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Author: Neil Keefe

Blogs • NHL • Team USA

Feb 22, 2010

Digging for Gold

Team USA’s 5-3 win over Canada sent a message to the hockey world four years after the U.S. was embarrassed in the Olympics.

This column was originally published on WFAN.com on Feb. 22, 2010.

Mike Milbury predicted that Team USA would lose to Canada in Sunday night’s pregame show. At that point, I knew that an upset was assured because, let’s be honest, when has Mike Milbury ever been right?

It’s hard to remember Milbury ever having been right as general manager of the Islanders. He wasn’t right when he drafted Rick DiPietro ahead of Dany Heatley and Marian Gaborik, and traded Roberto Luongo. Or when he traded Zdeno Chara and the second pick in the 2001 draft (Jason Spezza) for Alexei Yashin. During his time with the Islanders, Milbury compiled a long list of questionable and controversial decisions in his quest to become the worst GM in hockey history. He was wrong again on Sunday night when he picked against his own country.

After letting a 1-4-1 performance in 2006 resonate for four years, Team USA made wholesale changes for 2010. General manager Brian Burke scrapped the entire ’06 roster except for Chris Drury and Brian Rafalski, choosing youth and inexperience to replace the face of USA hockey. Burke skirted conventional wisdom by replacing the team’s core of Mike Modano, Keith Tkachuk, Bill Guerin and Doug Weight. On Sunday night in Vancouver, Burke’s moves paid off in a game Eddie Olczyk referred to as “tremendously tremendous.”

Doc Emrick isn’t used to seeing Martin Brodeur get lit up, and he probably can’t recall a two-goal game from Brian Rafalski’s tenure with the Devils. These two factors — Brodeur’s shakiness and Rafalski’s offensive outburst — contributed to Team USA’s first win over Canada since 1960. Team USA entered Sunday’s main event at plus 250 on the money line. They left with all of Canada calling for Roberto Luongo to replace Brodeur in Tuesday’s quarterfinal qualifier.

Ron Wilson’s club won in exactly the manner that Burke envisioned they could when he selected the next wave of American talent. Burke built the current squad with an emphasis on speed and goaltending, and it was enough to drop a Canadian team that outshot the Americans 45-23. Team USA limited their mistakes, stayed disciplined and remained out of the box, and Ryan Miller did his best Jim Craig impersonation with a 42-save performance. Team USA was outplayed and outshot by a roster that perhaps no Americans other than Patrick Kane or Zach Parise would crack, but they stuck to Wilson’s system and capitalized on the few opportunities they were afforded.

The win was the most significant for Team USA in Olympic competition since the second Herb Brooks-led team knocked off Russia in the 2002 semifinals. The game created interest in the young club for the American people, and the winning result has turned that interest into an attachment. People now seem to care about the team’s outcome in Vancouver, and this wouldn’t have been the case had Ryan Miller played more like Martin Brodeur. The dream of achieving gold in the tournament for the first time in 30 years has hockey back in the spotlight, and it’s going to be a challenge to sustain the current hype around the team and the sport.

Gary Bettman would love for that enthusiasm to carry past the end of the week and into the stretch run of the NHL season, however, just keeping Americans attached for this week is a step in the right direction. It might be wishful thinking to believe that Team USA can bring the game back to where it was prior to the 2004-05 lockout, but it seems to be a possibility, at least for the moment. Team USA has a chance to change the landscape of hockey in the United States, and give the NHL the boost of interest the league has unsuccessfully tried to achieve through rules changes, marketing and the Winter Classic.

An upset of Canada and the revival of American hockey in the Olympics won’t carry as much weight if Team USA falls in quarterfinal action or loses to Canada in a possible rematch. Team USA knocked off the favorites on their home ice. They have proven they can play with — and beat — any team in the tournament, and in doing so, they have made the goal medal game their end game. If Sunday’s win was their last of the 2010 Games, this last week of perfect hockey from Team USA will be a letdown.

