Not for Cliff Lee. That's for sure after a six hit complete game topped off with his patented "who give an eff" catch.
No. The most nervous man in the World Series is none other than Mr. 0-for-four with three strikeouts, Alex Rodriguez. Another A-bomb for A-Rod turned into a stink bomb on Wednesday night when the 2009 playoff superstar fell back to earth in a fiery crash.
Throughout the playoffs, analysts from the NY Post to ESPN celebrated A-Rod's playoff feats by saying "he's got his confidence back." After an 11-game playoff-hitting streak, batting .438 with five home runs, Rodriguez enjoyed one of the greatest playoff performances in Yankee history - that is until he choked on his supplement pills during the biggest game of his life.
Alex lost his groove, and if history can tell us anything, it's not coming back. When it comes to big games, A-Rod switches from big-time slugger to the Louisville fanner. ESPN reported that throughout A-Rod's playoff run in pinstripes; he averages a swing and miss for one out of every three fastballs he saw before the 2009 playoffs. He had a great run, but Alex won't be the man with a clutch hit in this fall classic.
For all the Yankee-haters out there, lets hope this is part of another epic baseball curse. I don't care if it's the curse of 9/11 (maybe it's poor taste to mention, but they lost that year during game seven in the bottom of the 9th with the most dominate playoff closer of all time) or if it's the curse of new Yankee Stadium with its cracking ramps, or just a simple curse of steroids. They should go another 100 years without a title.
While I want nothing more than to keep Alex Rodriguez out of the champagne shower of a World Series locker-room, I've had terrible luck in casting baseball curses. Just the act of proclaiming the Yankees are cursed means two things:
The New York Yankee will probably win the 2009 World Series
You should pre-order your Personalized MLB Locker Room Sign, so your jersey can hang shoulder-to-shoulder with a baseball all-star who choked for one game.
