[翻譯]No Joke: A-Rod Is The Main Event


每天光是閱讀紐約報紙針對A-Rod所寫的不同評論...就讓我在lunch break時多了不少樂趣

裡面有極端歌功頌德的、有嚴厲抨擊的...當然也有較為中肯客觀的評論

就在兩個禮拜前...當A-Rod和脫衣舞孃一同出遊的照片連續幾天登上紐約各報頭條時

正好也是洋基戰績猶如自由落體般一路下墜的時候

五月成績和四月判若兩人...而且還搞了一個讓一向對紀律要求甚嚴的洋基顏面無光的花邊新聞...

A-Rod毫無意外地成為輿論攻擊的重點目標 (不過我想在紐約這幾年他應該也很習慣了啦...)

其中紐約重量級球評Mike Lupica的Yankee image is now A-Joke一文可說是最具代表性的



不過誰都沒想到...原本以為這個球季準備提早買單的洋基隊竟然在近兩週猶如大夢初醒般急起直追

而A-Rod的表現看起來就像是坐著時光機回到四月般...再次讓批評他的人全都閉上嘴巴

今天刊登在New York Post的No Joke: A-Rod Is The Main Event...看來就是"擁A-Rod派"球評的絕地大反擊

基於"平衡翻譯"的原則 (很像只聽過"平衡報導"這詞喔...)

決定將這篇文章和關心洋基的球迷分享...



不過如果想要真正了解A-Rod這個備受爭議的人物

我個人還是建議花點時間去看去年夏天刊登於Sports Illustrated...引發不少爭議的長篇文章

A-Rod Agonistes 

昨天發現該翻譯文章的後半段竟然離奇消失...花了點時間重新翻譯

也把全文拆成三篇文章以避免文章夠長會被無名自動刪減的問題

另外把一些之前不小心誤譯的地方或是文句不夠流暢的部份重新做了修改和潤飾...



看完那篇文章...你會發現你開始可以理解A-Rod為何有時會做出讓人匪夷所思的舉動

並且開始欣賞這樣一個有著偉大數據...卻沒得到應有尊敬的棒球奇才...







No Joke: A-Rod Is The Main Event



By LARRY BROOKS

Published : June 14, 2007 / New York Post



He who laughs last, laughs best. That's what they say, isn't it? So when Alex Rodriguez called out "Ha!" that night on the Toronto base path, maybe that was his way of letting everyone in baseball know that the joke would be on them. 

俗話說的好, "贏得最終的勝利, 才是真正的成功"。或許在多倫多那晚, 當A-Rod在從二壘跑向三壘時對著三壘手大喊的那聲 "哈 !", 其實他的用意是要告訴所有看衰他的人...你們才是真正的笑話。



Nearly any creative description of A-Rod's season can be twisted into a double entendre. There's no need for that. Yankees are judged by what they do between the white lines. It was that way for Ruth, and it was that way for Mantle. It is that way now for Rodriguez, whose season has been so enormous, no one has had the time to wonder whether he's going to be able to produce when it counts. 

幾乎所有人們用來描述A-Rod的字句都有不只一種解釋, 這實在很多此一舉, 要衡量一個洋基球員的價值應該是透過他們在球場上的表現, 就像過去的Ruth和Mentle一樣, 而現在的A-Rod當然也不例外。



Guess what? It counts now for this Yankees team that was all but counted out two weeks ago after bottoming out on May 29 at 21-29. The next night Rodriguez yelled, "Ha!" and from the moment the ball came down untouched, Rodriguez has made straight men of pitchers around the league, and the Yankees have ceased being a laughingstock. 

目前真正值得一提的, 是自從5月30日晚上A-Rod那聲 "哈 ! " 之後, 原先戰績跌到谷底的洋基隊終於止跌回升, 多虧了A-Rod的優異表現, 洋基總算暫時擺脫了淪為笑柄的命運。



"I'd like to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee," Joe DiMaggio said. 

"感謝上天讓我成為洋基的一員," Joe DiMaggio曾這麼說道。



"I shall return," General Douglas MacArthur pledged. 

"我將回來," 麥帥曾這麼宣誓。



"Ha!" Alex Rodriguez shouted.

"哈 ! " A-Rod曾這麼喊著。 



A meeting called by Joe Torre on May 28 in which he told his team to relax is now commonly cited as the turning point in the season that seemed to have gone irreparably wrong. But the manager himself knows that not to be the case, and he said so last night before his team won its eighth straight and climbed over .500 by clubbing Arizona 7-2. 

大部分的人都認為Torre在5月28日所召開的會議中要求其陣中球員放鬆心情的談話, 是讓全隊表現判若兩人的轉捩點, 不過Torre自己本人相當清楚, 那番談話並不是讓洋基止跌回升的主因。 在昨晚那場洋基以7-2擊敗響尾蛇的比賽前, 他提到了自己的觀察...



The turning point, Torre insisted, was the 6-5 victory June 3 at Fenway that gave the team the series by 2-1. It was a game the Yankees won when Rodriguez rather shockingly broke a ninth-inning tie by hitting one out the opposite way against Jonathan Papelbon. 

