Editor's note: The temperature gauge is a Bill James-created statistic that measures how hot or cold hitters are. We will spotlight Red Sox and opposing team temperatures on game days.
If you can overlook the admitted PED use, then Alex Rodriguez is one of the greatest players in the history of baseball, long known for his offensive prowess and ability to hit the longball. But, right now, the Yankees third baseman is struggling with the bat — so much so that his temperature, lowest among New York's hitters, is only marginally higher than Red Sox shortstop Jose Iglesias.
While the Bronx Bombers are undoubtedly counting on Rodriguez to carry them through October, right now the team is more likely to get contributions from Robinson Cano or Nick Swisher. Even part-timer Eric Chavez comes into Tuesday as the Yankees' third-hottest hitter.
On the Red Sox' end, Dustin Pedroia was held out of Monday's lineup after suffering a fractured ring finger. However, even though the games don't mean anything for Boston, the second baseman continues to prove his total dedication to the game by attempting to play the last two games of the season with the injury.
Behind Pedroia, it should really say something about the quality of the Red Sox' lineup that Che-Hsuan Lin comes in as the team's second-hottest hitter. Granted Lin got two hits on Monday night, but the outfielder has a total of 12 at-bats on the season. In fact, the next three hottest hitters on the Sox — Ryan Kalish, Guillermo Quiroz and Mike Aviles — have all played exceedingly sparingly lately.
Check out the Red Sox' and Yankees' temperatures for Tuesday, Oct. 2 below:
Boston Red Sox
Dustin Pedroia 74
Che-Hsuan Lin 74
Ryan Kalish 73
Guillermo Quiroz 72
Mike Aviles 69
Scott Podsednik 69
Daniel Nava 67
Danny Valencia 64
James Loney 64
Jacoby Ellsbury 64
Jarrod Saltalamacchia 63
Pedro Ciriaco 62
Ivan De Jesus 61
Mauro Gomez 61
Cody Ross 55
Ryan Lavarnway 51
Jose Iglesias 48
New York Yankees
Robinson Cano 114
Nick Swisher 90
Eric Chavez 79
Mark Teixeira 78
Ichiro Suzuki 78
Eduardo Nunez 78
Melky Mesa 76
Curtis Granderson 73
Chris Dickerson 73
Francisco Cervelli 73
Chris Stewart 72
Raul Ibanez 72
Andruw Jones 69
Brett Gardner 69
Casey McGehee 68
Derek Jeter 67
Russell Martin 66
Jayson Nix 63
Alex Rodriguez 61
