THE ALEX RODRIGUEZ STORY THAT ISN'T A STORY

There is a ridiculous report out that Joe Girardi didn't want Alex Rodriguez to feel bad when he pinch hit Raul Ibanez for Alex in the ALCS, so he asked to announcer not to say ARod's name in the pinch hit announcement. Seriously... So?

This story, written by Jon Heyman is such a non-story, I'm not linking to it. It's freaking ridiculous. All it tells me is that Alex Rodriguez wasn't piled-on enough by the media during the playoffs, so they needed to continue it weeks later...kind of like "Look at me! I got the last shot in!"  But once again, here's the best part of Heyman's non-story; he heard it from someone "familiar with the situation."  My mom watched that game... damn, I should have asked her, she was also "familiar with the situation." What the hell does that even mean?

It reminds me a lot of when Robinson Cano was accused to failing a PEDs test by that low level reporter in North Carolina. I remember it clearly, Peter Gammons came out after Dan Tordjman reported the false Cano story and said, and I'm overly exaggerating here "Oh, you heard about Cano failing a PEDs test? I heard about that weeks for you!" Read HERE. Meanwhile, Tordjman had to publicly apologize to Cano and the Yankees and was punished by his employer, read HERE, and Peter Gammons got to go back to his "Hall of Fame self." Why wasn't PGam held accountable too? And Cano, as predicted, the damage was done (Read FALSE RUMORS DAMAGE A PLAYER'S SOLID REPUTATION.) I said it then and I'll say it now, I believe the combination of Melky Cabrera failing his test and he being a friend of Cano's, and that false PEDs story attached to Cano got to him, it got in his head.

But this isn't about Cano. It's about false reports and "sources." This is about stupid crap that no one double checks. I'm sick of "unnamed sources" and "someone familiar with the situation." I'd rather they start the news item with "I have some great gossip about ARod..." At least then I can choose whether or not to read it or not.

Heyman's story is silly and ultimately Yankee fans don't care about Alex Rodriguez's feeling being hurt and Joe Girardi sure as hell shouldn't care. These are millionaires that we pay to perform. If you don't perform, they get booed...that's the reality. Sure, Alex sucked in the postseason, but even he said "Look, I know it was difficult for Joe. I know Joe didn’t want to sit me... If I do what I do, Joe doesn’t have a choice, neither does (GM Brain) Cashman, neither does anybody... I have to look in the mirror."  That came out in the Daily News on October 18th.  As far as I could see, the story was over then. Yet, still reporters think that piling on Alex is "OK".  Alex Rodriguez is a human being. Sure, people can disagree or not like Alex, but the backhanded slaps that are continuing weeks later is just lazy journalism. It's not even a nugget... It's pathetic.

That's my take anyway.

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