Mussina comes to A-Rod's defense
By Mark Feinsand / MLB.com
TORONTO -- Many people have been wondering why Derek Jeter hasn't come to Alex Rodriguez's defense as the fans at Yankee Stadium continue to direct their anger and disappointment in this year's team at the reigning American League MVP.

Mike Mussina doesn't think that Jeter has the responsibility to defend A-Rod, but the Yankees' pitcher does think that the fans have been far too harsh on Rodriguez this season.

"It's hard to be looked upon to help carry a team and at the same time, be the lone target of ridicule when we don't do well," Mussina said. "That's what he is. He's expected to go 3-for-4, yet he'll be booed when he makes the one out. If he misses one ball or makes one mistake and we end up losing the game, it becomes his fault that we lost the game.

"Leave this guy alone for a while, let us see if we can get him to play," Mussina said. "The way he's being treated right now, it's not going to make it any better. It's making it worse -- and we can't win without him."

Mussina compared A-Rod's situation in New York to a parent admonishing their young child for spilling milk or breaking a glass.

"It's not going to help; imagine if every time your child made a mistake, you buried them and made them feel smaller than they already felt," Mussina said. "Instead of encouraging, it's negative reinforcement, and that doesn't produce improved results. And that's all he's getting."

It might be strange to hear Mussina come to A-Rod's defense, given that Mussina himself pointed a finger at his third baseman for a throwing error on Thursday that helped spark a four-run inning in New York's 5-4 loss.

"I thought he was going to throw to first," Mussina said after Thursday's game. "When I turned and saw him throw home, all he had to do was throw it on target and the guy would have been out by 20 feet.

"It let everything happen from there," Mussina added of the error. "I was doing the same things I was doing before, it all just mounted up in one inning. It was a tough inning."

Were Mussina's critical words following Thursday's game meant to inspire A-Rod? Not necessarily, but if they have that effect, Mussina won't complain.

"If I knew the right way to give him a kick in the [rear end], I would," Mussina said. "It's hard to tell which is the best way to do it. He has to be who he is for us to be successful, and he's not right now. I don't know how to get him back there. "

Mussina admits that he was "a little upset" about the error immediately following the game, and he still believes that, had Rodriguez thrown to first, making it a 3-1 game with two outs and no one on base, the game would have played out differently.

"That one inning, we didn't do much right; I didn't pitch that well and he made the error," Mussina said. "We could have walked off the field at 3-1 or 3-0 and we would have coasted through the rest of the game. That's not the way it happened, so everyone is looking for someone to blame. In a lot of cases, it's been him."

It most certainly has.

Whether it's an untimely error or a big strikeout with runners in scoring position, A-Rod has been the primary target of all things negative. Jeter can go 0-for-5 and strand eight men on base, but if A-Rod has two hits -- but neither wins the game for New York -- he'll bear the brunt of the criticism.

"The only way they'll accept him, because he's never won a World Series, because he didn't come from the organization, is if he's better than Derek -- and to be better than Derek, you really have to stand out and be glaringly better," Mussina said. "Everybody is going to give Derek the benefit of the doubt because he's Derek."

By no means is Mussina suggesting that Jeter hasn't earned that benefit of the doubt, nor is he saying that Jeter should be held more responsible for anything than anybody else. But his point is clear; put these two players next to each other, have them do the exact same thing and the reactions will be markedly different.

"When Jeter went 1-for-April a couple years ago, how long did it take people to actually boo him?" Mussina said. "And even then, it was a smattering. It wasn't lethal booing."

Mussina is the longest-tenured member of the Yankees who has not won a championship in pinstripes. Since joining the club in 2001, Mussina has been to the postseason five times, reaching two World Series.

In his eyes, his run in New York has been a successful one. No, he doesn't possess the ring he covets, but after spending a decade in Baltimore, where the World Series trophy hasn't been hoisted since 1983, he can appreciate the difficult nature of making the postseason once, let alone five straight times.

"Everybody else plays to get to the postseason, then they take their chances," Mussina said. "In New York, everybody is spoiled because this team went to the World Series four years out of five and won. Coming from an organization where, for 10 years, it was such an accomplishment to get to the postseason, knowing how tough it is, it's tough to be thought of as a failure if you don't win the World Series. That's a tough way to do your job.

"I've been to the World Series twice," he continued. "I came to New York to go to the World Series and I got there. You never know what's going to happen once you get there, so you just want that chance in the postseason."

The attitude Mussina describes is the one that has piled the greatest of expectations on Rodriguez, who has to try to live up to his $252 million contract every time he steps on a baseball field.

Compare these two stat lines:
Player A: .316 average, 21 home runs, 79 RBIs, 63 runs, .388 on-base percentage
Player B: .284 average, 21 home runs, 71 RBIs, 67 runs, .386 on-base percentage

The first? National League MVP candidate David Wright. The second? Rodriguez.

So although their stats are virtually identical, Wright (who has 11 errors vs. Rodriguez's 18) is having what is considered a terrific season because the Mets have a double-digit lead in the NL East -- and he makes less than a half-million dollars.

And let's not forget -- Rodriguez has put up these numbers in a "down year" where nothing has gone right for him.

The question from here is, can Rodriguez get past his current struggles and thrive in what has become an increasingly hostile atmosphere? Mussina, who watched last season as A-Rod captured the MVP award while playing in the same uniform in front of the same fans in the same ballpark, believes he can.

"Once you get adjusted here, it usually stays there or gets better; it rarely reverts back to the way it was," Mussina said. "I believe that he can still play in this atmosphere, but right now, it doesn't look like it's that comfortable for him.

"He really looks lost, which is the best way I can describe it," Mussina continued. "We've all looked lost once in a while, but it's magnified because we don't have Sheffield, Matsui or Cano right now. We have enough trouble as it is with the players we can't put out there. Without those guys, we need the guys we have to play at their level and be themselves."

And that starts with Rodriguez. Who knows where it will end.