Lupica: A-Rod Must Step Up

From Mike Lupica:

September starts Tuesday for the Yankees. So let's see, starting Tuesday, if Joe Girardi's Yankees can be the same kind of finishers in the American League East that Joe Torre's Yankees always were. ...

... And, while we're at it, let's see how much game Alex Rodriguez will bring to his first playoff run since he signed for the $300 million. If he really is going to be the kind of big Yankee he desperately wants to be, now would be a good time to start. Let's see him carry a Yankee team into September and through September the way he did in the spring of '07.

Once and for all, the Yankees need their biggest players to play that way against Boston and set up what still has the chance to be a memorable and dramatic September. It starts with A-Rod, who so far this season has been nothing more than a gaudy numbers-hanger and a tabloid dream. Let's see if this is the week against the Red Sox when at least one of the games ends with a swing of his bat.

Let's see A-Rod do it to the Red Sox the way Manny and Ortiz did it to the Yankees for years. It's not just on him, of course. But he said how much he wanted games like these, much more than he did all the money. Here they are.

You may or may not like Lupica, personally I don't, but either way he's right. A-Rod does need to step up and have a big series against the Sox. This is a huge series for him and the Yanks, how they do in these three games could determine whether they make the playoffs or not. Although I don't believe it's necessary that "at least one of the games ends with a swing of his bat."

A-Rod went 5-for-11 with three doubles and five runs scored against the Orioles this weekend, and the Yankees won all three games. He needs a repeat performance this week against the Sox.

He's had a good year against the Sox so far, hitting .348/.423/.565, with 4 doubles, 2 homers, and 5 RBI. So all he needs to do is keep doing what he's been doing.