MINNEAPOLIS — Alex Rodriguez trying to blend into the scenery is akin to Rihanna attempting to go unnoticed in a room full of spinsters.
From May 8, Rodriguez preached his season was more about team than him. It worked for almost five months in which he played well enough to be considered the AL East champion’s MVP.
Rodriguez makes the most money in baseball, is arguably the best player in the game and draws gobs of attention on and off the field.
Now, because of a hot bat and perhaps the biggest homer of his career, Rodriguez can’t hang in the weeds, is no longer just another big bat in a muscular lineup.
After admitting to steroid use, undergoing hip surgery and putting baseball ahead of other things in his high-profile life, Rodriguez is again The Man and has the Yankees in a 2-0 lead over the Twins going into tonight’s Game 3 of the best-of-five ALDS series at the Metrodome.
Ironically, it’s early postseason success that has raised expectations around the Yankees’ cleanup hitter and third baseman who has been vilified by Yankees fans for past October failures.
“It doesn’t matter,” Rodriguez said of more being expected from him after a two-run ninth-inning homer tied the score, 3-3, in Game 2 on Friday night at Yankee Stadium that turned into a 4-3 Yankees victory thanks to Mark Teixeira’s 11th-inning homer. “I want to be in the mix somehow and get good at-bats, keep doing what I am doing and not worry about results.”
The Yankees would love for Rodriguez to keep doing what he has been doing. In two games he is 4-for-8 with five RBIs. After starting Game 1 hitless in 18 postseason at-bats with runners in scoring position and adding a fly out to that in the opening inning, Rodriguez is 3-for-3 in the clutch and the biggest reason the Yankees are on the verge of a sweep against former Yankees check collector Carl Pavano.
With the Yankees starting Andy Pettitte, tonight’s marquee should read “Class vs. Jackass.”
The Yankees are 9-0 against the Twins this year and are on the verge of eliminating them from the postseason for the third time since 2003.
The last time the Yankees were one game away from sweeping an opponent out of the postseason was the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS. Is there anybody remotely associated with the Yankees who doesn’t know how that turned out?
“I don’t think, especially during the playoffs, you can mentally take a break,” said Joe Girardi, a Yankees broadcaster in 2004. “It doesn’t take much for a team to get a little crack, their foot in the door and to feel good.”
It’s hard for the Twins to feel good when facing the Yankees. They had a two-run lead with closer Joe Nathan on the mound and needing three outs to tie the series, 1-1, and got beat.
And though manager Ron Gardenhire praised Pavano for helping the Twins get by the Tigers, Pavano has shown signs of fatigue lately. Between Cleveland and the Twins, he logged 1991⁄3 innings. That’s the most since he worked 2211⁄3 frames for the 2004 Marlins in a free-agent walk year. Heck, that’s 532⁄3 innings more than he gave the Yankees in four seasons. In the final three starts, Pavano went 2-1 but had an 8.27 ERA.
A weary pitcher who relies on command and change of speed against a lineup with biceps as thick as dock rope and a hot Alex Rodriguez in the middle: That’s not a matchup that is in the Twins’ favor.
george.king@nypost.com