A-Rod has been to the post-season 7 times (10 series total) during his 14 seasons - 3 years with Seattle and now 4 with the Yanks - and he's come out of those series with the unfortunate stigma of a man who simply cannot get it done in October. His reputation as a post-season underachiever has mainly come about during his tenure as a Yankee, in large part due to the extremely high level of pressure all Yanks endure, particularly in the post-season where expectations are most inflated. Everyone from Red Sox Nation to the beacon of journalistic dignity that is the New York Post has jumped on the "A-Fraud Choke Artist lolz cleverz" and I don't think there's a Yanks fans in all of Yanksville that hasn't cringed with disappointment during at least a couple of his post-season at-bats. That said, I do think there's a lot of us residents of Yanksville that honestly don't think he's all that much of a failure when October comes around; in fact, if we get off our lazy asses and look at the numbers (wait, we can remain on our lazy asses - opening a new browser does not require getting up, whew!) we'll see that he has actually had a few great post-season series... just not recently.

Ok, he admittedly hasn't helped the Yanks' cause much since the 2004 season (maybe he was crushed like the rest of us after the team's choke?). Even taking the last 3 years into account, though, he really has only had one series where he truly failed to contribute: the 2006 ALDS, when he got just 1 hit in 14 at bats and didn't even eek out a walk in there. Every other year, though, his OBP has at least been respectable, and he's certainly had some impressive years slugging-wise. He ain't no Mr. October (and hey, even that dude had a couple disappointing series) or Jeter Jeter Pumpkin Eater, but what the hell. Sometimes I just feel like strangling anyone devaluing him because of a couple bad Octobers. His talent is unbeatable. Go mock someone else... Pavano, perhaps - I can absolutely get behind that.