A-Rod's Troubles Take Backseat in Yankees Revelry

NEW YORK -- Before he nervously made his debut at the new Yankee Stadium, before he drew four walks in front of a home crowd thrilled to have him back, before the Yankees celebrated their 5-4 win over the Minnesota Twins as if it were a playoff game in October, Alex Rodriguez turned to Derek Jeter and said something.

They were standing in the infield dirt, Jeter at shortstop, Rodriguez at third, both of them waiting for the first pitch on what was clearly not just an average night at the ballpark. Know the saying "Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life"? It is not trite to suggest that is how Rodriguez felt at the moment, as he gestured toward Jeter and Jeter responded and they both pounded their gloves and settled into familiar crouches.

"He probably said, 'Let's have some fun,' " Jeter said later. "I don't really remember after everything else that happened."

There's probably no better place for A-Rod to bury himself than the baseball diamond, especially when it ends like this, with a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth by a player Rodriguez is forever counseling. Melky Cabrera has had his share of on-field troubles, so when he slapped a single to left-center off closer Joe Nathan Friday night to drive in the winning run, the Yankees mobbed Cabrera in the middle of the field and celebrated as if they had just knocked the Red Sox out of the postseason.

"That was awesome," A-Rod said when he could breathe slowly again, his heart no longer racing.

It had been an exhilarating evening filled with so many unusual twists. Subbing for Johnny Damon, who had been ejected in the third inning, Brett Gardner ran the bases as if he were being chased by the ghost of Babe Ruth, legging out an inside-the-park home run and a trip-over-himself triple. The Twins got three home runs the old-fashioned way, two drilled by Justin Morneau on his birthday. Rodriguez drew four walks, got lots of love from the crowd and would have scored the winning run if he hadn't been pulled for a pinch runner.

A-Rod's surgically repaired hip will always be a worry, but for a few seconds he forgot all about it as he and the other Yankees chased Cabrera around the diamond.

"It's exciting, it takes you back to Little League," A-Rod said. "This team is playing with a lot of passion. This team has a lot of good energy. A loss today would've been a big setback after the two big wins in Toronto."



No matter how the season evolves, no matter how many joyous moments the team creates, everything the Yankees represent, all their excess and fine tradition, will be viewed through the prism that is the cultural spectacle known as A-Rod. The team spent $1.5 billion on their fancy new digs, with the implied understanding it was designed with A-Rod in mind. They wouldn't have locked him up for 10 years and $130 million if the Stadium was not intended to be his launching pad, the way the still-standing structure across the street came to be known as the House That Ruth Built.

And so it was that this seemed a little like Opening Day, with the slate wiped clean and the possibilities endless. A-Rod had played six games for the Yankees since returning from hip surgery and an offseason darkened with the admission he had used steroids for three years, and while his week back in the lineup was choppy (3-for-21 at the plate, his timing slightly off in the field), it almost felt as if his return didn't count until he christened the Stadium.

He arrived early, as usual, and got lost in the home clubhouse that stretches into right field. So much had changed since he toured the unfinished Stadium in December. Wall Street titans meant to languish in the $2500 luxury seats behind home plate had joined the unemployed, turning the mostly-vacant section into a symbol of wretched excess; crazy wind drafts had materialized, causing balls that would have been outs in the old place to drop beyond the fences. Even the Bleacher Creatures seemed different, more refined (or neutered) now that they were allowed to purchase beer and mix with the masses.

"Time to write a new chapter," A-Rod kept saying all week, adhering to a public relations strategy that finally makes sense. And fair enough: The guy has been clobbered from all ends, but if he can pick himself up, wipe away the slime and return a better person, there is no reason not to applaud.

Yankee fans sure don't hold a grudge, not when they need the best hitter in baseball to drive them to the postseason. (We'll check back with them in October, when their mood swings tend to shift.) I've never seen so many grown men wearing Rodriguez jerseys on the subway, and as we shuffled into daylight on 161st Street, several vendors reported they were fresh out of A-Rod paraphernalia, including incense holders shaped to look like A-Rod batting.

Rodriguez was showered with affection from the minute he entered Gate 4. Most everyone cheered loudly for him during his first at-bat in the bottom of the second, a walk issued by Francisco Liriano. Even in the best of times, A-Rod has never been as beloved as Jeter or Paulie or Tino. And behold, a few innings later there was the image of Tino Martinez flashing on the massive Jumbotron. If the cheers for him were louder than they were for A-Rod, it's worth remembering how the home crowd used to boo Martinez mercilessly back in the day, when he couldn't be Don Mattingly.

"It was just nice," said A-Rod said later of the all-day reception. "From early on in batting practice to walking around the city, and overall the people have been very gracious."

There was a moment crafted for A-Rod, the perfect opportunity for him to baptize his new home. It was the third inning, bases loaded, one out, the Stadium all a-froth because Damon had just been tossed for arguing balls and strikes. This would be a mighty fine time for Rodriguez to hit his 18th career grand slam. But he fell behind 0-2, swinging at low pitches, and struck out chasing a slider. There were boos, but they were booing the wasted moment, not all the baggage that preceded it.

Leading off the sixth, with Minnesota up, 3-1, A-Rod drew another walk, but he was stranded when Cabrera grounded out to second. This led to a nice freeze-frame of A-Rod stopping to chat with Cabrera. A-Rod pointed to left field and mimicked a swing, teacher counseling student. Cabrera said later A-Rod asked him about the pitch he hit, telling him to stay strong and remain patient.

That was A-Rod's mantra, on a night he could have been forgiven for trying to do too much. "I should have had five walks," he said, always his worst critic. "Walks are as good as a hit. [They] kind of keep the line moving. The more I swing at strikes, the better I'm going to be."

For those scoring at home, it should be noted that Yankee fans are savvy boo birds. When pictures of Donald Trump's coiffed head flashed on the big screen, the fans jeered. When the vision of Trump's seatmate Bill O'Reilly appeared, the fans really jeered. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, sitting in a skybox, was twice loudly cheered, while actress Kate Hudson got razzed when the camera caught her chomping on gum.

Scenes like that you can't get anywhere else. There was no way A-Rod planned to rest on this, his seventh game, even if his hip could have used a night off. Manager Joe Girardi said A-Rod insisted he was healthy enough to be in the lineup, and goodness, how easy it was to forget it all -- the steroid mess, the scandals, the surgery, the pressure to perform -- when Gardner came charging home in the seventh after hitting a ball that hopped away from a discombobulated left-fielder Denard Span.

As Gardner slid head first into the plate to seal the first inside-the-park home run at the new Stadium, the crowd collapsed into delirium and A-Rod joined in, greeting Gardner with a hard pat on his helmet. It was a prelude to the ninth, to the madness after Cabrera's game-winning single scored two runs and won the game and rendered A-Rod practically a footnote. There was Gardner chasing Cabrera and A-Rod chasing Gardner and the most expensive collection of baseball players ever whooping it up like children.

"Just awesome," A-Rod said again.

Just home sweet home.