A-Rod Back With Usual Dramatic Flair

BALTIMORE -- This wasn't quite Ted Williams homering in his final at-bat, nor Kirk Gibson, nor Bill Mazeroski.

But for Alex Rodriguez to turn on Jeremy Guthrie's 97 mph fastball and homer on the first pitch he saw Friday after coming off the disabled list (but not the bestseller list) -- well, that was pretty impressive.

"Amazing," Yankees teammate Nick Swisher said. "Perfect. Storybook. Awesome. I'd probably say awesome.

"Who'd have thought that would happen?"

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And while reality intervened in A-Rod's next three at-bats -- two strikeouts and a groundout -- the Yankees got a much-needed win and Rodriguez got a good start on his vow to be about only baseball from now on.

"It was a dream, man," Rodriguez said of career home run No. 554.

A group of fans behind home plate had just begun to wave their foam-rubber syringes when Rodriguez slammed Guthrie's fastball on the inside part of the plate over the left-field fence to give the Yankees a 3-0 lead over the Orioles.

"He's the best player in the game, so you kind of expect it out of him," said CC Sabathia, who took over from there with a four-hit shutout. "It's unbelievable. But it's not surprising."

Rodriguez said of the final two months of last season, as his hip got worse and worse, "I was helpless on that pitch. ... Anything above 92 [mph], I just felt like I didn't have a prayer."

But the home run answered some questions about A-Rod's health and gave the Yankees a jolt.

"It was something our team desperately needed and something greatly welcomed," hitting coach Kevin Long said.

"It's just a different aura about us today. We knew we had one of our main guys back."

It would have been a storybook moment – star returns from DL, homers on first pitch, gives team boost – but Alex Rodriguez doesn't write books, he has ones written about him.

Still, it has come to this for the Yankees: They need A-Rod, baseball's walking headline (and just recently demoted to No. 2 punchline), more than ever.

"When we're on the field, it's not a distraction," manager Joe Girardi said. "You might have to answer a couple of questions today. This will all die down because there are other stories in the game that people will go to."

But those people keep coming back to A-Rod, and only because he creates the stories.

Yet the seemingly constant controversy that Rodriguez carries around with him like a colostomy bag is worth it, for the Yankees, if he can keep hitting those homers.

"We definitely need some kind of lift," left fielder Johnny Damon said.

"We've been a losing a lot of close games lately. Getting him back probably could help us scare a couple more runs and actually win these close games."

"It's just a different aura about us today."
--Kevin Long, Yankees hitting coach The Yankees' top two catchers, Jorge Posada and Jose Molina, are on the disabled list. The bullpen is in tatters, with even formerly impenetrable closer Mariano Rivera showing signs of age as he recovers from shoulder surgery. First baseman Mark Teixeira is hitting .192.

But they're now 1-0 with Rodriguez on board. He was out of sight (never really out of mind) for two months, but those who thought the Yankees would be better off without his shenanigans were proven wrong.

Friday's win enabled the Yankees to end a five-game losing streak, their longest in nearly two years. The Yankees came to Baltimore after being swept in consecutive series (two or more games) on the same homestand for the first time since October 1972.

So, yeah, they welcomed A-Rod with open arms. Or at least with an open No. 4 spot in the lineup.

"I think our whole thing is just trying to win ballgames," Damon said, "with him or without him. Our chances with him are definitely better."

And A-Rod could use Friday's homer as a springboard.

"Knowing Alex," Long said, "and knowing how he can be, of course any success he has early is going to help him out tremendously."

A-Rod admitted to still being a step slow at third base; he missed a diving attempt at Adam Jones' first-inning grounder that went for a single. And no one knows how he will recover each day from the night before. But he feels so good that an originally planned second surgery may not be needed after the season.

"I feel fixed," he said. "I feel mended."

Rodriguez was clearly happy to be back in his only comfort zone, a baseball stadium. Before the game began, he was bouncing through the clubhouse with a smile and joking with bench coach Tony Pena.

"I feel like I'm back with my family now, where I belong," A-Rod said. "I'm right where I want to be. Baseball is what I do.

"I know that when I'm hungry and I'm motivated, I know what I can do. And I'm excited to play baseball."

At 4:10 PM, he went on the field for some of his usual personal pre-game workout, tossing a medicine ball and then a baseball with video coordinator Charlie Wonsowicz. After 10 minutes he went to the indoor hitting cage off the Orioles dugout for 25 minutes of swings.

He was his usual self as far as dealing with the media; pursing his lips and staring into the distance as he sought a pithy answer for each question:

"I think that time off was nice, I was able to rethink a lot of things, refocus on baseball and I'm very excited about the potential of our team this year."

Or ...

"I'm 100 percent more focused and motivated."

Or ...

"Look, I've made a lot of mistakes in my career. They've been well documented. I think I've paid my price, but I'm really excited about the present and the future, and those are the only things I can control from here on out."

When asked if he used steroids in high school and as a Yankee – as in the book "A-Rod" – Rodriguez said he would not discuss the book. When pressed, he said, "The answer's no."

Later, after the game, A-Rod said, "The less talking I do, the better."

Famous last words.