Benched for the second time this postseason, Alex Rodriguez could only watch as the Yankees lost 2-1 to the Detroit Tigers in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series.
Rodriguez is hitting .143 in the ALCS and .130 in the playoffs with no RBIs.
In between the benching, the struggling Yankee got a pep talk, however, the pep talk wasn’t from a teammate or a front office executive, but Kobe Bryant.
“We spoke a couple of days ago,” Bryant said of Rodriguez. “You can only control what you can control. You go out there and do the best job you can. If they take you out of the lineup, it’s really on you to be a good teammate and support the other guys, which he’s good about doing.”
That was the politically correct talk, however, the conversation went more like this.
“I just say to him, ‘You’re Alex Rodriguez. You’re A-Rod. You’re one of the best to ever do it,’” Bryant said. “I think sometimes he kind of forgets that and wants to try to do the right thing all the time. Which is the right team attitude to have. But other times you really have to put your head down and say, ‘Hell with it’ and just do your thing.
“Hopefully the next game they’ll kind of give him a chance, maybe put him back at third and let him respond to the pressure, which I think he’ll do.”
Bryant and Rodriguez are/were the best at the sport, however, Bryant always had that killer instinct where A-Rod lacked.
We’re different,” Bryant said. “But you’re talking about, ‘He’s one of the best to ever play.’ I think really the difference is, sometimes he forgets he’s the best. … Where, I don’t.”
“We know what it takes to get to that level,” he said. “The consistency, the sacrifice, the work ethic, the constant scrutiny, that’s something we all have in common — from golf to cycling to swimming to basketball to baseball.”
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October 17, 2012