Many hoped that after the 2006 debacle, Team USA would contend for a medal game in the tournament, though no one truly expected them to beat Canada and earn the No. 1 seed for the playoff round. As long as the Americans didn’t bow out the way they did four years ago, it would have been a successful trip to Vancouver. The expectations changed on Sunday, and now it’s up to this Team USA to show America and the world that they aren’t the same team that won only once — against Kazakhstan, no less — in the ’06 Games. It’s up to them to prove to Sidney Crosby that Sunday’s 5-3 win wasn’t “just one game.”

A week ago Team USA was hoping to avoid embarrassment and provide a respectable showing in Vancouver. Now they are the top seed in the tournament and three wins away from achieving Olympic glory, and improving the outlook on the game for the entire country.

Let’s just hope Mike Milbury doesn’t decide to jump on the Team USA bandwagon.

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Blogs • MLB

Feb 19, 2010

Santana or Halladay? Who Gets the Ball?

Everyone listens to the Mets when they open their mouths in spring training, but no one ever takes them seriously. Over the last two seasons, the Mets have made headlines by sharing their pipe dreams

Everyone listens to the Mets when they open their mouths in spring training, but no one ever takes them seriously. Over the last two seasons, the Mets have made headlines by sharing their pipe dreams and senseless predictions with the media.

“Let me tell you this: Without [Johan] Santana, we felt as a team we have a chance to win in our division. With him now, I have no doubt that we’re going to win in our division. I have no doubt in that.” – Carlos Beltran, Feb. 16, 2008

False.

“Of course, we’re going to be the front-runner. Of course, we’re going to be the team to beat.” – Francisco Rodriguez, Dec. 13, 2008

Second verse same as the first.

“We’re expecting to go out there and win the National League East and go deep in the playoffs and win a World Series.” – David Wright, Feb. 18, 2010

To be determined.

Beltran’s lock for the division didn’t hold true in 2008, and K-Rod’s words didn’t hold up either, as the $37-million closer added to the Mets’ problems with career highs in ERA, WHIP and blown saves. Wright’s expectations have yet to play out, but let’s be honest, we all know how that story ends.

On Thursday, Johan Santana made headlines for a different reason. He didn’t call out the Phillies or proclaim the Mets as the odds-on favorite to win the World Series – an annual tradition his teammates started. Instead, Santana called himself the best pitcher in the division.

“In our division?” Santana replied when asked who the best pitcher in the NL East is. “Santana.”

It’s hard to get on Johan for thinking so highly of himself, even if Roy Halladay now calls the NL East home. Had Santana answered with Halladay’s name, it would have been a bigger issue than it already is. And if Halladay were ever asked the same question, you’d expect him to believe that he is the best pitcher in the NL East and not Santana.

Who is the best pitcher in the NL East? Santana or Halladay? We know what Mets fans think and what Phillies think, and everyone else would probably be split down the middle given their favorite team or personal allegiances.

So, here’s a better question: if you had to play a game for your life, would you start Santana or Halladay? No Mets jersey. No Phillies jersey. Who do you give the ball to?

The difference in their career stats is slim. While Santana has postseason experience, Halladay has spent his entire career in the AL East. Pitching against the Yankees and Red Sox on a consistent basis in the spring and summer isn’t exactly pitching in October. Then again, Santana would probably want us to leave October out of the equation since he’s 1-3 in the second season.

Both of them have Cy Youngs, sub-3.50 ERAs and unimaginable K /BB ratios. Santana might own a few strikeout titles, but Halladay owns something much more valuable: the ability to instill immense fear.

Paul O’Neill likes to talk about pitchers that make players check the calendar weeks in advance to see if they will miss them in an upcoming three-game series. Roy Halladay is that type of pitcher, and there is no other pitcher in baseball that is given the W before the game even starts. Santana might possess a similar intimidation, but in no way is it to this degree.

