod looks more comfortable and happy at the plate.  He is focused and looks like he is having fun, rather than looking like he is going through the mental exercises his life coach and therapists suggested.