[翻譯]Alex: It's on Me

Alex: It's on Me



By MIKE VACCARO

Published : October 9, 2007 / New York Post



The eyes were runny and red, and Alex Rodriguez tried to make light of that, said it had come from an all-night bender. He wore a designer T-shirt with "ROYALTY" stenciled in gothic lettering across the front, and an expression that said at this moment he felt like anything but.

A-Rod的眼眶因為充滿淚水而泛紅, 但是他拒絕承認, 堅持這是一夜難眠之後的後遺症。他身上的t-shirt, 印有用哥德風格字體寫的"ROYALTY"字樣, 佔去了他胸前的大部分面積, 不過我想在這個時刻, 那絕對不是他會用來形容自己的字眼。



"It's on me," he said.

"這一切都怪我..." 他這麼說道。



"Whatever blame you put on me," he said, "that's fine."

"不管你們要怎麼指責我," 他說道, "我都欣然接受。"



"The most courageous group of guys," he said, "that I've ever played with."

"他們（洋基隊友）是我所共事過的球員中," 他繼續說道, "最勇敢的一群人。"



The season had expired less than an hour earlier, at 11:41 p.m., the Cleveland Indians doing what the Red Sox did before them in 2004, and the Marlins before them in 2003, turning Yankee Stadium into their own open-air festival, trying to drown out Sinatra's voice with their joyous, victorious yelps.

對洋基而言, 這個球季在不到一個小時前的11點41分劃下了句點, 印第安人所扮演的角色, 就像是2004年的紅襪、以及2003年的馬林魚一樣, 將洋基球場變成了他們狂歡慶祝的舞台, 試著用他們的歡呼聲蓋掉Frank Sinatra的歌聲（洋基球場在比賽結束後會播放由Sinatra演唱的New York New York）。



Yankee Stadium emptied quickly, hardly anyone bothering to look at the scoreboard for a final look, the better to beat it to the Deegan. What was the point? Nothing would change. Indians 6, Yankees 4 would remain in the books forever.

洋基球場在比賽結束後迅速地淨空, 沒有球迷願意回頭去看一眼高掛在中外野的計分板, 因為就算他們這麼做也無濟於事, 比賽已經結束, 印第安人以6比4打敗洋基, 這個比數將永遠留在2007年球季的記錄本中。



The Yankees themselves, many of them, stuck around a little longer, in what's become a sad perennial ritual, watching someone else's celebration. Most prominent among them was Rodriguez, absorbing all of it.

大部分的洋基球員比球迷多逗留了一會兒, 看著正在狂歡慶祝的印第安人隊、看著這幾年來熟悉的戲碼又在他們面前上演, 在這些洋基球員當中, A-Rod的身影最為突出, 他看著眼前的一切、默默承受比賽的結果。



A few minutes earlier, with Yankee Stadium rising to life for one last throaty summer shout after Bobby Abreu had found the upper deck and sliced the Cleveland lead by a run, A-Rod had stepped to the plate, worked the count to 2-2 against Joe Borowski, who couldn't have looked more petrified if he was a bank teller handed a note from a man in a ski mask.

就在幾分鐘前, 當洋基球場因為Bobby Abreu那支直上第三層看台的全壘打而發出本季最後一次歡呼後沒多久, A-Rod走進了打擊區, 球數兩好兩壞, 站在投手丘上的Joe Borowski因為緊張而顯得表情僵硬, 就像是一個剛剛從歹徒手上接過恐嚇紙條的銀行櫃員。



On April 19, these two had faced each other in another bottom of the ninth. The Indians had started that inning with a 6-2 lead. By the time Rodriguez walked to the plate that day, it was down to 6-5. And by the time A-Rod made a Borowski fastball disappear, it was 8-6, Yankees, and No. 13 had authored another chapter in one of the great baseball seasons you'll ever see.

在4月19日的比賽中, 這兩個人也曾經在九局下半有過一次對決機會, 那場比賽印第安人一路領先到比賽最後半局, 在洋基最後反攻開始前, 印第安人還以6比2領先洋基。不過當A-Rod站上打擊區時, 比數已經成了6比5; 而當A-Rod一棒將Borowski的速球轟出牆外時, 比數更成了8比6, 洋基逆轉獲勝, 而那個身穿13號球衣的球員, 在自己堪稱棒球史上最佳單季表現的記錄本中, 又添上了一筆。



Now, with Yankee Stadium pleading for something, for anything, Borowski threw to the outside part of the plate and A-Rod reached out for it, drove it in the air to right field. Fifty-six thousand voices tried to will it farther, but the ball wouldn't listen. Franklin Gutierrez squeezed it. The Armitron clock in left-center field clicked to 11:39.

現在, 全場的洋基球迷都在祈禱著奇蹟出現, Borowski投出了一顆偏向外角的球, 伸長手臂的A-Rod用球棒碰到了球, 球往右外野方向飛去, 五萬六千雙眼睛緊盯著球, 希望它能飛出牆外...不過天不從人願。Franklin Gutierrez穩穩接住了那球, 時間是晚上11點39分。



Midnight in The Bronx had arrived 21 minutes early.

