October Surprise

[Frayed Knot]

First a pop quiz:
Examine the career post-season stats below for two active players and pick out which one belongs to the guy who always raises his game in October and which belongs to the no-good choking pig-dog.

A) .307/.408/.570 - 13.9 RBIs/100 ABs
.308/.381/.477 - 8.8 RBIs/100 ABs





The answers - as you have likely already figured out - are: A = Alex Rodriguez; B = Derek Jeter -- something which proves without a doubt that Jeter is the better October hitter as long as we don't figure in the parts about making outs more often, hitting for less power, and driving in fewer runs.

The kicker is that none of this should be an October surprise and wouldn't be if not for the constant flogging from people too stupid to look beyond small sample sizes. ARod's numbers obviously took a nice boost over the last two series which makes the overall look better than it recently did, but it's not like he was always incompetent leading up to that point except to those who decide to only count from the point where his really, really lousy 50+ AB stretch begins (8 for 56 w/2 XBHs) and act as if that represents his entire body of work.

But AR was actually quite good in his post-season appearances prior to being a Yanqui (including while playing in series against the Yanx) and was also quite good during the first 7 post-season games as a Yanqui - both stretches that should have made him at least partially immune to the idea that not only was he incapable of succeeding in October but that he was failing because it was the post-season or because he was on the Yanquis.

[metirish]

I saw a poll in the Daily News last week asking it's moron readership if Rodriguez was now a real yankee

1) Yes
2) No
3) Needs tio win WS

[stevejrogers]

But AR was actually quite good in his post-season appearances prior to being a Yanqui (including while playing in series against the Yanx) and was also quite good during the first 7 post-season games as a Yanqui - both stretches that should have made him at least partially immune to the idea that not only was he incapable of succeeding in October but that he was failing because it was the post-season or because he was on the Yanquis.

[ashie62]

October Surprise? I just want a happy ending!