Alex Rodriguez

Back on the field, Alex Rodriguez was able to put aside the steroids scandal, at least for a little while. Booed and taunted early by opposing fans in the New York Yankees' spring training opener at Dunedin, Fla., Rodriguez homered and drew two walks Wednesday in a 6-1 exhibition victory over the Toronto Blue Jays. It was his first game since admitting he took performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to '03 with Texas.

Albert Pujols' tremendous second half has restored his value and his determination to match the $27.5 million a year that the Yankees gave Alex Rodriguez . . . . Don't be surprised if Ryan Braun steals some bases in the playoffs. He has been running well after recovering from an inflamed tendon behind his left knee, becoming the second 30/30 player in Brewers history. . . . The Yankees still are worried about Rodriguez's left thumb. He has been using a split grip on the bat lately, with a layered O-ring of tape between his hands to protect his sprained thumb.

Alex Rodriguez wasn't bothered by the hearty boos he heard in his first game in Texas since admitting this year that he used steroids while playing for the Rangers. Even while insisting there was no extra motivation, Rodriguez had the perfect response: matching a career high with five hits and driving in four runs in the New York Yankees' 11-1 victory over the Rangers on Monday. "There's no panic. I know exactly what I'm capable of doing," Rodriguez said.

The buzz around Yankee Stadium on Tuesday focused on prospects for another World Series championship. The New York Yankees introduced their newest superstar acquisition, infielder Alex Rodriguez, who cooed about joining a star-studded lineup and said, "I still feel like someone's going to pinch me and wake me up." But potential wins and losses aren't the only important numbers in a deal that has been the talk of baseball.

When Alex Rodriguez arrives at Baltimore's Camden Yards today with the New York Yankees, maybe he can explain to us what would possess fellow superstar Manny Ramirez to ingest a substance questionable enough to cost him 50 games and nearly a third of his $25-million salary. A-Rod should know, because he recently admitted to years of steroid abuse while he was making $25 million per season with the Texas Rangers.

One has accounted for half his team's postseason wins. The other is responsible for more than a third of his team's runs. One set the tone in his team's two playoff series with dominating wins in the opening game. The other has hit home runs that erased deficits in three games his team came back to win. On their own, Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia and third baseman Alex Rodriguez can take over a game or a series. So when they're both playing at the top of their game at the same time, you get performances such as Tuesday, when Sabathia shut the Angels' bats down for eight innings while Rodriguez lighted their pitchers up, scoring three runs and driving in two in a 10-1 victory in Game 4 of the American League Championship Series that leaves the Yankees just a win short of the World Series.

CC Sabathia gave up one run in seven innings to earn his AL-leading 16th victory, Alex Rodriguez got his 2,500th hit and drove in four runs, and the New York Yankees beat the Baltimore Orioles, 10-2, Wednesday for a three-game sweep. Eric Hinske homered and Johnny Damon had four hits for the Yankees, who used a seven-run ninth inning to turn a tight game into a rout. New York has won six straight and is 34-11 since the All-Star break. Rodriguez got his milestone hit in the fifth inning, a single off Jason Berken.

Alex Rodriguez belted a game-ending, two-run homer in the 11th inning Saturday to give the New York Yankees a 6-4 victory over the Minnesota Twins. Rodriguez's homer to left against Craig Breslow (1-2) followed a leadoff walk to Mark Teixeira. A jubilant Rodriguez threw his arms up as he rounded first, then discarded his batting helmet as he made it to the plate and was mobbed by teammates.

DETROIT - The New York Yankees survived another day in the postseason Wednesday, thanks to help from Major League Baseball and Mother Nature. MLB decided to delay the start of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series because of a threat of rain, and then postponed it a little more than an hour later because of a forecast of inclement weather. A statement from MLB said the postponement was decided upon "in an effort to preserve the integrity of an uninterrupted full nine-inning game.

He squirmed before his inquisitors. He stared back at them. He would not render judgment upon himself. And so, to the question of whether steroid users were cheaters, this was his answer: "That's not for me to determine." That was not Alex Rodriguez. That was Mark McGwire, testifying before Congress, four years ago. This was Rodriguez, on Tuesday: "That's not for me to decide." As Rodriguez talked a little about his steroid past, there was another McGwire flashback.