[翻譯]Yankee image is now A-Joke

Mike Lupica可說是New York Daily News的明星專欄作家

光是看該報有多少次把他雙手交叉在胸前的照片放在頭版...旁邊寫著

Mike Lupica is one of the best-known and widely read sports columnists in the United States...

你就不難知道他的份量有多重



現在的他...不只寫運動專欄...還寫時事、政治評論

除了他之外...我還沒看過其他運動專欄作家的文章會被放在前5頁的

Daily News和NY Post都是採正面翻從國家大事、社會新聞開始, 從背面翻的話則會從體育板開始的編排

體育板通常都是落在第60頁到第90頁間...

他的用詞相當辛辣...批評也從不手軟

當初Clemens決定回到紐約的消息一出...絕大多數的文章都在表達對火箭人拯救洋基的期待時

Mike Lupica則毫不留情地提出批評...雖然頗有被潑冷水的感覺...但是對他的論述也只能鼓掌叫好

(對該篇文章有興趣的朋友可以參考...Just Business As Usual For Boss & His Hired Gun)

從他的文章中可以感覺到...除了場上表現之外...他對於球員的操守和品行也有相當高的標準



因此他會在今天發表這篇關於A-Rod的文章...並且用如此嚴厲的口氣...也不難讓人了解



不過我想這樣的文章如果直接分享在PTT上...尤其是洋基屠殺紅襪的比賽才剛結束沒多久

肯定會掃了不少球迷的興...極有可能在推文出現兩方人馬筆戰的狀況...搞不好連翻譯的我都會被波及

所以決定還是讓它低調地躺在arch*templar的blog中就好了...







Yankee image is now A-Joke

Biggest Bomber wears two faces and neither one is a winner



By MIKE LUPICA

Published : June 1, 2007 / New York Daily News



The real face of the Yankees is Alex Rodriguez now. Yankee fans still want to believe, we all want to believe, that it is the old guard, starting with Derek Jeter. It is not. Jeter and Jorge Posada and Mariano Rivera, they are what the Yankees used to be. A-Rod is what they have become.

洋基現在的看板人物是那個名叫A-Rod的球員！ 雖然球迷仍然想要說服自己洋基的代表人物應該是那些包含Jeter在內的老洋基們, 不過很不幸地,事實並非如此。Jeter、Posada和Rivera代表著洋基的過去...A-Rod才是今日洋基的代言人。



He is the biggest of all the stars the Yankees have been bringing in since they last won the World Series, the biggest salary in sports. He is the one who gets the most attention, with an amazing April like the one he had, with the career numbers he puts into the books, with the way he has let the team down in the postseason, now with a girl on the side.

他（A-Rod）是洋基球團在一冠難求的乾旱期間所引進的球員中最具知名度的, 他也手握棒球史上最高金額的合約。他永遠都充滿了話題性...無論是靠著今年四月的驚人表現、或是他那早已被寫入史冊的生涯數據、甚至是他每每在季後賽令人大失所望的表現...現在則是因為身旁的金髮女性。



He is not the first famous Yankee to step out on his wife this way. He is just the one doing it who also is expected to break the home run record that Barry Bonds will break soon, the one with the $252 million contract. He is as image-conscious as any superstar in sports, one obsessively handled by his agent, Scott Boras.

他並不是第一個對老婆不忠的洋基球員, 不過和這些前輩比起來, 他的不同在於...他是個被期待能打破那個最近即將被Barry Bonds改寫的記錄、並且身價高達2億5,200萬美金的球員。和其他超級運動明星一樣, A-Rod對自己的形象一直相當在意, 而其經紀人Scott Boras對選手形象的經營也從來不會馬虎。



A-Rod is the two-time MVP, A-Rod is the one who makes news just by showing up at spring training and opening up his mouth.

A-Rod是兩屆年度最有價值球員獎得主, 他光是在春訓場地現個身、對記者說上幾句話, 就能成為隔天報紙的頭條新聞。



He is the one who can cause a commotion in a rare blowout game for the Yankees by yelling at a fill-in third baseman on a popup. Then, as always, he acts surprised by the commotion.

