TORONTO — Alex Rodriguez knows how this works. Last Saturday, he reached base five times — three hits and two walks — and had Melky Mesa completed a rather pedestrian baseball thing, touching third base, A-Rod would have produced the walk-off winning single in the 14th inning against the A’s.
The next day he struck out looking in the first inning and heard some boos from the home crowd.
This is par for A-Rod’s course. Many Yankees have failed in the clutch this year. But no one is assailed in The Bronx for the malfeasance quite like Rodriguez.
It is mostly about the three Ps — Pay, Polarization and Performance enhancers. A-Rod makes the most money, has the most enemies and is the biggest name to ever admit steroid use. That trio enlarges his bull’s-eye — and not just on the road. He often has to endure a home-field disadvantage. Even in The Bronx, he is the ultimate what-have-you-done-for-me lately athlete.
He has no collateral with the fans. Milk has a longer shelf life than the goodwill Rodriguez engendered for being a hero of the 2009 championship. Familiarity has not bred content. Only 27 men in history have played more games as a Yankee than A-Rod. No matter. He is not homegrown and never has become a comfortable presence. After all of these years, he still feels like a stepson of the Yankees, not a chosen one.
“I can only control what I can control,” he says, not a dismissal as much as an acceptance of reality.
In 2006, for example, he struggled on the field and every stinging critique was crippling, he lacked the tools to keep the negativity out of the batter’s box. Slowly, though, he has gotten better at keeping the animus from infecting his work. Yes, he still consumes more information than most players. Yes, his skin still can be rather thin. But he is able to flush it all quicker now, cordon it away from his brain and game on the field.
Still, he recognizes the deal: There are six games remaining and probably the playoffs, and no Yankee is going to have a mandate on each and every at-bat like Rodriguez. Which, he says, he does not mind.
For Rodriguez has changed his rules of engagement. Unable to reach the 40-homer, 120-RBI stratosphere any longer, Rodriguez has narrowed his quest to meaningful hits. Could he deliver enough in big moments to push the Yankees toward a title? It was his mantra in spring and the song remained the same yesterday.
“We have been playing playoff ball since Sept. 1 and so we have been set up to need big hits,” Rodriguez said. He responded, “Absolutely,” when asked if he were capable of delivering them.
It will be a fascinating subplot to the coda of this season. Since those strong 14 innings last Saturday, Rodriguez has gone 1-for-16. That included an 0-for-2 with a walk and a hit batsmen Thursday night in a 6-0 loss to Toronto. He fouled a ball off his left foot Tuesday, did not play Wednesday, was the DH yesterday and manager Joe Girardi said to expect A-Rod at third tonight.
Nevertheless, Girardi also said the long game Saturday against Oakland might have sapped something from the 37-year-old. When he is not right these days, Rodriguez appears an upper-body swinger, his legs not part of the chain to generate power. The result is a swing that looks long and slow. A swing that has helped sink his season OPS with runners in scoring position to. 690, the worst of the eight Yankees with at least 100 plate appearances in such situations.
Still, Girardi insisted he does not keep Rodriguez hitting third for emeritus reasons or simply to balance a lineup, but because “I’m still confident he’s a guy who can hit third in a major league lineup.” Hitting coach Kevin Long claimed A-Rod “wants to be up in those situations. He is not looking for someone else to do big things. He is up for the challenge.”
Rodriguez concurs. He is willing to let the big at-bats the rest of the way be a mandate and wise enough now to know it doesn’t matter what he thinks, because they will be. This is life as Alex Rodriguez. The spotlight is big, harsh and daily.
He can salvage this season by being a hero the rest of the way or fall further in rebuke. No middle ground. Welcome to his world.
joel.sherman@nypost.com