Yankee Killer Alex Rodriguez did it again last night, fanning for the last out on what was decidedly ball four in Game 2 of the ALDS between New York and Baltimore.
Before you start barking at the hardgrudging staff, let’s stipulate that it’s not as if some Yankee greats (of which Rodriguez is not one) haven’t fizzled in previous postseasons. Mickey Mantle comes immediately to mind – his World Series stats (via Baseball-Reference.com) were downright anemic:
But Mr. September is different, because he’s so hapless and so hateful at the same time.
More disappointments, no doubt, to come.
Ahem. 18 HRs in 65 games (1 HR every 3.6 G) and a 908 OPS is *not* “downright anemic” even for Mantle (lifetime OPS 977, 1 HR every 4.5 G).
Compare ARod: OPS 945; postseason OPS 843. 643 in 2524 G (1 per 3.9 G); postseason 13 HRs in 69 games (1 per 5.3G)
I dunno, Stephen. I was there for almost all of them and it felt anemic to me, Mantle-wise.
I think 61-63 are stuck in your memory. And in ’63, remember, it wasn’t just Mantle.
I’m just back from checking the ratings on tvbythenumbers.com, and post-season baseball, even when it includes the Yankees, got absolutely CREAMED by a regular season NFL game, about three-to-one. The ratings for WWE Raw were about the same as MLB. I guess that the number of people who regard baseball as “the National Pastime” is diminishing.
Bergeron will be playing on a line with Glen Metropolit for HC Lugano.