他也是那種會因為在比賽中對著等待接殺小飛球的三壘手大喊...然後製造一場大騷動的球員。而事件過後, 他也一如往常地對他所造成的騷動感到不可置信。



Alex Rodriguez is some great ballplayer. After 3-1/2 seasons in town, he still seems tone deaf sometimes.

A-Rod是個偉大的球員...雖然在紐約待了三年半, 他的後知後覺症狀似乎還尚未痊癒。



After being photographed with the woman he is supposedly taking as his date to these strip clubs - isn't this like taking sand to the beach? - he at least had the good grace to shut up about it. This is a tremendous plan and he should stay with it. No one wants to hear what he has to say about the blond or his marriage. We know way more than we ever needed to know already. I hope everybody leaves Mrs. Rodriguez alone, whether she chooses to stand by her $252 million man or not.

被拍攝到和金髮女子一同前往脫衣舞俱樂部的照片後（帶一個脫衣舞孃去脫衣舞俱樂部...會不會太多此一舉了？）, A-Rod至少做對了一件事...閉起他的嘴。這個決定不回應的策略實在是太高明了, 我希望他能一直這樣做, 沒有人想要聽他說關於那金髮女子或是他婚姻狀況的事情, 我們知道的已經太多。 我希望大家能放他太太一馬, 不管她是否決定要繼續待在這位兩億男身邊。



A-Rod is the face of the Yankees, good and bad, like it or not. He is all of that in what can be his last year with the Yankees. He is all the stars they have brought in since 2002, Giambi and Mussina and Sheffield and Matsui and Randy Johnson and now Rocket Redux.

A-Rod就是洋基的看板...不管你覺得是好是壞...喜歡也好、不喜歡也罷, 在這可能是他效力洋基的最後一個球季中, 已經成了無可改變的事實。他就跟洋基自從2002年以來引進的所有球星一樣...Giambi、Mussina、Sheffield、松井秀喜、Randy Johnson還有最新加入的火箭人。



The Yankees had a lot of high-priced talent, free-agent talent when nobody could beat them. Not this much, and not at these prices. The people in charge have kept trying to make them a first-place team in the American League East and the first-place team of all times at the box office, have tried to make them the greatest baseball show on Earth.

在當年洋基橫掃大聯盟的時代, 陣中也有著許多高薪、透過FA制度引進的球星, 不過從來都不像現在這麼多...也從來不像現在這麼貴。負責決定球員陣容的人, 想要打造一支不只是美聯東區冠軍隊、同時還要是票房最佳的球隊...甚至想要組成一支地表最強球隊。



"They're like the Beatles," Brian Cashman used to say.

"他們就像是披頭四一樣, " Brian Cashman曾經這麼說。



They are not just No.1 at the end of the season anymore, and raise a hand if you believe this season is going to be any different, or if you think they are some kind of sure thing to climb out of this hole and get a wild card at least.

他們已經不再是世界大賽的常勝軍...如果有人和我持相反意見的請舉手。不然這樣好了...有人還相信他們一定會擺脫目前的低潮然後至少取得外卡資格嗎？



Say they don't make it, don't make the playoffs for the first time in a full American League season since 1993. This will have been the Yankee arc since A-Rod came to town:

假如洋基真的在今年球季拿不到季後賽參賽資格, 這將是1993年以來的頭一遭, 而以下就是A-Rod在洋基四年的成績單。



Lose four straight to Red Sox after leading 3-0 in the 2004 ALCS.

2004年美聯冠軍系列戰, 在對紅襪取得3勝0負的絕對領先之後, 連敗4場被淘汰。



First-round loss.

季後賽第一輪淘汰。



First-round loss.

季後賽第一輪淘汰。



No playoffs at all.

連季後賽資格都拿不到。



Rodriguez will have played here four seasons and won exactly one playoff series. A record like that is huge news at James Dolan's Garden. Not at Yankee Stadium.

