Post by musicradio77 on Apr 3, 2005 19:14:15 GMT -5
From the Daily News:
A-Rod's Ready to Sox It to Boston
Gives himself fightin' chance at redemption
BY SAM BORDEN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Alex Rodriguez sat in the dugout at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota a few weeks ago and talked about the Red Sox. On that warm March night, A-Rod leaned against the padded bench and said the birth of his first child in November had given him a new perspective on life; looking back, he said, he wouldn't have wanted little Natasha to see her father brawling with Jason Varitek the way he did at Fenway Park last July.
But that doesn't mean he wouldn't do it again.
"Obviously you look back and you know you look silly fighting or whatever," he said when asked to clarify those comments in an interview last week at Legends Field in Tampa. "But at the end of the day, once you're in the heat of the moment, you'd do anything it takes to win and you battle for your family, which is the Yankees.
"I wish I could say that I'd be calm, cool and collected," he continued, "so I don't would know I wouldn't ever do that, but in a day where you're in the fire and you're fighting, you never know what the hell you're going to do. That's what makes this rivalry great."
Indeed, craziness seems to be inherent in The Rivalry. Over the last two years, George Steinbrenner has cried following a dramatic Yankee win, Curt Schilling has (reportedly) teared up over a tough Red Sox loss, Pedro Martinez tossed septuagenarian Don Zimmer to the turf during the first bench-clearing brawl and Varitek tried to put his catcher's mitt on A-Rod's tonsils in the second one.
There've been dramatic homers (see Boone, Aaron or Ortiz, David), dramatic stolen bases (Dave Roberts), dramatic catches (Derek Jeter), dramatic socks (Curt Schilling) and the mother of all dramatic comebacks and/or collapses (Games 4-7 of last fall's ALCS).
The craziest thing of all, though, is that even after the Sox erased 86 years of heartache by finally beating the Yanks then winning the World Series in 2004, it's generally expected that this season's edition of The Rivalry will top all of that.
Sure, Pedro is gone, but Rodriguez has remained a lightning rod (several Sox players took turns ripping him at the start of spring training) while Randy Johnson - Schilling's former teammate in Arizona - was brought to the Bronx over the winter for the sole purpose of helping The Boss exact revenge for last October's wrenching defeat.
That mission starts tonight, when Johnson takes the ball against David Wells in what figures to be another bizarre evening since Wells was once a fan-favorite in the Bronx but is now, officially, the enemy.
"That's going to just be strange," said Jason Giambi. "I told him, 'Dude, it's going to be crazy when you get out on that mound,' but that's Boomer. He's always the guy in those situations."
Wells is a perfect example of the constant crossover between the Yanks and Sox. They are, it seems, perpetually linked, be it in battle on the field or an offseason bidding war. The Rivalry has become baseball's hallmark, its showcase matchup that long ago surpassed regional novelty status and became a national attraction.
"If we played them at midnight, there'd be a lot of hubbub," Joe Torre said.
Don't laugh. The competitiveness between the teams has reached the point that every game between them is an event. The Yankees were besieged by credential requests from media outlets around the country for tonight's game and both stadiums sold out tickets to the rivalry games in minutes.
The competition couldn't be tighter. With 19 games during the season and seven more in each of the last two postseasons, the teams have met 52 times since 2003 with the Sox winning 27. That includes four in a row after being just three outs from a sweep last October, a feat which not only crushed Steinbrenner's spirit - at least for a few minutes until he started plotting how to strike back this season - but also put a damper on the abuse Yankee fans have heaped on their Boston counterparts for decades.
"I don't know what the rivalry is going to be now," Torre said. "I know the fans are going to be wild, but they have to find new ammunition now. No more '1918!' stuff."
Not only that, but Bombers fans will have to suffer the ultimate indignity on April 11, when the Sox receive their World Series rings on the field at Fenway while the Yanks watch and wait from the visitors' clubhouse.
It's not a scene that Rodriguez is looking forward to. He started last season by getting one measly hit in the first series against Boston and essentially ended it with his infamous "slap play" that symbolized the Yanks' desperation in Game 6 of the ALCS.
He has vowed that this year will be different. Winning, as Steinbrenner might say, is a necessity.
"It's something I find I have to do, and will do, to earn my pinstripes," Rodriguez said. "I was brought in here to be the final piece, to be a world champion. And last year I came up short."
