I lost any remaining respect I had for Alex Rodriguez tonight. The highest paid player in baseball, regularly touted as one of the best athletes in baseball acted like a little child today and cheated.

Late in Game 6 of the ALCS, Rodriguez hit a slow roller down the first base side. Mientkiewicz and Arroyo both converged on the ball leaving no one covering first. So, Arroyo picks up the ball and goes to tag Rodriguez with the ball in his glove. Instead of making a move, trying to slide or duck or whatever, ARod uses his arm and swats at Arroyos arm, knocking the ball and glove off Arroyo.

One problem… that’s against the rules.

Now, that would’ve been a silly mistake, and forgivable in the whole scheme of things. The thing that killed me was that he sat there for 5 minutes arguing with the umpires as if he didn’t do anything wrong. It’s one thing to not help the umps call you out… it’s another to actively lie as if the umps got it wrong. There’s no way he didn’t know that he swatted at the ball because he actually congratulated himself when he knocked the ball out, cheering as he passed first.

That’s just inexcusable, especially for a guy that’s supposed to be a good athlete… make a move, do something, don’t try and cheat your way on base.

The umps eventually got the call right and called him out. His complaining, along with Torre’s, probably contributed to the danger to the players and umps, though, because fans at the park don’t get to see replays… they have to go by the reactions of their guys and their coach. If both are out there arguing vehemently, fans are likely to believe that the umps got it wrong. Clearly, when you look at the replays, the umps got it right.

Guess it doesn’t matter anymore, as the Red Sox took game 6 to force another game 7 showdown in the Bronx. A week ago, baseball was fading from my mind. Man, how much can change when the postseason starts and the games get serious. I still think the odds are against the Red Sox, but I like how loose they are and how much fun they’re starting to have. This is a great team.

And Schilling is my freaking hero.