It doesn’t matter who is starting against Halladay or what lineup he will face, it is predetermined that he will win and there is really nothing that can be done about it. The best possible scenario you can hope for is that he has an “off” day and allows three runs. There is no such thing as working the count against Halladay, and there is no point in trying to keep the game close to get a shot at the bullpen. He is his own bullpen and his own closer.

Since Halladay broke into the league in 1998, the World Series champion has come from his division six of 12 seasons. He has made 78 starts and 83 appearances against the Yankees and Red Sox, going 32-20 with a 3.58 ERA. His only losing campaign in 12 years came at the age of 23, which is pretty remarkable considering he has never pitched for a division winner, and only once has he pitched for a division runner-up.

Halladay is the only pitcher whose removal from the AL East translates into four or five additional wins for the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays and Orioles this season. He is the one pitcher whose trade status last season had the ability to drastically alter a pennant race, and whose mere placement on the market caused a fan base to turn on its front office. He was the sole reason that the Blue Jays stayed out of the basement in the AL East all these years, and he was a symbol of hope for an organization that hasn’t experienced postseason play since 1993.

Roy Halladay is more than just a 148-76 record. He’s more than a career .661 winning percentage or 3.43 ERA. He’s more than a pitcher who dominated the AL East and the best two teams in baseball for a decade. He’s more than a pitcher who handled the competition with ease for a large portion of the Steroid Era. He’s Roy Halladay, the best pitcher on the planet.

Mets fans won’t want to admit that the best pitcher in baseball is a member of their division rival. They surely won’t want to admit that they would give the ball to that pitcher in a must-win situation, but it’s the right call.

In a game for everything, Halladay’s presence would have the other team believing they can’t win, and his actual stuff would finish them off. You have to give him the ball.

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Blogs • Yankees

Feb 17, 2010

Some Questions Still Unanswered

Five questions surrounding the Yankees as spring training begins.

This column was originally published on WFAN.com Feb. 17, 2010.

The first day of pitchers and catchers is the first official day of the season. It’s a day that represents the closing days of winter and the excitement for spring and summer. It grants new life to the 29 teams that didn’t finish the previous season with a win, and gives hope to clubs looking to be this season’s dark horse. Today is that day.

Coming off a world championship, Tampa should be relaxed for the first time in a decade. New York’s real baseball problems are in Port St. Lucie at Mets camp where Omar Minaya is trying to build a rotation on the fly and trying to figure out exactly who is going catch that rotation. No one in Queens is satisfied with the situation at first base or in right field, and the team’s center fielder isn’t going to be ready for Opening Day. It’s a good time to be a Yankees fan.

But even with the Yankees boasting a team as good if not better than their 103-win club of a year ago, there are still a handful of minor housekeeping matters to be taken care of over the next six weeks. Here’s five questions surrounding the Bombers at the beginning of spring:

1. Can the veterans stay healthy?
The difference between the 2008 and 2009 Yankees was 14 regular season wins and another 11 wins in October. A serious rash of injuries created this difference. Aside from Alex Rodriguez missing the first month of the season, the Yankees were remarkably healthy in 2009. In 2008, they weren’t as lucky.

The injury bug wreaked havoc on the ‘08 Yankees, landing the following players on the disabled list at least once: Jonathan Albaladejo, Wilson Betemit, Chris Britton, Brian Bruney, Joba Chamberlain, Johnny Damon, Dan Giese, Phil Hughes, Jeff Karstens, Ian Kennedy, Hideki Matsui, Andy Pettitte, Jorge Posada, Alex Rodriguez and Chien-Ming Wang. Starters landed on the DL, as did their replacements, and their replacements’ replacements. It was a disaster from Opening Day through Game 162 in what was the worst season in the Bronx since 1993.

