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Analysis: A-Rod, Time To Get It Going Bro

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Oct 30, 2009 6:37 pm US/Eastern

Analysis: A-Rod, Time To Get It Going Bro

Rodriguez Slumping In World Series

By JEFF CAPELLINI, WCBSTV.com Senior Sports Producer
NEW YORK (CBS) ― At some point in the next week or so, Alex Rodriguez is going to wreck the World Series.

I just have no idea which team will be left in pieces.

Through two games of this year's Fall Classic A-Rod has looked like the clueless lost cause he's been in postseasons' past.

However, I think it's just a passing phase. Nobody plays as well as this guy did for two rounds and then totally breaks down.

Not even A-Rod ... I think.

His 0-for-8, six-strikeout performance over the first two games had more to do with the fact that the Phillies' Cliff Lee and Pedro Martinez were stellar. They were especially locked in against A-Rod, despite his lifetime .300 average (21-for-70) against the duo in the regular season. But that stat is quite misleading because of A-Rod's hits only five have been for extra bases and he only has 10 RBIs.

So, in other words, Lee and Martinez know how to contain him. I think anyone would sign up for allowing A-Rod just 16 singles in 65 at-bats.

Now, things should get even more interesting -- or dire depending on how you look at it -- on Saturday when Rodriguez faces Cole Hamels. A-Rod is 0-for-4 lifetime against the crafty left-hander.

But, again, these are just statistics. A-Rod has waited forever to get to the biggest of stages. He'll have to find a way to overcome what appears to be mismatches and meaningfully contribute or the Yankees will be prevented from capturing world title No. 27.

They simply cannot do it without him, Mark Teixeira & Co., or no Mark Teixeira & Co.

MORE COVERAGE: PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

MORE COVERAGE: NEW YORK YANKEES
If Rodriguez plays poorly and the Yankees lose this series, he will be targeted by everyone. They'll say while he silenced some of the naysayers with his performances in the first two rounds, he didn't step up when it really mattered most.

It will happen. Trust me.

How Rodriguez handles his slow start mentally is probably the biggest thing to watch. Obviously we don't know what he's thinking, but body language has always played a big role in how he appears to be doing internally. He's an emotional guy to a degree. You start seeing bat flips and chewing gum slaps over the next game or two and you'll know he's starting to feel the pressure.

A-Rod's struggles have yet to dominate the World Series discussions because he hasn't really failed to come through with runners in scoring position. Nobody has hit, really, for either team, Chase Utley's two homers in Game 1 aside.

But with the tiny dimensions of Citizens Bank Park beckoning and a very hittable Hamels (this year) toeing the rubber on Saturday, the Yankees haters, of which there are millions, will be chomping at the bit to see A-Rod fall flat on his face.

Alex, the time is now. Both you and the Yankees cannot wait another inning to get this offense going. The Phillies are too good and Lee will be back out there faster than you can say Mummers' Day Parade.

"An A-Bomb ... from A-Rod." You have to figure John Sterling is just dying to say it.

Time to do it.

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