Alex Rodriguez hit his 35th home run and drove in his 100th RBI the other day, making it the 12th straight season he’d done so.  In accomplishing this feat, A-Rod passed Babe Ruth as the only player to ever do such a thing.  “Passed Babe Ruth”…Now there’s a phrase that cements an accomplishment as legendary.  So where do you rank Alex Rodriguez in the history books?  Exactly how great is this guy considering his accomplishments and his post season failures?

When you talk about the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, history as well as tradition and coincidence are variables that have to come into play. I’ve read some strange things that connect these two teams, but this story may take the proverbial cake. A 13 year old girl named Alexis Rodriguez was with her school touring Fenway Park when a hawk swooped from the heavens to maliciously attack her.

Isn’t it an interesting parallel that the girl’s name is eerily similar to Yankee’s short stop Alex Rodriguez and that A-Rod wears the number 13? Was this a message by the ghosts of past Red Sox lore to a young girl? But instead of getting caught up in all the ironies of the story, we should take a step back and look at the bigger picture here.

A. What the hell is a hawk doing in downtown Boston? I’m not from the area, so I could be wrong about my assumptions that hawks don’t patrol the skies of any major city especially Boston. B. Did the hawk mistake the girl for a young rodent or rabbit? How does this kind of thing even happen? I can only imagine the scene that must have ensued both leading up to the attack and following it. “Okay kids, does anyone know what this foul pole is called? That’s right, Pesky’s Pole. It was named after- CACAWWWWWWWWW swoooosh.” The pandemonium that followed must have been epic.

Take this as a warning, Alex. Next time you try and bring your MVP hardware and your 54 home runs into Fenway, you will get attacked by a bird. On that note of karma, can I get someone in the Bay Area named Berry Bonds or Bart Bonds who is willing to get attacked by a seal for karma’s sake?

Note: I don’t think young children getting hurt is funny. I think the irony of a hawk attacking anyone or anything in a setting like Fenway is funny.

Second Note: We apologize for the goofy picture alignments some articles have had. The new WordPress is awful. We’re trying to sort out the issues.

By now, you’re probably aware that the Yankees lost BugGate game two of the American League Divisional Series last night. Last night’s 11 inning win by the Cleveland Indians has brought the Pinstripers within a game of elimination. It would be their third consecutive year they’ve bowed out in the ALDS. And with it, it will open up even more criticism of soon-to-be AL MVP Alex Rodriguez. Is it warranted? Sure. Is he the only one that deserves it? Hell no.

Let’s take a look at the cold, hard facts. A-Rod’s 2007 season was one of the best we’ve seen in a long, long time. 54 homers, 156 RBIs, 143 runs, 24 stolen bases and so on and so forth. How’s he faring in the ALDS? He’s 0-6. Not good, especially when he’s been known for his postseason struggles. Since the 2005 ALDS, A-Rod is 3-35 in the playoffs. But let’s take a look at the rest of A-Rod’s flunkies. The struggles are mutual.

Derek Jeter: 1-8
Johnny Damon: 1-9
Jorge Posada: 0-7
Robinson Cano: 1-7

So it’s not like these ‘07 Yankees are hitting like the ‘27 Yankees. They’ve run into two elite pitchers in CC Sabathia and Fausto Carmona and they haven’t hit either. And let’s not forget the obvious fact. The Indians are a better team than the Yankees. They’ve been the better team all year. If the Yankees fail to come back from this 0-2 deficit, who’s going to be the scapegoat? That’s easy. A-Rod. It’s A-Rod’s fault. Everything is. September 11th was A-Rod’s fault. So was Hurricane Katrina.

But why? Why does Derek Jeter, he of incredible “intangibles,” get a free pass? Why won’t Chien Ming Wang be criticized for getting lit up like a Christmas tree in game one? Why won’t Joba Chamberlain take any heat for letting a hoard of gnats completely get him out of sync? Without A-Rod, this Yankees team wouldn’t even be in the playoffs. Despite what pundits will try to feed you, Rodriguez’s October struggles are just one of the many problems in the Bronx these days.

Imagine somewhere around the famed Yankee Stadium locker room an unwritten rule about contract talks is posted. It reads, “Contracts will be discussed at the end of the season.” What if the season is already over in New York? What if Alex Rodriguez was already looking forward to opt out of a deal that is currently earning him $25 million?