This season, the Yankees are somewhat younger than they were a year ago after trimming Johnny Damon (36) and Hideki Matsui (35) from the roster. However, there is still cause for concern as the team’s superstars get up there in age.

Here are the current ages for the starting lineup: 26, 27, 28, 29, 29, 31, 34, 35 and 38.

Here are the current ages for the starting rotation and closer (Hughes and Chamberlain included): 23, 24, 29, 33, 33, 37 and 40.

There are a lot of 30s listed there, and they are all very significant players on the roster. The Yankees are going to need good fortune and a bill of health similar to 2009 to make another October run, and they are going to need to leave camp healthy.

2. Who’s going to play center field?
When the Yankees traded for Curtis Granderson, I thought they finally had a long-term solution in center field. I was also thinking that Johnny Damon was going to be back in left, but that is clearly not the case. As of now, it looks like Granderson will be in left and Brett Gardner in center, and maybe that is for the better.

The Yankees lost 24 home runs and 82 RBIs from Damon, and 28 home runs and 90 RBIs from Hideki Matsui. Granderson is going to be asked to make up for the offensive production lost with Damon. Nick Johnson will be an upgrade in the on-base department over Matsui, but he isn’t going to be able to provide the power that Godzilla gave the Yankees at DH – unless he becomes a product of the short porch.

With Granderson in left, there will be less wear and tear on his body than there would be in center, allowing him to be stronger offensively. No one is counting on Gardner’s bat anyways and any offense he can provide the team is a plus, but not needed.

If the Yankees feel that Granderson’s game has diminished in center like it appeared to be during the final weeks of last season, then Gardner is the right man for the job. It’s safe to say whatever decision is made at the end of spring training will be changed more than once throughout the year.

3. Who’s going to be the long reliever?
Joe Girardi didn’t think it was necessary to have a long reliever on the Opening Day roster last season. It didn’t take him long to change his mind.

Early on, the bullpen was overtaxed and it didn’t help that the team was asking Edwar Ramirez, Phil Coke, Jose Veras and Brian Bruney to get important outs. Chien-Ming Wang pretty much caused the bullpen fatigue for the first couple of weeks of the season, and the relievers didn’t recover until the Yankees finally made wholesale changes. The same thing can’t happen this season.

Chad Gaudin and Sergio Mitre will be the long reliever candidates since no matter what the Yankees say, the competition for the fifth spot in the rotation doesn’t include them.

When it comes down to it, Gaudin is the better option. He is more reliable (3.43 ERA in 42 innings with the Yankees) and has had previous success in the majors. Gaudin’s high pitch counts forced Girardi to have a short leash with him in most of his starts, but the ability to help the team is certainly there. I don’t know if you can say the same for Mitre.

Mitre might only be a little over a year removed from Tommy John surgery, but it’s not like he was some stud before his injury. Mitre allowed 71 hits in 51 1/3 innings with the Yankees last season, and posted a 1.63 WHIP, which was only worse than the pitcher formerly known as Chien-Ming Wang’s 2.02 and the always-exciting Edwar Ramirez’s 1.96. I would like to think that the best team in baseball would have someone more reliable than Mitre in the bullpen and serving as the long reliever. Give it to Gaudin.

4. Which A.J. Burnett will show up?
The difference between winning 95 games this season and 105 games depends on which A.J. Burnett comes to pitch.

There’s no doubt that Burnett has No. 1 stuff, but many times, he pitches like a No. 5. His potential no-hitters can quickly turn into four-run deficits, and when his game begins to south, there is no way to right the ship until five days later.

Burnett proved himself in the postseason after finishing the regular season with just 13 wins in 33 starts. His performance in Game 2 of the World Series made up for all the eggs he laid throughout the summer, but it wasn’t enough to fully gain his trust.

When Burnett takes the mound, you hope that you get the guy who allowed one hit to the Red Sox over 7 2/3 innings in August and not the guy who allowed a grand slam to Jason Varitek in April. The season won’t be won or lost because of Burnett, but he has the ability to make the Yankees untouchable in the division and the league.

