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Big League Stew

Wed Feb 25, 2009 10:11 pm EST

DB's Grapefruit Getaway: My fourth-row view of A-Rod's homer

By David Brown

Big League Stew contributor David Brown is in Florida this week for a spring swing through the Grapefruit League. He'll be posting throughout the day — both to the Stew and his Twitter feed — plus he'll also be filing a report each night from his day's action, complete with photos, videos and observations. His trip continues to Dunedin, winter home of the Blue Jays, who are the first team to face Alex Rodriguez since the you-know-what started to hit the fan.

Hey Stewies!

Opening day in the Grapefruit League! Seems like yesterday the Phillies and Rays were skating around the infield at The Bank during the World Series. Well, the off-season has been turned off.

Maybe it was the sunny weather, the laid-back atmosphere of Dunedin, or the snowbirds from Toronto just being polite, but the reaction to Alex Rodriguez I witnessed from the fourth row on Wednesday was pretty muted. Not that different from a regular-season game, relatively speaking. Bud Selig was right to not fall into my trap!

Folks booed and jeered, and a few came up with some good lines — even if A-Rod makes it too easy — but Grant Field (at Dunedin Stadium) had so many Yankees fans that the overall reaction was mixed. It wasn’t even sold out. It looked like scalpers were going home with blocks of seats, though some fool paid nearly 50 percent above face for $21 seats — just to be close. It was well worth it.

My favorite lines from fans included:

• "Make him pee!"

• "Where’s your cousin sitting?"

• "He was buying everyone shots at Ocean Prime last night. I like Nick Swisher already."

• "I’m wearing ‘Driven,’ too, Derek!"

I thought the cousin line was in jest but, amazingly, Yuri Sucart showed up to the game and left with A-Rod! Blood is thicker... and stupider. Maybe they were going to meet Bud Selig’s CSI guys together? Anyway. Carpooling. How green of them.

In this original BLS video, the crowd reacts to A-Rod coming to bat, plus a bonus: his base-on-balls.

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It's not even a PG-13 atmosphere, unless you take some of the ambient comments in the crowd the wrong way. Rodriguez was lucky to debut in Dunedin, I say. Wait 'til he goes to Ft. Myers, where the Bostons play. NC-17 all the way.

* * *

It's Pin Lady! I love this lady's cap. It's a good amount of pins, but they're well-spaced and not overwhelming to the hat's surface area. My favorite pin is the one that resembles the U.S. flag. Oh, the No. 3 Ruth one is good, too. That's Shelley Duncan in the on-deck circle. Below, a photo sequence that Margaret Bourke-White would have been proud to shoot.

* * *

Here's the pitch. A-Rod imagines Selena Roberts' face on the Rawlings.

A-Rod's in mid-season form. Note the blurry likeness of the ball in the upper-left corner of the shot.

Top hand comes off; looks like he got most of it.

Yeah, he got all of that one.

* * *

We're really cooking now. No, really, I am sunburned big time. More from Dunedin soon and then Wednesday Thursday: a visit to Rays camp. Hope to speak with Carlos Pena. Might talk finance.

— Dave

xoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Related: DBs Spring Swing 2009

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75 Comments

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  1. angel d
    1. Posted by angel d Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:16 pm EDT

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    i think this guy is so out of it. he leaves the game with the cousin who injected him and we are suppose to believe any thing he says. im a die hard yankees fan and afraud is exactly just that thanks joe torre.
  2. Fat Bobby
    2. Posted by Fat Bobby Thu Sep 03, 2009 8:38 pm EDT

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    Who can blame these guys for shooting up. It means millions of dollars to them and their families. Also fame follows.
  3. fred b
    3. Posted by fred b Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:15 pm EDT

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    Then why pick on Barry Bonds. Most people are against him. Sure he was a jerk as a person, but could he play the game.
  4. fred b
    4. Posted by fred b Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:15 pm EDT

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    Then why pick on Barry Bonds. Most people are against him. Sure he was a jerk as a person, but could he play the game.
  5. zslugger84
    5. Posted by zslugger84 Thu Sep 03, 2009 11:02 pm EDT

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    who can blame these guys? he already had fame and fortune.
  6. kacsports
    6. Posted by kacsports Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:46 pm EDT

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    Alicia Rodriguez, with her panties pulled up - already in mid-season form...
  7. John B
    7. Posted by John B Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:30 pm EDT

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    Afraud has done it again. Just a shameless person who cares about nothing except his stats and wallet. Thanks for signing such a great example to your team Mr. S.
  8. G-MAN
    8. Posted by G-MAN Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:35 pm EDT

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    Nobody cares...it's limprod and the spankee's...give me some real news.
  9. Tom K.
    9. Posted by Tom K. Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:21 pm EDT

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    It seems to me that he got his steroid inflated contract from the Rangers while he was on the juice. So, his stats were juiced up to get the big contract. I say hit him were it hurts, in the wallet and give some money back to Rangers and Yankees for cheating.
  10. bigyank
    10. Posted by bigyank Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:54 pm EDT

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    Although Arod made a huge mistake it is too bad that he had to take the brunt of the fuss for the other 103 who also failed the test. Looks like someone had an axe to grind. SI obviously had it in for him and gave the 103 a free ride.
  11. MIZZLEFIZZLE
    11. Posted by MIZZLEFIZZLE Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:52 pm EDT

