It’s been a surreal year for Alex Rodriguez. It began with disgrace, as he joined the club of major league players implicated in the never-ending steroids scandal. He was never a fan favorites in New York, and now he had sunk to a new low. His reputation would be forever tarnished.

Yet after watching A-Rod’s postseason performance so far, this may be the best thing that ever happened to him. Last night, A-Rod rose to the occasion again to provide a dramatic home run to save the day for the Yankees in Game 2.

• To be honest, for all his remarkable numbers, A-Rod has never inspired legend quite like a Williams or Ruth, a Bonds or a Mantle. Yet through five postseason games, he now has three home runs that have either tied or put the Yankees ahead. One off Joe Nathan and another off Brian Fuentes, two pretty darn good closers, too. Here’s the reaction from The LoHud Yankees Blog:

• His story of exorcising October demons has almost become old hat. Four times he has been asked the same questions and four times he has continued to repeat what he said in St. Pete. “I know you guys are probably looking for something profound. I’m just in a good place. I’m seeing the ball and I’m hitting it. That’s about it.� Rodriguez now has an RBI in each of the first five postseason games, setting a new Yankee record. Here’s audio from Rodriguez:

• Burnett said he, Phil Hughes, Phil Coke and Joba Chamberlain were in the clubhouse watching the 11th inning unfold. People would never believe the scene they made after Rodriguez hit the tying homer. “We were like little kids,� Burnett said, “jumping around and hugging.�

• In the dugout, Mark Teixeira couldn’t fathom that Rodriguez had done it. Again. “I just kept yelling, ‘He did it again! He did it again!� Teixeira said. “I just couldn’t believe it.�

It’s amazing what a great athlete can do when he just focuses on the job at hand. A-Rod has admitted to being so self-absorbed that he put tremendous pressure on himself. The scandal seems to have forced A-Rod to grow up and develop a more mature approach to the game. If he keeps this up and the Yankees win the World Series, this will be one of the fastest and most dramatic image turnarounds we’ve ever seen in sports.

Mr. April has officially passed Mr. October on baseball’s all-time home run list.

Alex Rodriguez hit home run No. 564 to help the Yankees beat the Mets 9-1 on Friday night, moving past Reggie Jackson into 11th place on the career list.

“The negativity that surrounds the steroids is certainly not something that I carry over to him,” Jackson said. “I do appreciate the fact that he admitted his mistakes, so from here we move forward. Judgment on him will be passed with the next 7 1/2 years of his time with the Yankees.”

Jackson was sixth when he retired in 1987, trailing only Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson and Harmon Killebrew. He’s since been passed by Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and A-Rod.

“You get used to it really,” Jackson said.

Remember when A-Rod was supposed to save us all from Barry Bonds and “legitimize� the home run record again?

Moments like Rodriguez hitting his 564th mean very little now. Maybe Griffey will keep playing until he’s 80 and pass everyone.

In Jason Whitlock’s latest column for FOXSports.com, he writes that author Serena Roberts has credibility issues stemming from a column she wrote about the Duke lacrosse rape case and calls her new book about Alex Rodriguez a “celebrity-gossip book.�

During her interview with Jim Rome, she claimed she went into her investigation of Rodriguez believing he had never used steroids. She said that A-Rod’s interview on 60 Minutes convinced her of his innocence. “I didn’t think he was dirty,” Roberts said. “I thought he was clean.”
This is nearly impossible for me to believe. Roberts is a cynic, at least she is in her column writing. When she worked for The New York Times, she wrote numerous columns about A-Rod with the same theme: Rodriguez is a phony. Read this, this and this and then read this blog for examples of her A-Rod cynicism.

In those columns, does she come off like someone who would take Rodriguez at his word? She comes off like someone who doesn’t believe a word that comes out of A-Rod’s mouth.
What I’m about to write is pure speculation.

Selena Roberts believes America is a safe haven for sexism (I happen to agree, but that’s beside the point). She wanted the Duke lacrosse players to be shining examples of how deep-rooted and protected our sexism is, and she was more than willing to ignore their innocence to make her point (this repulses me).

Selena Roberts believes professional sports — the money, fame and power they primarily give young men — are corrosive of good values and a haven for sexism (I happen to agree, but that’s beside the point). She wants Alex Rodriguez to stand as a shining example of what’s wrong with American sports, and she just might be willing to ignore flattering truths about A-Rod and publish hearsay and gossip to make her point (and this is unfair).