5. How will the Yankees handle Derek Jeter’s contract situation?
A lot of newspapers will need to fill space between now and the end of the season, and they will argue about the contract status of Derek Jeter to do so.

When Jeter, Casey Close, Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner sit down to hammer out a new deal for the face of the franchise and the face of the game, they are going to give Jeter what he deserves: whatever he wants.

Jeter isn’t going to be given a low-ball offer filled with incentives like Joe Torre was, and he isn’t going to be left hanging in the balance like Mariano Rivera and Jorge Posada were. Jeter is going to be given a multiyear deal for a lucrative amount of money, and there is no other way it will happen and there is no other way it should.

Speculation can be justified when it comes to the contract statuses of Mariano and Girardi, or with Posada at the end of next season, and that’s because they are not Derek Jeter. There is only one Derek Jeter, and because of that, he ‘s going to get treated and taken care of in a way that no other player will or should. End of story.

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Blogs • Yankees

Feb 11, 2010

Plenty of Relief In Sight

No bullpen is perfect and no bullpen is unbeatable, but for the first time in a while, the Yankees might have one close to those things.

Every season I like to believe the Yankees bullpen is going to be better than it was the season before. For the first time since Mike Stanton and Jeff Nelson were building the bridge to ninth inning, it looks like the bullpen in the Bronx will be the best it’s been in quite some time.

I won’t have to convince myself this spring that the Yankees can catch lightning in a bottle four times in one season with four different relievers. There’s no more Brian Bruney. No more Phil Coke. No more watching late leads disappear into the right field bleachers. No more needing to worry about how the day’s bridge to Mariano will be constructed, or if it will be sturdy enough to reach the ninth inning.

The acquisitions of Curtis Granderson and Javier Vazquez this offseason will overshadow Brian Cashman’s decision to ship away Bruney and Coke, but I think these moves deserve just as much recognition. Cashman was able to take away two of Joe Girardi’s most used relievers, two pitchers who inspired zero confidence among fans, and whose only roles in the major leagues should be serving as mop-up men. Bruney and Coke combined for 116 appearances last season, and not once in any of those 116 pitching changes was there a feeling that the opposition wouldn’t add to their run total.

The obvious problem with the Yankees during the beginning of last season was behind the outfield wall in their bullpen. The absence of A-Rod from the lineup and Mark Teixeira’s early offseason woes didn’t help matters, but the real dilemmas began when Girardi went to the mound to pull his starter. The Yankees were a $200 million team with a $200  bullpen. On Opening Day, the bullpen consisted of Rivera, Bruney, Coke, Damaso Marte, Edwar Ramirez and Jose Veras. Outside of Rivera, there wasn’t one pitcher capable of getting important outs on a consistent basis. (Marte only remembered how to pitch in the postseason, and thankfully he did then).

All of the books and DVD specials about the 2009 championship season will focus on a number of elements: the return of A-Rod; Mark Teixeira turning it around offensively; the walk-off wins against the Twins; and Joe Girardi’s Billy Martin impression in Atlanta. All were notable turning points in the quest for No. 27, however, three dates that won’t be recognized when it comes to the club’s remarkable turnaround are May 18, June 8 and June 13.

May 18 was Edwar Ramirez’s final game with the team before being sent down until September call-ups. June 8 was Phil Hughes first appearance out of the bullpen – the most significant decision the team made all season. June 13 was Jose Veras’ last game as a Yankee before being traded to the Cleveland for three pouches of Red Man and two daily passes to the Rock and Hall of Fame.

The destruction and rebuilding of the bullpen midseason was more necessary than any walk-off home run or come-from-behind win. The reconstruction of the bullpen allowed for the late-inning heroics to take place, and turned the Yankees from postseason hopefuls into postseason favorites.