If the Yankees decide to keep their word about contract negotiations and Alex Rodriguez continues to hit home runs at a record pace, the New York club could see their All-Star walk. Alex has one friend who he can relate his statistics to when it’s all said and done, but just imagine if he could repeat what one Giant will do this year. What if Alex Rodriguez became a San Francisco Giant?

After another Yankees loss yesterday, the New York media is obviously disgusted. They demand excellence and this Yankees bunch isn’t delivering it. It’s gotten to the point where they’ll show anything to get their anger across. The Daily Sports News has made their feelings felt about the Yankees’ play. The New York Times? They’re focusing on something entirely different. Apparently, Alex Rodriguez’s wife showed up the Yankee Stadium with a vulgar shirt. The back of it read very clearly: F*** You.

“[One] father, was so embarrassed, he got up and left and took his son,” who appeared to be about 10 years old, a fan said.

“I mean this kid was right in back of Cynthia - his nose must have been about 4 inches away from the words ‘F- - - you.’ “

While I always appreciate the good-humored f bomb, wearing a shirt with that little creativity doesn’t do the word justice. If it was something like “F*** Boston” or even “Buck Foston,” it might earn applause instead of scorn. But because it’s A-Rod’s wife and the team is sucking complete ass, it’s getting in the news. Let me add the obvious to this discussion. It’s Yankee Stadium. If you’ve sat in a New York crowd, you know their knack for stringing together some F bombs. Hell, you can go to any stadium in the world and come across the word in some form.

Despite Alex Rodriguez putting up eye-popping numbers and getting love respect from all corners of the baseball world, he’s going through a tough year. Thanks to the New York media machine (and ESPN), Rodriguez has seemingly been in the news for everything but his 27 homers. There’s the infield fly ball controversy, the nameless whore in Toronto, and now the shirt his wife wears. Her shirt, although trashy, essentially sums up what Rodriguez feels in that damn city.

Note: Damn, does she look beat or what?

I know I’ve harped on this before and frankly I don’t care, so I’m gonna talk about it again. Leave Alex Rodriguez alone. In watching the complete self-destruction of the Mets at the hands of Chen Ming Wang and A-Rod last night, I realized something. Sure, Magglio Ordonez’s numbers are pretty good and he’s playing out of his mind right now, but if you want to talk about a league MVP, your conversation better start and end with A-Rod.

The media has spent a better portion of this season bastardizing A-Rod at any opportunity they can get. First it’s the pop fly incident, then the blonde at the strip club, then him dropping an F-bomb on the media while he’s at the park trying to spend some quality time with his family. Look, I don’t give two shits what A-Rod does in his personal time. If he wants to go nail blondes without wedding rings on then by all means go for it. It’s not my business, it’s not your business, and therefore we shouldn’t care. All this negative crap directed at Rodriguez is taking focus away from the unreal season he’s having so far. The guy has 27 bombs right now, and it’s not even the all star break. He had 35 all of last year. He’s got 73 RBI’s right now in just 67 games played. Do the math, that’s a ridiculous pace. He’s hitting .315 right now and carrying a Yankees team on a winning streak that will put them back in playoff contention.

It doesn’t matter that him and Jeter “aren’t the best of friends” and it doesn’t matter that he’s the highest paid player in baseball. He earned it didn’t he? If I had $252 million staring me in the face, I’d take it. You would too. So get off the high horse about A-Rod being all about the money because anyone who says they would turn that kind of money down to play baseball everyday for a living is retarded. Fact of the matter is that he’s done everything he can to prove himself in New York. Yeah, he’s struggled in the post season. So did Peyton Manning, and he eventually got his. Get off A-Rod’s back. He doesn’t deserve this crap that the media is giving him. The man doesn’t have a criminal record (unlike half of the professional athletes in this country) and he does a bunch of charity work in the community and the only thing we want to do is bastardize him for every small thing he does that we don’t approve of. Here’s a guy who will take back that home run title that Barry Bonds is about to steal and, despite the fact that he’s done it without the use of needles and pills, we want to villanize him and make him the bad guy. I’ve had enough of it and it needs to stop.

Disclaimer: If you’re a Red Sox fan then you still have the right to boo the shit out of A-Rod. That sucker punch he laid on Varitek a few years back was one of the few things he’s done that I disagree with. And I guess you can include that whole division rivalry thing into your hate as well.