Afternoon Baseball

A couple of interesting takes. WasWatching asks if A-Rod is padding his stats now that the Yanks are basically taking it easy until the playoffs, or if instead, A-Rod has straightened himself out and is getting himself ready for a big October.

Steve Lombardi takes neither tack, saying he needs more of a sample than the last four games. I agree with him, and his not taking a position is not ducking the (illegitimate ) question, since many fans are knee-jerk responding to it. It's not wrong for him to pose the query, but it's illegitimate because it's based solely on emotion and isn't in any way a real analysis. But it's good to ask it to see what fans are thinking.
Wallace Matthews says what A-Rod has done lately means nothing, though. Doesn't specify what would satisfy him, however, unless he means an ever-changing bar to suit his whims.

Here's the thing. If you really don't like an athlete, you'll always be able to come up with a counterpoint, no matter how forced the logic. If A-Rod hits well early in games or in general, then he's not doing enough in the clutch. If A-Rod is clutch, then he's lazy or doesn't care unless he can look like the hero. If he's extending a lead, putting a game out of reach, then he's stat-padding. If he's bringing the team closer to a comeback but not tying the game or giving the lead, it's the same thing. If he has a great May (like this year), then he can't produce when it really counts. If he has a great September, then he can't produce when it really counts. If he's relaxed and hits well, it's because the games don't matter. If he's relaxed after a bad day, he doesn't care and is just counting his gold. If he's angry in his play, he's reckless and selfish. If he's angry after a bad day, he can't take the pressure.

Now, he's not had the fantastic October all the way through, and the Yankee losses -- and the way they happened -- don't leave him unscathed. But no one calls out Gary Sheffield for being a highly mediocre postseason player for 10 years and several teams. Randy Johnson was blamed for his Game 3 loss -- which was undeniably essential to a series win -- but that's not brought up every time he starts. There's other goats from 2005 and 2004, but it's not thrown in their face every time they make a mistake.

WasWatching rarely, if ever, falls into the moving-the-goalposts mentality. But too many do (ESPN, anyone). It's a good lesson for how you make your arguments for anything, to really examine if your position has any grounding or is just a knee-jerk, contrarian emotion.