The New York Yankees would love to see Alex Rodriguez finally suspended. Major League Baseball can’t wait to get the legal stuff over him and suspend him already for a year, two or maybe more. A-Rod? He’s just focusing on playing baseball, winning and trying to keep the chatter around him to the necessary minimum.
Since Rodriguez returned from his injury, the Yankees have gone 10-6, but have won nine of their last 11 games, including 2 of 3 against the Red Sox, which also involved Ryan Dempster trying to cause Rodriguez some bodily harms with a couple of very dangerous pitches.
How good has he been? Better than expected, probably. He’s not hitting home runs, with only 2 (and 6 RBIs) in 54 at bats, but he’s hitting a .296, failing to get a hit in only three of his 14 games so far in August.
The Yankees are making the expected playoff push (6.5 games behind in the AL East at this point), and Rodriguez seems focused on baseball, not the legal terms that have been mostly associated with his case, as the league tries to suspend him, the Yankees are trying to get out of paying him his outrageous salary for as long as possible and the question of just how many seasons has he played with an unfair advantage leads to some dark answers about Rodriguez himself and the state of the sport.
So he won’t be asked questions about legal issues, or at least not answer them. But no matter how well Rodriguez hits in the coming month and a bit for the Yankees, it’s never going to be the same for him, as his already tarnished public persona took a few more hits to sink it to a new low, one that probably was hard to imagine anyone reaching without actually committing a serious crime.
He keeps on playing, keeps on hitting. Maybe he’ll actually taste success with the Yankees before the league, his lawyers and the players association determine his future. But much like the symbolism of a dead man walking, no one wants to see Rodriguez succeed, as he plays for a sport and for a team too many people don’t want him to be a part of anymore.