A-Rod在洋基的四年內, 恐怕就只會贏過那麼一個季後賽系列而已。贏得一個季後賽系列戰在Madison Square Garden(New York knicks主場)會是個大消息, 不過洋基球場的標準就完全不同了。



He hit all those home runs in April and we were supposed to beg him to stay at the end of the season, when he has the right to opt out of his contract and go for the most money again. But what if for a seventh straight year and a fourth straight year with him on their side, the Yankees don't win the World Series? Are they supposed to throw another $150million and beg him to stay? Why? Because he makes everything and everybody better? Sometimes you look at his baseball career and see, even in a vastly different sport, a more talented Marbury.

當他在四月擊出一支又一支的全壘打時, 人們都覺得在今年球季結束後, 當A-Rod選擇離開洋基去追逐另一個天價合約時, 我們應該要求他留下來。不過仔細想想, 洋基再砸個1億5,000萬美金把他留下來的差別卻只在於"連續四年拿不到世界大賽冠軍"和"連續七年拿不到世界大賽冠軍"時, 真的值得這樣做嗎？難道有他在陣中就可以讓每個隊友表現更好嗎？當你回顧A-Rod的球員生涯時...即便運動項目不同...你看到的不就只是一個更具天分的Stephon Marbury罷了。



The Yankees better make the playoffs. He better be one of those carrying them there. If not, the highest-paid player in baseball and sports becomes the old line that Ralph Kiner heard once when he was one of the great home run hitters in Pittsburgh and wanted a raise.

洋基最好給我拿到季後賽門票, 而A-Rod最好是那個幫助球隊達成目標的球員。如果辦不到的話, 這個棒球史上最高薪的球員就會和當年想要要求加薪的Ralph Kiner（海盜隊史上最傑出的強打者之一）聽到同樣一句話...



"We finished last with you," Branch Rickey told Kiner. "We can finish last without you."

"有你在陣中, 我們的戰績是最後一名," Branch Rickey這樣告訴Kiner.

"這樣的成績...就算沒你在我們也一樣辦得到。"



Rodriguez is a married superstar with a wife and toddler at home and now he is even the author of children's books, and it's supposed to be the camera's fault or the photographer's fault or the newspaper's fault that he got clipped this way. In a pig's eye. Maybe this time he will understand if people think he is a phony.

A-Rod是個已婚並育有一女的超級巨星...他甚至還出版了一本童書, 所以被拍到那樣的照片不應該是他的錯, 那是相機的錯、攝影師的錯, 不然就是報社的錯...我說這全都是屁。或許這次A-Rod會比較清楚到底人們是怎麼看他的（一個偽君子？）。





Yankee fans want it to be the old days. Now Clemens is on his way back for more money, representing the old Yankees and the new Yankees at the same time. Everybody wants the old Yankees back, because they are the closest thing you will ever see to the old Knicks.

洋基球迷想要重回往日時光。現在Clemens為了更高的薪水回到了紐約, 他不只代表著老洋基...同時也代表著新洋基。大家都想要找回過去的洋基, 因為這樣一來, 或許也能找回過去的尼克。



Jeter is the one who said it first, when they were down and about to stay down against the Angels in the first round in 2002.

2002年季後賽第一輪, 在洋基看起來就將敗給天使時, Jeter說了這句話...



"This team isn't that team," he said.

"這支球隊並非當年那支球隊"



That team is gone, even if some of the high-character guys from it are still playing at a high level. Jeter and Posada and Mo and Pettitte, they are what the Yankees were. A-Rod is what they are, for four more months, anyway.

當年那所向無敵的洋基已經一去不復返了...即便幾位當初就效力於洋基的球員...Jeter、Posada、Mo和Pettitte...仍然表現十分傑出, 不過他們所代表的都只是洋基的過去罷了...A-Rod才是今日洋基的縮影。不過管他的...反正也只剩四個月了。




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