ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — In the middle of Alex Rodriguez’s 2007 AL MVP season, Jason Giambi watched Rodriguez dominate pitchers nightly.
“Alex is playing like the biggest kid in Little League,’’ Giambi said of a season in which Rodriguez batted .314 with 54 homers and 156 RBIs.
Two years later, Giambi no longer was a Yankee, but Rodriguez again morphed into the biggest kid in Little League during the 2009 postseason, when he carried the Yankees to their 27th World Series title by hitting .365 (19-for-52) with six homers and 18 RBIs in 15 October games.
The developments since that magical ride — a second hip surgery that limited him to 44 games in 2013 and a year’s suspension for being involved in the Biogenesis mess — cast serious doubts that Rodriguez even could be part of a big league roster when spring training opened in February.
Ten games into the season, Rodriguez is again the biggest kid in Little League. And a player without whom the Yankees would be far worse than 5-6.
The Rodriguez of the 2009 World Series is back after hitting two homers, one that traveled 471 feet, and driving in four runs in Friday night’s 5-4 win over the Rays at Tropicana Field.
Rodriguez — who went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts, two walks and two runs Saturday in the Yankes’ 9-0 blowout win over the Rays — is the Triple Crown leader in the Yankees lineup, hitting .314 (11-for-35) with four homers, 11 RBIs and .429 on-base percentage. In the previous two games before Saturday, Rodriguez had three homers and was 5-for-7 with five RBIs.
“He looks real comfortable during the at-bats and his takes on balls are very good,’’ said an NL scout who watched Rodriguez on Friday night. “He is not trying to force things. He is being patient and getting pitches he can handle. The 3-2 breaking ball he hit with [Brett] Gardner on second in the eighth stayed on the plate and [Kevin Jepsen] paid for it. Alex stayed inside of the ball very well.’’
Friday’s first homer, which landed in a party deck well beyond the center-field fence in the second inning, enabled Rodriguez to touch home plate for the 1,924th time in the big leagues and moved him past Derek Jeter for ninth place on the all-time list.
The second blast, which Rodriguez tucked inside the left-field foul pole, hiked his career home run total to 658 and pushed him closer to a possible confrontation with the Yankees’ front office over a $6 million bonus.
There are milestone payments in Rodriguez’s contract for historic homers. Tying Willie Mays for fourth place on the all-time list at 660 is one of them. But the Yankees believe the milestone payments to be marketing deals, and because they believe Rodriguez is unmarketable after the Biogenesis scandal, they might try and withhold the check.
“I try not to think about that,” Rodriguez said. “I am trying to help the team win.”
So, how long can a 39-year-old player with two surgically repaired hips who had played 44 games in the past two years be expected to carry the Yankees? Who knows, because some people never believed his aging body would make it through spring training.
“I didn’t know what to expect of my body, it been 18 months,’’ said Rodriguez, who definitely has benefited from not having to play third base every night.
“I don’t know how much better he can swing the bat than he is,’’ said manager Joe Girardi, who will guard against overusing Rodriguez for fear of injury or tailing production. “He looks back to me.’’