A-Rod's Ready to Sox It to Boston
Gives himself fightin' chance at redemption
BY SAM BORDEN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Alex Rodriguez sat in the dugout at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota a few weeks ago and talked about the Red Sox. On that warm March night, A-Rod leaned against the padded bench and said the birth of his first child in November had given him a new perspective on life; looking back, he said, he wouldn't have wanted little Natasha to see her father brawling with Jason Varitek the way he did at Fenway Park last July.
But that doesn't mean he wouldn't do it again.
"Obviously you look back and you know you look silly fighting or whatever," he said when asked to clarify those comments in an interview last week at Legends Field in Tampa. "But at the end of the day, once you're in the heat of the moment, you'd do anything it takes to win and you battle for your family, which is the Yankees.
"I wish I could say that I'd be calm, cool and collected," he continued, "so I don't would know I wouldn't ever do that, but in a day where you're in the fire and you're fighting, you never know what the hell you're going to do. That's what makes this rivalry great."
Indeed, craziness seems to be inherent in The Rivalry. Over the last two years, George Steinbrenner has cried following a dramatic Yankee win, Curt Schilling has (reportedly) teared up over a tough Red Sox loss, Pedro Martinez tossed septuagenarian Don Zimmer to the turf during the first bench-clearing brawl and Varitek tried to put his catcher's mitt on A-Rod's tonsils in the second one.
There've been dramatic homers (see Boone, Aaron or Ortiz, David), dramatic stolen bases (Dave Roberts), dramatic catches (Derek Jeter), dramatic socks (Curt Schilling) and the mother of all dramatic comebacks and/or collapses (Games 4-7 of last fall's ALCS).
The craziest thing of all, though, is that even after the Sox erased 86 years of heartache by finally beating the Yanks then winning the World Series in 2004, it's generally expected that this season's edition of The Rivalry will top all of that.
Sure, Pedro is gone, but Rodriguez has remained a lightning rod (several Sox players took turns ripping him at the start of spring training) while Randy Johnson - Schilling's former teammate in Arizona - was brought to the Bronx over the winter for the sole purpose of helping The Boss exact revenge for last October's wrenching defeat.
That mission starts tonight, when Johnson takes the ball against David Wells in what figures to be another bizarre evening since Wells was once a fan-favorite in the Bronx but is now, officially, the enemy.
"That's going to just be strange," said Jason Giambi. "I told him, 'Dude, it's going to be crazy when you get out on that mound,' but that's Boomer. He's always the guy in those situations."
Wells is a perfect example of the constant crossover between the Yanks and Sox. They are, it seems, perpetually linked, be it in battle on the field or an offseason bidding war. The Rivalry has become baseball's hallmark, its showcase matchup that long ago surpassed regional novelty status and became a national attraction.
"If we played them at midnight, there'd be a lot of hubbub," Joe Torre said.
Don't laugh. The competitiveness between the teams has reached the point that every game between them is an event. The Yankees were besieged by credential requests from media outlets around the country for tonight's game and both stadiums sold out tickets to the rivalry games in minutes.
The competition couldn't be tighter. With 19 games during the season and seven more in each of the last two postseasons, the teams have met 52 times since 2003 with the Sox winning 27. That includes four in a row after being just three outs from a sweep last October, a feat which not only crushed Steinbrenner's spirit - at least for a few minutes until he started plotting how to strike back this season - but also put a damper on the abuse Yankee fans have heaped on their Boston counterparts for decades.
"I don't know what the rivalry is going to be now," Torre said. "I know the fans are going to be wild, but they have to find new ammunition now. No more '1918!' stuff."
Not only that, but Bombers fans will have to suffer the ultimate indignity on April 11, when the Sox receive their World Series rings on the field at Fenway while the Yanks watch and wait from the visitors' clubhouse.
It's not a scene that Rodriguez is looking forward to. He started last season by getting one measly hit in the first series against Boston and essentially ended it with his infamous "slap play" that symbolized the Yanks' desperation in Game 6 of the ALCS.
He has vowed that this year will be different. Winning, as Steinbrenner might say, is a necessity.
"It's something I find I have to do, and will do, to earn my pinstripes," Rodriguez said. "I was brought in here to be the final piece, to be a world champion. And last year I came up short."