MLB

A-Rod situation making matters worse for Yankees

SAN DIEGO — The Bronx Zoo is a mess in every way. And it is only going to get worse.

Alex Rodriguez rides into U.S. Cellular Field tonight and will be greeted by a team awash in woe.

Ready or not, get ready for the distractions, Yankees.

The strangeness of the day and the tenseness of the situation became apparent yesterday as the Yankees cleared out of the visiting clubhouse at Petco Park after their dreadful, 6-3 loss to the Padres, a game where Phil Hughes’ Yankees’ career went over the cliffs of La Jolla.

Mariano Rivera, one of the classiest players in the game, was asked about the coming of A-Rod and if Rodriguez would help the team, if healthy: “Well, I mean, yeah with all these distractions, without that definitely, so again, we have to see what happens tomorrow. I don’t have to say nothing more. I don’t want to get involved in any of that stuff. You ask me about me I’ll answer any questions. I’m not going [to talk] about anything else.’’

With that he was out the door. Yes, the A-Rod circus is just getting started.

In the other corner of the clubhouse, a frustrated Derek Jeter had just finished talking about his latest injury, a Grade 1 strain to his right calf that will most certainly land him back on the DL. Jeter, who has played all of five games, said, “It’s been terrible. It’s been like a nightmare. The whole season has been a nightmare.’’

The nightmare is just beginning. Welcome back to the Show, A-Rod.

A-Rod, if he is not banished, will be back in the lineup tonight and Jeter will be out. Baseball Irony 101.

“I would say we need him a lot,’’ Robinson Cano said of A-Rod. “We don’t have Jeter now.’’

Yes, these are desperate Yankees, looking for any port in the storm.

This was a day that featured Joe Girardi mentioning injury setbacks besides giving his standard updates from the front on A-Rod. Girardi said he will “pencil’’ A-Rod into tonight’s lineup.

Michael Pineda has suffered yet another setback with his shoulder, so Hughes’ performance wasn’t the only pitching bad news of the day. Jeter’s replacement Eduardo Nunez had a nightmare second inning. He neglected to leave the batter’s box on a ground ball to first that became an inning-ending double play, then Nunez was slow to cover third base on a buntwheel play in the bottom of the inning.

Graig Nettles, the Yankees third baseman long before A-Rod, once famously said: “When I was a little boy I wanted to be a baseball player and join the circus. With the Yankees I have accomplished both.’’

The circus officially comes to Chicago today with Rodriguez, his looming suspension because of the Biogenesis scandal that will carry through next season and his expected appeal which would allow him to play.

A-Rod should change his nickname to Due Process. He loves attentionand is the Yankees’ Snooki. Girardi said he cannot relate anything in his life to the daily reality show that surrounds the A-Rod situation.

“I’ve never been part of something like this,’’ Girardi admitted. “I think you just go day by day and see what happens.’’

The manager added, “All of us are curious to see what is going to happen and if Alex going to be a player for us. In my mind I have him penciled in there … I joked with him [Saturday] that he didn’t get any pitches to hit,’’ Girardi said of his texting with A-Rod. “He laughed in the text.’’

LOL. Only A-Rod.

A-Rod’s baseball world appears to be coming to an end, but Rodriguez is still laughing all the way to the bank, provided he keeps the money. After three games against the White Sox, the Yankees have an off day Thursday before welcoming the Tigers to Yankee Stadium.

It was the Tigers who swept the Yankees last October. A-Rod hit .111 that series.

That was no LOL matter.