BRADENTON, Fla. — The bond of winning a championship together has created a tighter bond between Alex Rodriguez and Derek Jeter.
They drove here together yesterday from Tampa for the Yankees’ split-squad 6-0 win over the Pirates. And they left together. Before the game they played catch and long toss together, ran together in the outfield and even walked into the clubhouse together along the right-field line at 12:01 after they were done with their early work while a group of Yankees were still taking batting practice.
“They’ve definitely grown closer,” one Yankee official told me.
They are laughing and joking together more, and during Sunday’s workout in Tampa they spent a lot of time talking in short leftfield on a back field. They are enjoying being teammates.
That is a good thing for the Yankees. Neither player wants to make a big deal of their friendship, but it’s obvious Rodriguez and Jeter are two superstars who have finally aligned.
The most interesting part about all this is that A-Rod is having a lot more fun on the field. Instead of it being about him, it is about team and being “one of the guys.” It has lightened his load. You could say that he gets it now as a teammate.
Sure, there always will be controversy surrounding A-Rod as witnessed by the continuing Dr. Anthony Galea saga, but he does not seem concerned by that situation, and by drawing himself closer to Jeter, who never is touched by controversy, Rodriguez is ahead in the game.
But this isn’t just about Jeter and A-Rod showing the world they are together in their pursuit of Yankees World Championship No. 28, it’s also important for other Yankees to see it to show that the team is together.
As one Yankee told me, “It’s important for teammates to realize that Derek and Alex are in this together.”
That’s the big message here. Not that one Yankee star is bigger than another Yankee star.
“We’re working hard, trying to do what we do,” Rodriguez said. He later added that winning a championship was the most rewarding thing in his career and he immediately pointed to Jeter to show what the Yankees are trying to accomplish again this year.
“Jeter always talks about it, you win one championship, you taste it and now you want to win again and again,” Rodriguez said after his first-inning single knocked in Jeter and Curtis Granderson. Jeter had led off the game with a single.
Said Jeter, “Once you experience what winning is like, it’s something you always want to experience.”
Jeter, like A-Rod, does not want to get into their friendship. He only would say, “Everything is good.”
That’s Jeter. That’s who he is. He keeps everything simple and, beyond his talent, that’s what makes him so successful. He never wants to make a big deal out of anything, and by treating Rodriguez as one of the guys, it sends a message that whether it’s A-Rod, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte or the 25th Yankee, they are all the same because they are teammates who have won a championship and are trying to win another. That is his bottom line.
“Winning a championship is fun for everybody,” Jeter said. “We’re all trying to win. I had a great time last year with all the guys.”
Jeter has accepted A-Rod as one of the guys, and A-Rod has taken a page from Jeter’s handbook of success, constantly saying how he wants to keep things simple.
He repeated it again yesterday as he was talking about his swing and his approach to the game.
“I’m not trying to do too much,” Rodriguez explained. “I’m thinking small. When you think small you get big results. I’m trying to keep things simple, just play baseball. It’s a lot more enjoyable.”
Give A-Rod credit for making that major adjustment. No matter the talent, the superstars really do have to align for a team to have ultimate success.