ARod's Tabloid Fix; The All Star Game

• Alex Rodriguez is Jose Canseco without the steroids and with a facade of etiquette:

ARod can deny any attempts to get his name in the gossip columns; he can excoriate his

agent and render him as little more than an out-of-control mouthpiece; he can portray himself as this humble guy who was given a level of talent that few have or ever will see and he's having trouble dealing with everything that comes along with that, but he's becoming a parody of his own making. The similarities between ARod and another lightning rod for controversy----Jose Canseco----can't be ignored.
The only differences are that Canseco cared what people thought about him, but did and said what he wanted anyway; the controversy and

attention he coveted and gained were a circle; Canseco wanted the tabloid attention and wasn't shy in admitting it. ARod cares about how he's perceived and displays this wide-eyed shock when so much attention is paid to his personal life; when his behaviors are tabloid fodder; when people are disgusted when he interferes with the World Series with the announcement of his decision to opt out of his contract and lays the blame at the feet of his agent Scott Boras, who was seen to be the puppetmaster for the ARod marionette of money and awards. Boras played the bad cop to ARod's innocent, "who me?" attitude of wanting to do what's best for team and for his family.

With each new incident though, it becomes clear who the master of garnering attention is; who's really calling the shots in the world of ARod and it turns out that the one who's responsible for the behaviors, on and off the field, is ARod.
Personally, I couldn't care less who ARod dates or whether he and his wife are having marital problems; but this whole attitude that ARod has of feigned shock that his personal life is of any interest to anyone is pure absurdity; the guy's been linked to Madonna! The question, "what did he

think was going to happen?" is moot because ARod was smart enough to know what was going to happen; he was going to get into the tabloids all around the world as he was in the midst of a divorce proceeding that was probably going to happen with or without Madonna.
Canseco was rumored to have been involved with Madonna as well and courted controversy on purpose without the facade of class that ARod tries to present. The reality is that ARod is worse than Canseco in this vein because he acts as if he's uninterested in the attention his antics attract when in reality, he covets it as much as Canseco did.

• The All Star selections:

I generally don't pay much attention to the All Star selections anymore; there's always a

group of players who get snubbed and others who are selected for reasons other than their performance. That being said, it's still silly to have the game "count" for home field advantage in the World Series when the selection process is so arbitrary. I have a suggestion if MLB wants the game to "count" in some fashion: there should be two All Star Games----one selected by the fans as it is now and another by the players with the All Stars playing the game all out as if it's a regular season game.
The suggestion was made during the World Baseball Classic that instead of playing the games in spring training, a week should be taken at mid-season in lieu of the All Star Game and the tournament should be held then. They could do something similar for the All Star Game. Have all the competitions, home run derbies and whatever on the Monday and Tuesday, then get all the players whose numbers dictate that they're All Stars play a game on Friday to determine home field and superiority of either league. The way it's done now always leaves out players who should be on the team as reserves and when the game meant nothing, what difference did it make? But the attempt to drum up interest by giving the winning

league home field advantage in the World Series is sending mixed signals.
The managers (one of whom, Terry Francona, has a vested interest in the home field advantage because there's a pretty good chance that the Red Sox are going to be playing in the World Series) have to not only try and win the game for their league, but they have to get as many players into the game as possible; they're walking a line to try and please everyone and it's not working. This can be solved by having two games and taking the entire week off instead of just three days.

More On The Yankees And Other Stories

• Red Sox 7-Yankees 0 (Part II):

Manager Joe Girardi closed the clubhouse doors for a half hour as he lit into his team for their lackadaisical play; we'll know at the end of this weekend whether or not it did any good

(or will be perceived to have done any good, anyway). There's no doubt that the team deserved a tongue lashing after the way they've played this week, but what I'm wondering is how far Girardi is able to go in unloading on his team and how much the players----many former teammates of the manager and in the same age group----are going to take.
The players know he's the manager and that the relationship between player and teammate and player and manager must be at least slightly different, but if he really starts letting them have it, how long before a guy like Alex Rodriguez (for example) just rolls his eyes and uses the logic of "who are you to be telling me anything?" It's a fine line that a contemporary has to take when he essentially becomes the boss. Girardi is a solid enough strategic manager and he does have some presence, but I would think that Joe Torre tearing paint off the walls in screaming at his slumbering players would have more of an impact than Girardi doing it would just because Girardi's such a young and inexperienced manager.

Michael Kay was at it again with the nonsense of "Jason Varitek wants a Jorge Posada-type contract"; you have to give Kay credit in that he latches onto one thing and doesn't start changing his tune months later even if what he says was ridiculous when he first said it and continues to be ridiculous. I'm not going into repeated detail on this because I talked about it earlier----Does Michael Kay Listen To Himself When He Speaks? 4/16/08----and the gist remains the same almost verbatim.

There's another story about Brian Cashman's contract in the NY Times----Story----and it's implying that the deal is about fait accompli that Cashman is going to return and I'm not so

sure. The longer this drags out and the combination of things----change in ownership, struggles on the field, leaving the team with a young nucleus and the possibility of moving onto a less stressful environment----make it at least a decent chance that Cashman might leave. Add in that there are going to be attractive jobs definitely open----Philadelphia and Seattle----and jobs probably open----Washington and Toronto, and Cashman may tell the Steinbrenners that

enough's enough and leave. The one I would keep an eye on is in Washington because it's a job that any baseball person in his right mind should want. I've said this before and I'll say it again: if an executive is able to bring a championship contending team to the Washington DC area, the world (literally) could be his. Cashman's calculating enough to take that into consideration and might want to take the opportunity if it's presented and it very well might be.

• Diamondbacks 6-Brewers 5:

I opened my big mouth about Salomon Torres and the possibility of the Brewers closer

making the All Star team because he solidified the role and possibly saved the manager's job and the team from an under .500 season and he blows a game a couple of hours later. In all fairness, no closer is going to enter a ninth inning with his team leading by five runs and expect to have to record a save; it's part of the job description for a closer to be ready at all times, but even Hall of Fame closers like Mariano Rivera aren't going to expect their teams to blow a lead that fast. Torres blew the game, but it may have been more of a mental hiccup than a physical one.

• Dodgers 5-Astros 2:
  

Even with all the injuries and problems scoring runs the Dodgers have endured, they're starting to get their veterans back and Chad Billingsley is beginning to look like the ace his stuff dictates he could be. The Diamondbacks have slumped and it's allowed the Dodgers to heal without worrying about getting buried in the playoff race and I think, after the All Star break, they're going to take off.

• Mark Grudzielanek or Luis Castillo----20/20 hindsight:

I hadn't even thought of Luis Castillo as an option at second base for the Mets last season when they were openly in the market for a replacement for the injured Jose Valentin; I preferred Mark Grudzielanek and they presumably could have gotten him for a couple of prospects. The argument that the Mets would likely have made for

Castillo is that he's (supposedly) five years younger than Grudzielanek, but Grudzielanek is the far better player; now that Castillo's on the disabled list and Grudzielanek is having such a fine year at the plate and is a Gold Glove winning second baseman, are the Mets having second thoughts about A) going after Castillo over Grudzielanek; and B) signing Castillo to a long-term extension? I don't think they need to be told now that they made a mistake.