The decision to make Hughes the setup man and the emergence of David Robertson changed the late innings for the Yankees, by shortening games and allowing starters to know their winning decision wouldn’t vanish at the hands of Bruney, Coke, Ramirez or Veras.

This season, the Yankees enter spring training with Rivera, Robertson, Marte and Alfredo Aceves as sure things in the bullpen. Chad Gaudin will likely join them as the long reliever as will someone from the Mark Melancon-Jonathan Albaladejo-Boone Logan group. That leaves one spot for either Joba Chamberlain or Phil Hughes.

Even when the Yankees have finally decided on a set role for Joba, the debate as to whether he belongs in the rotation or bullpen will never end. The discussion is not going away anytime soon and will likely control the baseball talk once the Yankees make their decision on him for 2010.

I have been an advocate of Joba being a starter since the transition was made in 2008. More importantly, I am an advocate of the Yankees winning games and right now, putting him in the bullpen gives the Yankees the best chance to win.

It would have been satisfying to see Joba mature as a front-end starter and be a staple of the rotation for years to come, but it doesn’t look like he is going to get that chance. In this market on this team, there isn’t time for Joba to gain experience as a starter by failing at first. There just isn’t room in the rotation for a 4 1/3 inning pitcher, especially when that pitcher has had immediate and exceptional success as a reliever.

After Joba’s postseason dominance – aside from one fastball to Pedro Feliz – and the return of his high-90s velocity, it doesn’t seem possible that he will begin 2010 in the rotation, and it doesn’t appear likely that he will ever return there.

There will be enough words written in the city between now and Opening Day about Joba’s role on the team, but common sense has him beginning the year as a reliever. With Joba in the bullpen, Phil Hughes will slide into the No. 5 spot in the rotation, in what is currently the best rotation in baseball. Sorry, Boston.

Someone will take the fall as the mop-up man this season, but at least there won’t be several people deserving of that role. On paper, this bullpen has the potential to be the best in baseball, and the best in the Bronx since the last time Yankees went back-to-back and belly-to-belly in October.

No bullpen is perfect and no bullpen is unbeatable. There is usually a Kyle Farnsworth or a Scott Proctor on every club. There will always be a game where a three-run lead turns into a two-run deficit, but as currently constructed it’s hard to pick out who will be this season’s LaTroy Hawkins. For the first time in a while, there might not be one.

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Blogs • NFL

Feb 9, 2010

What Have You Done for Me Lately?

Peyton Manning’s legacy and his ability to perform in pressure situations and in the postseason is once again under scrutiny.

This column was originally published on WFAN.com on Feb. 9, 2010.

Peyton Manning didn’t play poorly in Super Bowl XLIV, he just didn’t play the way he was supposed to – the way we have all come to expect Peyton Manning to play. Now, his legacy is being questioned. Perhaps more importantly, his ability to perform in pressure situations and in the postseason is once again under scrutiny.

Throughout the 2009 season, right up until his interview with Dan Marino finished airing in the pregame show, it seemed a foregone conclusion that Peyton Manning would earn his second ring in four years. Peyton Manning: Two-time Super Bowl champion and arguably the greatest quarterback of all time. That is how it was supposed to play out.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Peyton joining Joe and Johnny in the VIP room at the Hall of Fame. Sure, Peyton’s interception was untimely – and the final dagger in the Colts’ season – but it wasn’t that play or any one single play that lost the game for the Colts. A combination of safe play-calling by Jim Caldwell at the end of the first half, a devastating Pierre Garcon drop, Hank Baskett’s presence, and an unexplainable field-goal attempt ultimately lost the game for the Colts. Like any superstar, Peyton Manning takes the credit for a win and the blame for a loss, and Sunday’s loss to the Saints has fallen on the league MVP’s shoulders.