She’s written a celebrity-gossip book, “A-Rod: Game of Innuendo.” Maybe you despise Rodriguez so much that you don’t care about her methods and whether the rest of the alleged mainstream media characterize her work properly.

Whitlock brings up a good point that we must question what an author’s motives are for writing a non-fiction book, especially when the content matter essentially attacks a person’s character as in this case. Is Roberts trying to uncover the truth behind A-Rod’s use of steroids or does she have a personal agenda as Whitlock suggests?

Yankees’ third basemen Alex Rodriguez was able to take a couple of light swings on Sunday for the first time since his hip surgery and is now eyeing an April return to the lineup.

The Yankees believe A-Rod could be back in their lineup in mid-May. When Rodriguez initially elected to have surgery, his return was projected in 6-9 weeks, meaning he could also be back as soon as late April. Long said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Rodriguez returned at the end of April or early May.

Long said he planned to see Rodriguez in Tampa when the Yankees are in St. Petersburg, April13-15, to play the Rays. At that point, A-Rod likely will be doing his rehab workouts at the Yanks’ minor-league complex near Steinbrenner Field, the Daily News reported.

All HGH jokes/allegations aside, A-Rod has always been a fast healer so this news shouldn’t surprise anyone. But the Yankees should still be cautious with his return. You don’t want to rush him onto the field only to have him suffer a setback and have to return to the DL.

Also, the sooner he comes back, the sooner the media frenzy starts again in terms of his performance-enhancing drug use. And allegations will certainly fly about his quick recovery from hip surgery if he does come back as early as April.

Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.com writes that there is no way the Bronx Bombers are better off without A-Rod in the lineup.

The Yankees need him — badly. They can find a stopgap at third base and patch together a lineup while he misses the first part of the season. But if Rodriguez does not return from hip surgery as the A-Rod of old — or something close to it — then the team will be in trouble.

Rodriguez, Jason Giambi, Bobby Abreu — all posted on-base percentages of .370 or better last season while combining for 87 homers and 299 RBIs. Giambi and Abreu left as free agents. Rodriguez is now questionable. Mark Teixeira cannot replace all three.

The offense already had offensive issues; the Yankees finished only seventh in the American League in runs last season. Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui are coming off surgeries. Either Brett Gardner or Melky Cabrera will likely be a below-average producer in center field. And Teixeira, for all his gifts, is a .259 career hitter in April.

The Yankees should be far better at run prevention now that they’ve added CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett to their starting rotation, and the return of a healthy Rodriguez in May would make them reasonably whole.

But no one should assume that Rodriguez will simply return to his normal level of production, not when he will require further surgery at the end of the season.

Anyone who thinks the Yanks will be better without A-Rod is dreaming. Their pitching staff has dramatically improved over last year’s staff, but it’s hard to replace a bat like A-Rod’s (he hit .302 last year with 35 dingers and 103 RBI) with Cody Ransom, even with guys like Teixeira, Posada and Jeter in the lineup.

Maybe the clubhouse will be free of distraction without Rodriguez present, but the current Yankee players will still have to field questions about A-Rod’s absence and his steroid issues no matter what. Granted, those questions should fade after a while, but Rodriguez will return at some point and then the circus will start up again.

The bottom line is that the Yanks need A-Rod’s bat if they want to compete with the Red Sox, Rays and Angels this year in the AL.

2009 hasn’t started real well for A-Rod.

Alex Rodriguez’s troublesome right hip requires immediate surgery, the third baseman’s brother told LasMayores.com, MLB.com’s Spanish-language Web site.

Rodriguez’s brother, Joe Dunand, said that Rodriguez will have the operation performed on Monday in Vail, Colo., by Dr. Marc Philippon. Dunand said it was his understanding that the recovery time for such a surgery is 10 weeks.

The surgery would nix Rodriguez’s hopes of playing for the Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic and possibly cause him to miss part of the regular season if Dunand is correct and Rodriguez has the procedure done.

Hmm, I guess steroids have no bearing on hip health…

Unfazed by the showering of boos he received from Blue Jay fans, Yankees’ third baseman Alex Rodriguez hit a two-run dinger in his first official at-bat of Spring Training as the Bombers beat Toronto 6-1 in the Grapefruit League opener for both clubs.

