Now that Barry has hit No. 756, A-Rod is officially on the clock. Yes, Alex Rodriguez is a mere 257 homers from surpassing Bonds and he's only 32.
Alas, last night served as the latest reminder that the inevitable A-Rod Chase won't be much more universally beloved than the endless Bonds Watch. There isn't much suspicion that A-Rod used steroids (though who can tell these days), but A-Rod often comes off as genuine as a $3 bill. Sometimes it seems that he tries so hard to do and say what he thinks is the right thing that when it finally comes out, it actually sounds rehearsed and fake.
Take A-Rod's ongoing disagreement with the Blue Jays. Back in May, remember, he distracted Howie Clark on a key popup late in the game by yelling, depending on whose account you believe, "Hey" or "Mine." It was generally agreed to be a cheesy move. So the Blue Jays threw behind A-Rod in Monday's game and then, last night, Toronto pitcher Josh Towers hit him in the calf, which might have been the first ball Towers threw accurately since 2005. The benches cleared, though no punches were thrown.
Then when A-Rod was standing on first, he thought Towers was jawing at him. (It turned out Towers was calling Yankees first base coach Tony Pena a "quitter" for resigning as Royals manager in May, 2005.) So A-Rod started toward Towers, looking all tough, and for the benefit of all amateur lip-readers clearly said, "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?" And at that moment, it was perfectly plausible to picture A-Rod practicing those lines in front of his mirror before the game just like Bobby DeNiro's Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver. Could he have possibly selected a more clichéd line for the occasion? (Personally, we're partial to DeNiro quotes as Midnight Run's Jack Walsh, such as, "Now here come two words for you: Shut the f--- up.")
Of course, Derek Jeter would probably have made the same line sound cool, so who knows. Not that everyone loves Jeter either. In fact, here's the Toronto Baseball Guys' 100 Reasons to Hate Derek Jeter.
Melissa Haro
Brooklyn Decker
Did You See That?
Manny Being Manny
Comments (5) Add A Comment
After watching the re-runs of last night's bench-clearing game, I acknowledge that Towers was the instigator. However, A-Rod should either keep to himself or simply walk up to a BlueJay and do a "LIGHTS OUT" straight -right to his chin. Otherwise, stop acting like a wannabe tough guy, and stick to what you know how to do, which is swinging the bat and not your fists.
EPark (Los Angeles)
EPark
Orange County, Ca, CA
Total Comments (45)
C'mon! First of all: the Jays are chumps to begin with. Why didn't they seek retribution in NY? Second: in the first game they had threw at Alex Rodriguez and two other Yankees also. Wasn't that enough. Third: keeping this tirade going at the Yankees is a bit moronic if you ask me. Especially when your pitcher is more concerned with retribution than in stopping a rally and lastly: Not everybody thought what he did by yelling at the Jays infielder was all that wrong. Joe Morgan said on National TV that he heard things like that all the time when he played. What's the amtter the Jays acting a little scraidy cat like?
4192jc (Don't give…
Total Comments (10012)
4192jc are you really using Joe "the blow my own horn" Morgan as back up for any argument?
unklesam
Philadelphia , PA
Total Comments (174)
ARod's wife has t-shirts with more creative comeback lines.
Tim in NY
The 'Burbs, NY
Total Comments (2521)
This is stupid. First, players yell stuff like that all the time. Ever heard players in a dugout yell "Look out!" when a catcher or corner infielder is trying to chase down a foul ball and is still 10 yards from the dugout? Second, even if you buy that it was a cheesy thing for A-Rod to do, throwing at a guy's knee is overkill for payback. Threatening to end someone's career that way is 100 times beyond cheesy.
As far as the "are you talking to me?" stuff: How many ways does one inquire "Are you talking to me?" Unless you were close enough to hear him say it with DeNiro's voice, saying that he was impersonating DeNiro is a stretch. Obviously, just WHO the idiot Towers was talking to was in question (as you pointed out that he WAS talking to Pena) so asking just who he was talking to isn't unreasonable.
Why don't you talk about the fact that Towers threw at A-Rod's knee? Or the "tough guy" act of Matt Stairs?
Get over your A-Rod hatred already.
RodK
Niagara Falls , NY
Total Comments (4)
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