Projo Offbeat Blog

What will Alex Rodriguez have up his pinstriped sleeves when the Yankees play the Red Sox this weekend?

The Sox have a 13 1/2-game lead over the Bronx Bombs, but I'm nervous. A-Rod is apparently willing to do anything to help his team win, whether that means knocking the ball from a pitcher's glove, throwing an elbow at a pint-sized second baseman, or yelling to confuse an opposing fielder.

A-Rod angered Toronto players in a game earlier this week when he yelled something while running behind third baseman Howie Clark as Clark tried to catch a pop fly for the third out of the inning.

There's some debate over exactly what was said, but Clark said he heard somebody yell "mine," so he backed off, thinking his own shortstop had called him off the ball.

"I just said, 'Hah!' That's it," Rodriguez claimed.

Either way, the ball dropped in for a hit, the Yankees extended the inning, added to their lead and won the game.

Joe DiMaggio was called the Yankee Clipper. Call A-Rod the Yankee Trickster.

Some players, sportswriters, talk-show hosts and fans have hammered A-Rod, saying he broke an unwritten baseball rule, but I think A-Rod deserves some praise.

Players are constantly criticized for their joyless approach to the game -- for treating a kid's game as a business -- but when was the last time you heard somebody shouting to make an opponent miss? I'll bet it was during a Little League game, or a backyard pickup game. It's something kids do.

The hidden ball trick is probably too sophisticated, but I'm wondering what A-Rod will do this weekend to take the Sox off their game?

Will he razz Josh Beckett Sunday with this old Little League insult? "We want a pitcher, not a belly itcher."

And will he chant, "Hey, batter. Hey, batter. Swing batter," to get Manny Ramirez to chase pitches in the dirt?

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