 | Video: Baseball from NBC Sports |
 Nats name Riggleman Jim Riggleman was officially introduced as the manager of the Washington Nationals. |
Last year, he struggled through perhaps his most trying regular season. Detroit’s hard throwers went after him in the playoffs, and again he put just 10 balls in play. He didn’t hit, didn’t field and gave himself a grade of “pretty lousy.”
By the fourth and final game, Torre dropped him to eighth in the batting order — a spot A-Rod hadn’t seen since May 1996, when he was 20 and just starting his career with the Seattle Mariners.
Reggie Jackson is remembered for the big nights that earned him his “Mr. October” nickname. He’s talked a lot with A-Rod over the last two years and says players can’t go into playoff games with the same mind-set they have during the grind of the regular season.
“Why did Koufax and Gibson and that type of player rise to the occasion in postseason? It’s not just another game. It’s not another day,” Jackson said. “Ask anybody in New York. You’d get 11 million people that say the same thing. It would be the only thing they agree on.”
Through Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS, Rodriguez was a .363 postseason hitter with six homers and 16 RBIs in 23 games. Since then, he’s had all of three singles and a double — all with no one on base.
But Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, like Torre, thinks it is unfair to evaluate Rodriguez’s just on his playoff production — or lack thereof.
“The postseason is such a small sample size and a lot of things happen, or can happen, that are out of your control,” Cashman said. “I know that’s how it gets written, but that doesn’t mean it’s right.”
And Yogi Berra, the man with 10 World Series rings, says postseason stats are secondary.
“I think the regular season counts more,” he said. “You can’t get in if you’re not doing good in the regular season. You’ve got to get in first.”
Rodriguez is a creature of habit, going through pregame routines with the regularity bordering on obsession. He says he treats regular-season games as if it already was the postseason.
“We’ve been in playoff mode here for two months so, you don’t have time to come up for air in this game. You’ve got to stay day to day,” he said. “We’ve got to play to get to the postseason. It’s not a given.”
|
He says he learned from the experience against the Angels. Teams have been wary to pitch to him at times this year.
“He was a different hitter two years ago than he is today,” said Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon, the Angels’ bench coach in 2005. “The difference today is that his swing is shorter and he’s covering more of the plate. He’s got better hand involvement and better balance throughout his swing. He hasn’t gone through one of those periods this year where you feel like you could get him out. We’ve seen him a lot and he’s just been locked in the whole time, so there’s no one area to go to now. In the past, you might have been able to go hard in, and then soft down and away. But he’s covering both sides of the plate right now.”
A-Rod entered the last 10 days of the season in a slump. He has to remain conscious of not lifting his front foot too much during his swing and putting his mechanics out of whack.
Perhaps that’s a good sign. He had hot Septembers in 2005 and 2006, then withered like a leaf falling from a tree.
He’s not thinking about what he’s accomplished. He says that, and it’s probably true.
One day, one swing at a time. Talk about the game. Keep the focus on the field.
“In the offseason you’re able to reflect a little bit,” he said, “but certainly never during the season.”
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
LowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM BASEBALL |
 Baseball Section Front |
| Add Baseball headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links