Alex Rodriguez and the Overkill of Hate

Alex Rodriguez has gotten so much crap dumped on him that you almost start to feel sorry for him. Most of it is by his own doing - his vanity, insecurity, lack of awareness, being so good that folks are naturally jealous. But since MLB announced he'd face a 211-game suspension for his involvement in the Biogeneis scandal, I realized that he's become a bigger villain than he should be.
 
Then you step back and realize who's making him a villain. The same powers that made Barry Bonds one a decade ago.

Major League Baseball has used him as a scapegoat for their sins. The other dozen players who got suspended? Who cares besides Ryan Braun's arrogance catching up to him. MLB wants to punish A-Rod like he's the worst cheater in baseball history because he's an easy target and they've gone out of their way to make him look worse than he may be.

It's why I've said before that if MLB cared about cleaning up the game, they'd do more preventative measures instead of being judge and jury. They'd investigate why more Dominican players seem to be turning up guilty for cheating and if that's part of a bigger problem. They wouldn't lie down with a criminal snitch who's got his own agenda to push.

The Yankees might want nothing to do with him but they've been overly sloppy in saying so. All these comments from management makes me not respect them for stepping deeper in this manure. They don't want him around and understandably so, but not hiding their disappointment makes them look pitiful.

Ryan Dempster represents the players who are mad at A-Rod or just don't like him. But by throwing at him three times, he showed himself a coward. You beat a man enough when he's down and people start looking at you instead of your message. And I loved A-Rod getting his revenge with three hits - including a home run - and two RBI's to help the Yankees win.

So congrats to MLB, the Yankees and Dempster. Instead of turning him into a villain, they've done something worse - given him a chance to earn sympathy. And if he plays like he did Sunday, it's more likely to happen.

It doesn't make A-Rod less guilty of taking PED's in Texas or New York. Or his terrible business ventures or making himself an easy target for ridicule. But the overkill of hate is counterproductive because instead of it being justified, it throws blame off MLB for how low they've stooped to prove a point.

Is all this necessary? What makes A-Rod worse than Ryan Braun? What makes MLB less complicit in trying to make A-Rod look worse by leaking information that's irrelevant in the grand scheme.

It should make us question throwing the book at Rodriguez with little to no evidence and no prior suspensions under his belt. It should also make us question why MLB wants to make an example out of A-Rod instead of Braun, who openly mocked the drug testing process and tested positive twice in three years.

For my money, I hope A-Rod plays well to make people dislike him more and for MLB to get angrier that he won't lay down for them. Just to show folks how pointless it is to follow MLB's lead on slandering him for their own agenda.