Alex Rodriguez
Alex Rodriguez
Alexander Emmanuel "Alex" Rodriguez, nicknamed "A-Rod", is an American professional baseball designated hitter for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball. He previously played for the Seattle Mariners and the Texas Rangers. Rodriguez was one of the sport's most highly touted prospects and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. During his 20-year career, Rodriguez has amassed a .297 batting average, 696 home runs, over 2000 runs batted in, over 2000 runs scored, and over...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth27 July 1975
CityNew York City, NY
CountryUnited States of America
It took me a little while to realize that Joe knows everything that's going on around here. It might not seem that way, because he's so low-key. But he knows exactly what's going on in the clubhouse and in the dugout. I've never seen a manager that plugged in.
At the end of the day, I realized how important it was for me to play because of the position I have in the game. ... I'm the best guy available to help the team.
The team is playing with a lot of urgency right now. We realize how important each game is, and we're taking this as our playoff,
It is hard to ignore that is reality. But, at the same time, it still comes down to sound baseball decisions, farm systems and then execution on the field by the players. There are a lot of components to that (other) than just saying it is the highest salary.
Playing the game was the easy part. The real work was in the preparation.
I'm not a real vocal guy, but sometimes you need to kick someone in the ass.
That loss might be the best thing that's ever happened to us going down the stretch. We realize we put control of this thing in other people's hand. We don't want to let that happen again.
We don't want to be in that situation again. We realize that was way too big a hole that we built ourselves and it was a miracle that we actually won the division. We know that every game in April shows up in September.
I'm very close with Gary and I love Gary, and Gary's a great teammate. We'll leave it at that.
I'm very close with Gary and I love Gary, and Gary's a great teammate, ... We'll leave it at that.
I mean, we were 10 games back in late July.
I know what kind of a crazy competitor I am. If I'm in Lakeland in March and my country is playing Japan in the semifinals in Arizona, I know I'd want to be there. I'm the best guy available to help the team.
It was just a momentum swing. We had momentum early, then we couldn't stop them. ... You wouldn't want to judge any team on their best day or on their worst day.
Once the ball was thrown away, we thought, 'O.K., let's take advantage of it,'