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    Jon B and G-man...u are a couple of morons. Go cheer for your loser team whoever it may be and just try to reach 26 one day...just try. you will never b the yankees and u know that makes u sick to ur pathetic little stomachs. GO A-rod...GO YANKEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 27 here we come!
  12. MatthewD
    12. Posted by MatthewD Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:11 pm EDT

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    To leave with the cousin he tossed under the bus, like a bad episode of COPS, is just plain pathetic. THer'a a fine line between loyalty and stupidity, and A-Rod is far on the satupid side with Greg Anderson.
  13. Khari
    13. Posted by Khari Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:30 pm EDT

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    The man can still play....the rest doesn't matter. Everybody should let him play, and stay out of his business....
  14. Rhonda
    14. Posted by Rhonda Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:36 pm EDT

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    I totally agree with Big Yank: "Although Arod made a huge mistake it is too bad that he had to take the brunt of the fuss for the other 103 who also failed the test. Looks like someone had an axe to grind. SI obviously had it in for him and gave the 103 a free ride."
    If Selena Roberts is the ace reported that she's said to be, didn't she ask her trusted sources who the other 103 names are or did she just want the one name that would bering her lots of publicity and promote her book?
  15. Eurometal
    15. Posted by Eurometal Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:00 pm EDT

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    Let's see, the Yankees haven't won it all since when, 2000? That was about the last time they had true universal respect as a club, whether you were a fan or not. And how much have they spent (more like wasted) on so-called talent since then?? They won't win another as long as they think buying wins is the solution. Championships are won through hard work and determination (as all 26 of theirs were), not on disgustingly huge contracts and the number of pampered players you have on the roster. The present BoSox and even Rays live by this attitude. The 'new era Spankees' are just another example of the arrogantly rich thinking they can fix a problem by throwing more money at it. It never works....and it surely never gets you respect.
  16. chubbs
    16. Posted by chubbs Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:04 pm EDT

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    lets see over payed, insane, jacked up and cant deliver in the play offs sounds like a winner to me
  17. don8ts2work
    17. Posted by don8ts2work Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:46 pm EDT

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    If you don't like a-rod or the yankees, don't watch them play.
  18. Jack
    18. Posted by Jack Thu Sep 03, 2009 7:28 pm EDT

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    ROIDrigez is truly an idiot - seen LEAVING with the SAME GUY that gave him the ROIDS!!! Doesn't look very good A-Roid. If this numbnuts (that is if his nuts haven't shriveled to nothing after all the juice) gets in the HOF, then damn it, let in Pete Rose (as a player, not a manager).
  19. The Empire
    19. Posted by The Empire Thu Sep 03, 2009 10:54 pm EDT

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    The anti-Yankee 12 year olds that post should thank god for making them so blessedly devoid of the ravages of intelligence. You can't spell, you can capitalize, you can't write a simple sentence or put together a reasonable argument or thought. Ain't life grand!
    Alex took steroids....wow!!! Given our drugged out society who actually cares?
    He took them when it was absolutely allowable under the rules of baseball. Were they illegal? No more so than "W's" cocaine antics or Bill's " I did but didn't inhale" revelation or the rest of the crap that many of you sad losers with your even sadder existences smoke on a daily basis. They were in the same category as the many amphetamines that were prevalent in the time of Arron, May's, Mantle and the rest. The level of hypocrisy in the press and in these post is staggering.
    Alex owes you nothing. He is the best player in the game on the best franchise in the history of the game in the greatest city in the U.S. He needs to do what evry he wishes within the current rules of the game and associate with whomever he wishes when he wishes. In short, he needs to tell the press and its sycophants to go to hell and live his life. So... return to you miserable little existences, pretend that your crappy teams will actually compete and count the Yankee titles (though this may be tough for some of you because you have to count well past 20 to get there).
  20. saucy
    20. Posted by saucy Thu Sep 03, 2009 3:41 pm EDT

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    yeah, arod should disown his cousin. hell, he should pay to have him deported. instread he's leaving for lunch and driving around with the guy. what a disgrace!
    groan................
  21. James S
    21. Posted by James S Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:02 pm EDT

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    I was watching the game, as it was televised here, and every time certain players come to bat now, such as A Roid, I wonder, "Is he, or isnt he"? I wont go and support this game anymore until the pimps of our National Pasttime, Bud Selig and the Players Association, clean this sport up.
  22. habs1rule
    22. Posted by habs1rule Thu Sep 03, 2009 4:15 pm EDT

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    The is no such thing as a sports Empire, an Empire constitutes an assimilation of others land, culture and people, the Yankees are no more than a 'Store Bought Fraud" similar to a monopoly that tries to buy up their competitors assets. Baseball is the only of the four major sports without a Salary Cap, and Used to be referred to as Americas Game. Not any more. Look up the word 'Sport" in its definition, words like "Fair" and "Competitive" appear. Baseball, and the purchasing of pennants by the Yankees can no longer be called a Sport in many peoples eyes. The Yankees only tarnish their rich history by how they "bully" other franchises with money. Anything you win has little value to most of America. Your team is not respected, often hated, and with justified cause.
  23. James S
    23. Posted by James S Thu Sep 03, 2009 9:02 pm EDT

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    Wow!!

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Big League Stew is an MLB blog edited by Kevin Kaduk. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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