A-Rod said after the game that he thought the fans “were okay, actually� and then hopped into a SUV with cousin Yuri Sucart.

Sucka-what?

That’s right, he appeared, in public mind you, with the same cousin that he said allegedly purchased and injected him with steroids from 2001 to 2003. Granted, there’s no law against hanging out with members of your family, but wouldn’t you think A-Rod would want to lay low for a while? You know, take it easy, play things conservatively – not hang out with the same cousin that is tightly entrenched in the same steroid scandal you are.

Unlike Roger Clemens, I don’t think A-Rod is a pompous, overbearing jerk. But I do think he’s clueless in a lot of respects and needs to hire someone to hold his hand on a daily basis. He essentially needs someone to keep him from being his own worst enemy, because situations like the one after the game Wednesday proves that A-Rod can’t be trusted to make his own decisions right now.

When Andy Pettitte came forward last year and admitted that he took performance-enhancers, he held a heartfelt press conference, fessed up and then dropped off the face of the earth. Granted, Pettitte can disappear a lot easier than Rodriguez can, but A-Rod needs to take a page out of his teammate’s playbook on life and lay low for a while.

Hopping into an SUV with Yuri Sucart might not be a big deal and the story could be overblown very easily. But it certainly doesn’t help Rodriguez at this moment, does it?

Red Sox slugger David Ortiz admitted to working out at the gym of Angel Presinal’s in the Dominican Republic. Presinal is the trainer who has been banned from private sectors of MLB clubhouses due to his ties to steroids and recently was mentioned as having links to Alex Rodriguez.

“This place where he works out is a facility that’s like five minutes away from my house,� Ortiz said. “It’s like an Olympic place where everyone goes and hits, runs, gets all their work in. It’s like in the middle of everyone’s houses, so we all go down there and work out. He’s a good trainer. He’s the guy that teaches you how to train, how to get your body ready to go. Besides that, I have no idea about any of this.�

Presinal was banned from big league clubhouses in 2001 after border agents in Toronto intercepted a gym bag full of steroids that Presinal signed for. When questioned, he told investigators it belonged to Indians outfielder Juan Gonzalez.

“He got into some trouble before from what I hear, and that’s something he’s got to deal with, especially with what’s going on,� Ortiz said.

I wouldn’t read too much into this. Just because Ortiz is pumping iron and Presinal’s gym during the offseason doesn’t mean he’ll be the latest name mentioned in baseball’s ongoing steroid situation.

Alex Rodriguez’s claim about stopping the use of steroids after 2003 is already being shot full of holes.

According to a report in the New York Daily News, A-Rod has had a long relationship with a man named Angel Presinal, a trainer who has been banned from private areas of every MLB ballpark for being linked to steroids. Apparently Presinal roomed with A-Rod’s now famous cousin, Yuri Sucart, at every hotel Rodriguez went to in 2007. The report also states that Presinal wasn’t around A-Rod in 2008, although Sucart “remained a constant presence.�

In his press conference on Monday, A-Rod claimed that he and Sucart injected each other with steroids in the Dominican Republic from 2001 to 2003. While that might have been the case, the question now becomes: Where did Rodriguez and Sucart get the steroids? And if A-Rod claims he’s been off performance-enhancers since 2003, why would he continue a relationship with Presinal up until 2007? (Assuming the report is true, of course.)

I’m naïve to how athletes go about things when they travel in-season, but I’d have to imagine that not even the best of friends are staying with players at every single hotel like Presinal did in 2007. Again, why did Rodriguez remain close with Presinal after his claimed use of steroids from 2001 to 2003? It’s hard to imagine that a steroid-linked trainer was staying at the same hotel as A-Rod just to fluff his pillows and make sure he had enough clean towels in the bathroom.

- Uncoached.com has some great pictures of the University of Florida cheerleaders, who apparently like to do everything together.

- The Love of Sports compiles the top six Cinderella candidates for the 2009 March Madness tournament.

- SPORTSbyBROOKS.com has the story of A-Rod’s loyal cousin (the one who injected Rodriguez with steroids), who apparently is named Yuri Sucart and is living in Miami.

- Deadspin.com has the unusual story of Giants’ minor league shortstop Brain Bocock, a weird hand injury and lots of Viagra.

- With Leather breaks the news that draft prospects at the 2009 NFL Scouting Combine get goody bags. Awesome.