The much maligned New York Yankees 3B Alex Rodriguez is “fatigued,” so he will be taking tonight and tomorrow off when the Yankees go down to play the Florida Marlins.  Rodriguez, who played high school ball in South Florida and almost attended the University of Miami before the Seattle Mariners signed the then 18-year-old, is quite a celebrity in the Miami area and his playing against the Marlins is considered somewhat of a homecoming… only, unless he pinch-hits, won’t happen until Sunday.

However, let’s call this rest period what it really is, a benching.  For the month of June, A-Rod is only batting .145 in 55 at-bats and is mired in an 0-for-15 slump, mostly coming at the hands of the powerful pitching arms of the Washington Nationals… and, yes, that was sarcasm if you missed it.  It could be argued in this day and age and considering Rodriguez’s admission of not knowing he used steroids for however long, that without the PEDs, Rodriguez won’t perform up to par.  Well, it certainly seems so, doesn’t it? 

However, in 38 games thus far, he does have nine dingers and 26 RBIs, which in a full season would put him at about 37 HRs and 105 RBIs, which aren’t too shabby numbers.  Personally, I don’t like A-Rod and I’m a Yankees fan.  Yes, I’m one of those that doesn’t feel like he’s earned his stripes yet and unfairly or not, I’m going to juxtapose him to the greatness of Derek Jeter, whom I’ve followed since day one when he played with the big club.  Do I think that A-Rod is still juicing?  No.  Do I think he’s going to be as great as he was?  No.  But, I also don’t think he’s this bad.  Remember, there was a period where we can assume he wasn’t on steroids or used PEDs and was still a pretty good hitter.  I think right now, he’s in a slump as every hitter goes through and he is just coming back from hip surgery.

But enough with the double-talk.  Haven’t we learned from Alex Rodriguez’s preseason press conference that the double-talk doesn’t work when it comes to A-Rod?  He’s being bench because he stinks right now.  If anyone is fatigued is those of us that know about semantics and reading between the lines.