Since the clock ran out on the Colts, the hype around Peyton Manning has died down to the point that he is no longer the immortal, untouchable quarterback that sat down with Marino before the game. Peyton has returned to being the foot-tapping and unpredictable quarterback who was the whipping boy for the Patriots defense during their dynastic run. When you’re expected to win and you don’t, that will happen.

The debate following Super Bowl XLIV should have been about where exactly Peyton sits alongside Montana and Unitas. Instead the debate has been about how badly the loss impacts Peyton’s legacy, and whether or not the Colts will return to football supremacy in the near future.

The AFC Championship comeback against the Patriots in 2006 started a run for Peyton that helped erase his miserable big-game past. He discovered how to win in the postseason and earned the elusive ring some feared he never would. From his Super Bowl win up until the final knee taken by Drew Brees, the only type of attention Peyton had received was praise. He had erased any doubt that he was the best quarterback on the planet and left nothing about his game to be criticized.

One game greatly set back his legacy.

Peyton’s freefall from grace happened in a few hours with his image quickly reverting to what it was before he became a champion. With spring training around the corner, it’s hard not to think about a hometown athlete who undergoes the same superstar treatment.

In New York, Alex Rodriguez is held to the same standard as Peyton Manning. After last season’s success, A-Rod has the ability to build off his new winning image, or he could wind up in the same situation Peyton finds himself.

Like Peyton, A-Rod’s postseason past has been marred by first-round exits and one monster collapse. The Yankees’ postseason problems in A-Rod’s first five seasons with the team were far deeper than their third baseman being unable to hit his weight, but it was easy to pin the upsets on the superstar, and A-Rod took the blame.

It wasn’t A-Rod’s fault that the Yankees’ 1-2 punch in the 2004 ALCS was Mike Mussina and Jon Lieber, or that their best options after those two were an injured Javier Vazquez or head case in Kevin Brown. It wasn’t his fault that Randy Johnson failed to win pivotal Game 3s in 2005 and 2006, and it was Chien-Ming Wang, not A-Rod, who posted a 19.06 ERA against the Indians in 2007. But the Yankees’ pitching problems became A-Rod’s fault, and he took the heat for those losses.

Peyton Manning and Alex Rodriguez share eerily similar career resumes. Both players have experienced extraordinary regular season success (four MVPs for Peyton; three for A-Rod). They have had numerous postseason letdowns, and both spent the better part of their careers chasing their first championship. The only difference is Peyton came up short his second time on the big stage. A-Rod has yet to get his second chance.

A-Rod is coming off of a regular season in which he hit 30 home runs and drove in 100 runs despite missing a month due to hip surgery. He spent October and November making a mockery out of some of the game’s best arms, hitting six home runs with 18 RBIs in 15 games. He got the ring he came to New York for, shed his title of being unclutch and helped the Yankees return to the Canyon of Heroes. There is nothing left about his game to be criticized.

No one can ever take away the prefix “world champion” from Alex Rodriguez’s name, but that doesn’t mean people won’t forget about it.

It won’t take much for A-Rod to become A-Fraud again. A poor series to open the season at Fenway, or a four-game hitless streak at home would do the trick. If the over/under for when Yankee Stadium will turn on their 2009 hero for the first time in 2010 is set at the third home game of the season, would you feel comfortable taking the over? Probably not, considering the Angels are in town.

Prior to the Yankees’ 27th championship, it was unacceptable for A-Rod to make an out. It’s scary to try to fathom what the expectations will be now.

Over the last few seasons, Peyton has raised his personal bar for success to the point that only a championship would mean he and the Colts had a successful season. A-Rod had already been playing for a team with the bar set that high, and now with his remarkable postseason, the bar remains at the same place, just with added pressure.

“What have you done for me lately?” remains a common theme in professional sports, and in New York City, it’s a way of life. Peyton’s super loss was a reminder of how quickly someone can fall from greatness, and how short people’s memories are when it comes to winning. Around here memories are a lot shorter, but after six years, A-Rod is aware of that.

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