Honestly, I'm sick of hearing about ARod's slump. There are so many positive stories on this year's team to talk about instead: Robinson Cano's emergence as a true star, Derek Jeter's MVP play, Melky Cabrera's exciting ball playing, Chien-Ming Wang's chase of 20 wins, Johnny Damon's enthusiasm, Jorge Posada's big year, Bobby Abreu fitting the Yankees like a glove, the kid pitchers chipping in. So let's finish flogging this horse so we can bury it and move on already.

Sports Illustrated's new cover story by Tom Verducci, entitled "The Lonely Yankee," gives insights into the team's attempts to deal with Alex Rodriguez's storied Slump of '06. How do you go about helping someone in such a deep batting funk?

Well, first, the player has to admit that he's in a slump. If a tree falls in the woods but no one is around, does it make a sound? If a player strikes out 14 times in 20 at bats but he doesn't acknowledge that fact, is he really in a slump? Yes, ARod, you were deep in the throes of an extended, excruciating, seemingly endless slump. Jason Giambi even got in on the act, asking manager Joe Torre to "stop coddling him" and give ARod some tough love. According to Verducci's article, Torre said, "When the rest of the team starts noticing things, you have to get it fixed. That's my job. I like to give individuals what I believe is the room they need, but when I sense that other people are affected, teamwise, I have to find a solution to it."

Apparently, the solution was to keep ARod in the lineup and let him kill rally after rally until he broke out of the slump.

ARod's dead bat was smack in the middle of the Yanks lineup—a batting order that was already down two sluggers due to injury (Matsui and Sheffield)—and this didn't go unnoticed by his fellow teammates. What matters is what a player does in the clutch, and in the heat of a pennant race. While the Yanks and Red Sox were battling it out this summer for first place, "In the 80 games the Yankees played from June 1 to Aug. 30 -- almost half a season -- Rodriguez hit .257 with 81 strikeouts while committing 13 errors." Once the Yanks built a double-digit lead over Boston, ARod's bat came alive. I'm a Yankee fan; I'll take this current hot streak. I want him hot through the end of the year and into the post-season. I want the Yanks to win the World Series. But his failure in the clutch is what has tagged him with the choke artist label. A reputation is a hard thing to shake.

This leads me to believe that maybe the problem is mine, not ARod's. Because, really, what it comes down to, is that ARod isn't Derek Jeter, or Paul O'Neill, or Tino Martinez. Or even Jim Leyritz. But I want him to be. That's the problem. Expectations. It isn't the money—I'm not signing the checks. I just want him to get a hit when it counts. But I'm not the only one.

"We're all rooting for you and we're behind you 100 percent," Giambi told Rodriguez, "but you've got to get the big hit."

The post-season is looming. ARod's fate is in his own hands.