Current music:

honesty! it's what's for breakfast this morning.

Because it's 2:21 AM and my better judgment has fled me, here, take a look at this, which is quite possibly one of the greatest pieces of baseball journalism that I've seen recently. I expect it to be all over your f-list this morning, and I'm posting it anyway because it's just that awesome. Sure, it's not that well-written. Sure, it doens't reveal anything that you don't know if you've been paying attention to what A-Rod actually says as opposed to the gloss on what's supposed to be A-Rod's "shiny media image," but it's nothing short of amazing the sort of on-the-record quotes that Rosenthal got out of people.

True, A-Rod may be an ass, and the hatred against him may have reached boiling pitch, but I just want to make clear how hard it is to get baseball players to talk and how rare an article like this is, and man. I had previously thought that Michael Young was physically incapable of expressing a negative sentiment anything. The boy would have positive statements to make about the bubonic plague -- "community strengthener," "major life experience" -- and there he is, the only Ranger that A-Rod invited to his wedding, awkwardly saying something to the effect of, "Um, yeah. Stuff did get better. We became much more focused on winning. XD."

And there Rosenthal is, talking about the nicknames that Rangers players had for A-Rod and reporting about dugout chatter. This is his leading anecdote:

Alex Rodriguez scores on Hideki Matsui's bases-loaded double, and Gary Sheffield follows him down the third base line, ready to give the Yankees a 5-0 lead in Game 1 of the American League Championship Series.

"Run him over! Run him over!" Rodriguez yells at Sheffield, imploring him to barrel through Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek.

Sheffield scores, and Varitek turns to Rodriguez. "You would never do it," Varitek replies sneeringly.

The only word for this is AMAZING. Amazing on both a "wow, A-Rod is a turd" and a "wow, I can't believe Rosenthal not only got the OTR sources for this but also had the balls to write it." :D I've respected Rosenthal before for some of his reporting of the inside workings of trades and the sort of contacts he must have and how he's, really, the successor to Gammon, but my <3 of him has just shot up a level. Think of me and my love of tabloidicity what you will, but wow oh wow. Alex Rodriguez, you have been served.

(Link for this from the greatest A-Rod hater I know, ghostrunner, who got it someplace else.)