Alex Rodriguez suffered a broken hand Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at Safeco Field in Seattle. Felix Hernandez hit Rodriguez with a pitched ball in the eighth inning. Rodriguez did not play again until September 3 in Tampa. After returning his strike out rate increased dramatically.
From July 17 through July 21 Rodriguez played five games with zero strike outs in 19 at bats (AB). The 28 games that Rodriguez played in September/October resulted in his lowest monthly OPS in 2012 (.710) and second worst strike out rate.
Split G AB SO AB/SO
April/March 22 82 16 5.125
May 27 102 24 4.25
June 26 95 30 3.16666666666667
July 19 73 14 5.21428571428571
Sept/Oct 28 111 32 3.46875
So how come hardly anyone even mentioned this much less emphasized it in explaining why Rodriguez was striking out so much in the Major Baseball League (MBL) tournament? In particular Yankee general manager Brian Cashman simply tried to justify the Yankee position in benching Rodriguez against Detroit by stating that the increase in strike outs stretched back into the regular season. Yeah, all the way back to September 3 and after Rodriguez suffered a BROKEN HAND!
What the heck? Do people hate Rodriguez so much that they would ignore a BROKEN HAND? It appears that they would rather jump to the conclusion that Rodriguez was choking ... again. They would rather believe that his playful flirting with a good looking woman fan was further proof that he is not a team player. On that suppose Rodriguez had communicated with a kid and not a woman? Let's make it a kid with some affliction. Would that be perceived as improper?
1 comment:
2 excellent comments on Reality instead of the usual demented and thoughtless opinions of so called experts. Most of thought jeter was playing hurt when he also was slumping badly.
The players dont admit it, or even may think its not a factor, but of course it is.
Many of us with broken bones and injuries are never the same again. We are simply operating with different specifications that we experienced throughout our adult lives.
So when an athlete who has to hit in .4 seconds breaks his hand it is going to change things that need adjustment time to deal with.
But you also made a good point with aging stars like Joey D--same with Mickey Mantle and ted W. None of them were amazing at the end and they were younger than Arod in most cases.
The problem is so called analysts and people are just lazy or cannot fit all the facts in their minds in order to make a competent judgement.
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