Torre認為真正的轉捩點, 是6月3日洋基於芬威球場以6-5擊敗紅襪隊, 讓洋基以2勝1負取得該系列戰優勢的比賽, 而洋基能贏得那場比賽的關鍵, 就是A-Rod在九局上半從紅襪守護神Jonathan Papelbon手中敲出那支打破平手僵局的反方向全壘打。



"Team meetings are for managers," Torre said. "They're for yourself if you have something to say. I don't think there's any question that winning that series in Boston was the turning point." 

"球隊會議主要是針對管理階層的需求而召開的," Torre說道, "那是為了讓大家有機會可以說出心中的話, 對我個人而言, 擊敗紅襪的那場比賽無疑地才是真正讓球隊表現判若兩人的分水嶺。"



There is no question that Rodriguez is the Yankees' best player. Maybe it's the opt-out clause. Maybe it's his own fatigue with being a punchline for every pop psychologist in town. Maybe there's a sense of liberation in all of that. 

A-Rod無疑是洋基陣中最優秀的球員, 而判斷標準可能是他合約中的終止合約條款(opt-out clause), 可能是因為他的心理狀態常被紐約各知名心理醫生拿來作為案例分析之用, 又或許是他的一舉一動都可讓人從中了解到自由的真諦...



Maybe it's all of the above or none of the above. But there if there is a Yankee at-bat not to be missed in a game, it's when Rodriguez steps to plate. You look away and you risk missing something special, like last night's third-inning, two-run monster blow to left that broke a 1-1 tie - even if Rodriguez himself didn't look at it too long. 

答案或許是"以上皆是", 也可能是"以上皆非", 不過可以確定的是, 如果要說哪個洋基球員上場打擊時是最不能錯過的, 那答案肯定是A-Rod, 如果錯過了他的打擊, 你可能也錯失了一次見證歷史的機會, 就像昨晚三局下半那支打破1-1平手局面的兩分砲。



雖然就連A-Rod本人, 都沒對那顆飛出牆外的球多看幾眼...



"I knew I hit it well, but you don't want to look at [them] too long," he said. "I didn't even know where it landed." 

"我知道我咬到那球了, 不過我並沒有盯著球飛出牆外," 他說道, "我甚至不曉得那顆球到底落在何處。"



The home run was Rodriguez's major-league-leading 25th, in the Yankees' 63rd game. It kept him even with Roger Maris' 61-in-'61 pace in which No. 9 also had 25 through 63 games (and 26 through 64). It kept him on pace with a fellow who, according to the comedian and self-styled baseball historian Billy Crystal, never smiled, let alone cracked wise running from second to third. 

這發全壘打是他在63場比賽中所擊出的第25支, 也讓他暫居全壘王的寶座。 和於1961年級出洋基隊史紀錄61發全壘打的Roger Maris相比, 兩人都同樣花了63場比賽的時間來生產25發全壘打(當年的Maris還在接下來的第64場比賽中擊出第26號), 這樣的生產效率, 讓A-Rod有機會追上那位不苟言笑的前輩。



Rodriguez was the world's best player in April, batting .355 with 14 homers and 34 RBIs in 23 games during which the Yankees went 9-14. He's having a similar June, batting .357 with seven homers and 21 RBIs in 12 games during which the Yankees are 10-2. 

四月的A-Rod是全聯盟表現最佳的球員, 在23場比賽中繳出了.355打擊率, 14支全壘打, 34分打點的優異成績, 不過該月洋基的戰績卻是難看的9勝14敗。 目前看起來, 他在六月的表現也絲毫不遜於四月, 在12場比賽中打出.357打擊率, 7發全壘打, 21分打點的佳績, 而更重要的是, 洋基在這段時間內的戰績是驚人的10勝2敗。



"April and this are like night and day," said Rodriguez, who leads the majors with 66 RBIs. "It felt good personally to get off to a good start, but it felt terrible because we were losing. 

"四月和六月簡直就像是黑夜和白天一樣," 目前以66分打點領先全聯盟的A-Rod說道, "對我個人而言, 能在球季一開始就有優異演出本應是非常令人愉快的事, 不過由於當時球隊戰績不佳, 我實在高興不起來。"



"Now I'm able to enjoy it because we're winning." 

"現在球隊表現漸入佳境, 我終於可以真正為自己的成績感到高興了。"



"Tear down this wall," demanded Ronald Reagan. 

"拆掉這堵牆(柏林圍牆)吧," 美國前總統雷根曾這麼要求。



"I have a dream," proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. 

"我有一個夢想," 馬丁路德金恩曾這麼說。



"Ha!" yelled Alex Rodriguez. 

"哈 ! " A-Rod曾這麼喊著。



The joke's on everyone who wanted to run him out of town. Who's laughing now?

我想請問那些千方百計要把A-Rod趕出紐約的人, 現在究竟是誰比較笑得出來 ?





Related Articles :



[翻譯]Yankee image is now A-Joke

By MIKE LUPICA

Published : June 1, 2007 / New York Daily News



[翻譯]Finding the Sweet Spot in a Hall of Fame Swing

By TYLER KEPNER

Published : April 23, 2007 / New York Times



[翻譯]Sky Might Not Even Be The Limit Anymore

By MIKE VACCARO

Published : April 20, 2007 / New York Post



[翻譯]A-Rod Agonistes

By TOM VERDUCCI

Published : September 2006 /
Sports Illustrated 









留言

發佈留言