It's unbelievable how little the people of New York care for Alex Rodriguez. I'm not just talking about Tuesday, in the aftermath of the ALDS, where ARod went 2 for 15 and has basically been accused of losing the series for the Yankees. I'm talking about April through September, when he had arguably one of the greatest seasons ever for a third baseman. Ask the people of New York -- nobody cares. Nobody cared then, and nobody cares now.

I don't want to pretend that the opinions of people who call WFAN's sports talk radio shows, my coworkers, my neighbors, and other people I overhear on the streets of New York are representative of the entire city, but I haven't heard a single compliment of ARod this season that hasn't been qualified with a "but" or a shrug.

Yeah, he had three hits yesterday. But what about that error he made last week?

(Shrug) He's had a good season. Jeter's still a better ballplayer.

It's pretty ridiculous. You would think a guy who was arguably (and probably) the best player in the American League this season would be the freakin man in this city. But he's not. You would think the fans here would brag about him. They don't. I wouldn't exactly say people despised him before. I would describe it more as general indifference, which is hard to believe given that the guy just put up one of the all-time great seasons.

(Actually, it's not hard to believe at all. ARod's always been perceived as somewhat of a rival of Derek Jeter, and we all know how protective this city is of Derek Jeter, even if it means slighting one of the best players in baseball.)

Not that this is a problem today. Not anymore. If you ever want to see Yankee fans pull their typical Yankee fan BS, ask them today how they feel about Alex Rodriguez. They hate him -- HATE him.

And who can blame them? After all, he's proven to be a colossal choke artist in his two seasons with the Yankees and is the biggest reason why they'll finish yet another season without a championship, at least according to papers they've read today, and pretty much every other talking head in America.

I did some reading today, myself, and I'm pretty sure I saw only one rational take on ARod. It was written by Joe Sheehan:

"Derek Jeter hit a home run Friday with the Yankees down four runs. He hit one last night with the team down three. The one last night was pointed to, by the game broadcasters as well as the ones on “SportsCenter,” as evidence of his “clutchness.”

Not for nothing, but why is it if Alex Rodriguez hits a solo homer with the Yankees down by a bunch, it’s evidence that he’s a stat-padding loser, but when Jeter does it, it’s clutch?

It’s just another example of the double standard in place for the two players. Neither covered themselves in glory in the series--the statistical difference between the two is those two Jeter home runs, whose value seems to be entirely in who hit them--yet Jeter comes out as Captain Intangible while Rodriguez, whose back is still a bit sore from carrying the team in the ‘04 Division Series, for which he got no credit, is the choke artist."

I couldn't agree more.

By the way, here are Alex Rodriguez's series-by-series lines in the postseason.

1995 ALDS (1 AB, 1 G): .000/.000/.000
1995 ALCS (1 AB, 1 G): .000/.000/.000
1997 ALDS (16 AB, 4 G): .312/.312/.562
2000 ALDS (13 AB, 3 G): .308/.308/.308
2000 ALCS (22 AB, 6 G): .408/.480/.773
2004 ALDS (19 AB, 4 G): .421/.476/.737
2004 ALCS (31 AB, 7 G): .258/.378/.516
2005 ALDS (15 AB, 5 G): .133/.435/.200

CAREER (118 AB, 31 G): .305/.390/.534

So does this mean Alex Rodriguez was clutch before, but now he isn't? Or that he was clutch in the 2004, but not 2005? That he was clutch in the 2000 ALCS, but not the 2000 ALDS?

If that's the case, the whole idea behind clutch is, well, pretty dumb.

Or, maybe, it's possible that you just can't use a short series to make a definitive claim about a player.