Listen to New Yorkers and they'll give you 252 million reasons to either hate or love Alex Rodriguez. But in a way, the embattled Yankees third baseman, who has been criticized as being aloof and disingenuous and not particularly good in the clutch, has been his own worst enemy.

"Understand that clearly this is a very bright man," Huntington-based sports psychologist Dr. Richard Lustberg said. "This is a man that is a very sensitive fellow. He's announced that he sees not only a sports psychologist but he sees an analyst. He seems to be a type of fellow who is somewhat obsessive, somewhat of a perfectionist, who is exceptionally hard on himself, who over-thinks, who tries to do too much."

New York has been so hard on Rodriguez this season that observers ranging from former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani to Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson to Mets veteran Julio Franco have spoken out in his defense.

"I don't know any other player who would be able to handle what he's had to cope with right now," ESPN commentator Steve Phillips said. "I don't care how mentally tough or how strong you are."

It was Phillips, then the Mets' general manager, who said in late 2000 that Rodriguez had demanded billboards, an office suite, a PR staff, a chartered jet and a merchandising tent in order to sign with them as a free agent. Rodriguez wound up signing a 10-year, $252-million contract with the Rangers. Phillips, who recently urged the Yankees to trade A-Rod, now says he feels badly that Rodriguez was tagged with the "24-plus-1" label because of his remark.

"I think it would be an interesting case study for a sociologist to try to figure out why a guy who is arguably the best player in the game gets booed," he said. "My view is ... he will go down in history as the best player to ever play the game and yet he can't find anybody that will cheer for him."

Said Franco, "You need to be in his shoes to understand ... He deserves a break. He deserves better. That's my opinion."

Phillips believes A-Rod's recent throwing problems stem from the constant booing and a mounting fear of making more mistakes. "He's somewhat afraid to make mistakes because he knows the boos come after that," he said. "That's where we see the reaction that he's now over-thinking and over-trying and trying not to make mistakes to try to avoid the boos."

Rodriguez, who turned 31 yesterday, was last season's American League MVP but went 2-for-15 against the Angels in the Division Series. This year he's hitting .280 with 22 homers and 73 RBIs, but his performance in the clutch has been uneven at best.

For the record, A-Rod is hitting .293 with runners in scoring position this season. He's hitting .300 with runners in scoring position and two outs. With the bases loaded, he's batting .455 with two homers. In 31 postseason games, he has hit .305 with six home runs and 16 RBIs. Most recently, he hit a long home run to centerfield in the eighth inning of the Yankees' 8-7 victory over Texas Wednesday night.

On the other hand, in the late innings of close games, he's hitting .220 (9-for-41) with an on-base percentage of .289 and a slugging percentage of .439, all subpar figures.

He has 18 errors in less than two-thirds of a season, six more errors than he made last year. The only time he committed more errors was 1997, when he made 24 while playing shortstop for Seattle. This year's problem seems to stem from throwing sidearm, which he seemed to correct in the Texas series.

Rodriguez has received help from a mental performance coach named Jim Fannin before every game since 1996. Fannin describes himself as America's ZoneCoach, and his clients include Mets star Carlos Delgado.

Last year, Rodriguez wrote the forward to Fannin's self-help book, "S.C.O.R.E. for Life," which claims to provide "The Secret Formula for Thinking Like a Champion." S.C.O.R.E. stands for self-discipline, concentration, optimism, relaxation and enjoyment.

"Jim has either left me a phone message or spoken to me in person or on the phone for every game of my career," Rodriguez wrote. "Every game. His attitude has never wavered. I've never heard him talk in a negative way. Ever. He has been an all-night supermarket of encouragement with his 24/7 accessibility."

In the book, Fannin describes the "Zone" as the moment when one achieves complete detachment from the possibility of failure, a "fight or flight response to stress or trauma." Fannin did not return calls seeking comment.

"I bounce back quickly after small failures and don't get cocky when I'm awesome," Rodriguez wrote.

His detractors might disagree.

Said Lustberg, "If we scrutinized the president of the United States or our politicians in the manner in which we scrutinize A-Rod, maybe we would be in better shape. Another man would cave under this. Cave."