GAME DAY: ALTIMORE AT NEW YORK, 4: 30 P.M.
For all of his home runs, all-star accolades and huge salary, Alex Rodriguez finds himself in a most familiar spot this season.
A-Rod is an October lightning rod.
With every swing and miss, memories of his amazing run during the New York Yankees' championship season in 2009 fade even further. Instead, fans are becoming more and more vocal, calling for manager Joe Girardi to drop him from the No. 3 spot in the lineup.
Rodriguez struck out to end the Yankees' 3-2 loss to the Baltimore Orioles in Game 2 of their division series Monday night, leaving the best-of-five matchup tied at one.
He's fanned plenty of times - five in all while going 1-for-9 so far in the series.
"I feel fine at the plate," Rodriguez said after the loss. "I've just got to finish at-bats. I'm getting good swings."
He'll have the chance to turn things around tonight when the series shifts to the Bronx for Game 3. Hiroki Kuroda (16-11) starts for New York against Miguel Gonzalez (9-4), a rookie right-hander who has 17 strikeouts in 13 2 /3 innings against the Yankees in two starts.
"I think that we're going to do whatever it takes to win this three-game series. Nothing that we do will be something that is just a knee-jerk reaction," said Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "The great thing about this is I have a great group of guys that's very unselfish, and they really want to win. And that's what we're going to do, what we think is best to win."