這一晚, Bronx的午夜, 提早了21分鐘到來。



"No explanations," Rodriguez would say later, blinking bloodshot eyes. "No excuses."

"對此我沒有什麼好說的," A-Rod眨了眨滿布血絲的雙眼, "我責無旁貸。"



If this was truly good-bye for Rodriguez as a Yankee, then the end arrived with the soft thud of baseball in Gutierrez's leather. It ended with Rodriguez finally breaking out of a postseason RBI drought that had lasted a week shy of three years thanks to a majestic home run off Rafael Perez in the seventh.

如果洋基的淘汰也代表著A-Rod在洋基的日子將劃下句點, 那麼球落進Gutierrez的手套時所發出的聲響, 就像是A-Rod對洋基的道別。 劃下句點的還不只如此, 他在本場比賽中, 也靠著在七局下半從Rafael Perez手中揮出的全壘打, 正式結束了差一週就將滿三年的"季後賽打點荒"。



But it also ended with the only two whiffs Indians starter Paul Byrd would register all night, one swinging, one looking, the first one with two on and one out in the first inning. They were the 37th and 38th consecutive men that Rodriguez had stranded on base in playoff games dating back to the fifth inning of the fourth game of the 2004 ALCS on Oct. 17, 2004. That made him 0-for-his-last-27 in those spots. And counting.

不過他也為印第安人先發投手Paul Byrd全場唯二的三振做出貢獻, 一次是揮棒落空, 另一次則是拿香三振, 其中第一次三振更是出現在兩人在壘、一人出局的狀況下, 而當時在壘上的兩位隊友, 也是A-Rod自2004年10月17日美聯冠軍戰以來, 連續第37和第38位在季後賽中無法成功被A-Rod推進的跑者, 也讓A-Rod在季後賽中壘上有跑者的狀況下上場打擊的成績, 成了難看的連續27次打數沒有安打, 而這個數字還持續地累積當中。



"I haven't yet figured out this game," A-Rod said. "It's a round ball that comes in a square box."

"對於棒球, 我還有很多需要學習的地方," A-Rod說道, "我還是無法完全調適過來。"



For much of his stay with the Yankees, that could be an apt description of A-Rod, too. He wasn't great this October. But he also wasn't alone. Five members of the Yankees' starting lineup last night finished with batting averages under .200 for the series. Jorge Posada hit .133. Hideki Matsui hit .182. That's what served as "protection" for Rodriguez, who finished at .267.

A-Rod這句話, 似乎也可拿來說明他效力洋基期間所面臨的大部分狀況。他在今年季後賽的表現或許差強人意, 但是他並不是唯一讓人感到失望的洋基球員, 在洋基的先發九人中, 有五人在本系列戰中的打擊率低於.200, Jorge Posada的成績是.133, 而松井秀喜則是.182, 這些隊友的表現, 也讓打擊率.267的A-Rod免於成為頭號戰犯。



Then there was Derek Jeter, the captain, whose reputation for big-game reliability takes an enormous hit now, who grounded into three killing double plays across the final two games and finished at .176.

現在大部份人都將矛頭指向Derek Jeter, 身為洋基隊長的他一向被認為是個大賽型球員, 但是卻在近兩場比賽中擊出三支雙殺打, 整個系列戰的打擊率也僅有.176。



Jeter's culpability will dissolve, it always does. And he has four rings to help along the amnesia. A-Rod is still ring-free. And he may soon be pinstripe-free. He wouldn't go down that path, not yet - "A time and a place for that," he said - but he'll be there soon. And if he goes, you wonder how the Yankees will ever fill the pothole in the lineup that absence would create.

人們對Jeter的指責遲早會消失無蹤, 就像過去一樣, 更別提Jeter手上還有四只冠軍戒指, 可以幫助球迷忘記他在今年季後賽的差勁表現。反觀A-Rod, 他手上還是空空如也, 而身上的條紋球衣似乎也穿不久了, 對A-Rod來說, 他還不想離開, 時候未到。"還不是離開的時候," A-Rod說道。話雖如此, A-Rod和洋基告別的日子似乎也不遠了, 而我們應該擔心的是, 洋基要如何填補A-Rod離開後、在打線上留下的巨大空缺。



A time for that. A place for that. For now, one red-eyed superstar looked like the saddest member of royalty in the world.

總會有那麼一天, 分離將是無可避免, 不過這並非我們現在應該擔心的問題...



站在我面前的, 是個棒球場上的超級巨星, 但是現在的他, 看起來更像是個心碎的王室（royalty, 呼應A-Rod衣服上的字）成員。





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儘管結果不盡如人意...還是感謝洋基帶給我這美好的一年



一個原先以為在幾個月前就應該幻滅的夢想...至少延續到了2007年10月8日的深夜



so much thanks...New York Yankees