Rodriguez Has His October Moment

His Homer Ties It, Teixeira’s Blast Wins It for Yanks : Yankees 4, Twins 3

NEW YORK, Oct. 9 — The debate ended. There is no more for and against, because with one swing and one home run on Friday night, every pinstripe-loving fan aligned on the same side of the argument, which basically means the argument is now over. On Saturday, New York will only have radio silence, dead talk show call-in lines, and abundant appreciation for A-Rod, conqueror of the clutch, master of the big moment.

It’s pointless now, dwelling on that stretch when Alex Rodriguez went hitless in 29 consecutive postseason at-bats with runners on, or noting how between 2005 and 2007 Rodriguez had a .159 October batting average. The new Rodriguez, who looks a lot like the regular season Rodriguez, is the central figure on a Yankees team that battles back, savors the drama, and performs best under pressure.

New York, after Friday night’s delirious 4-3 11-inning victory against the Twins, is now the city of consensus and playoff fever. The Yankees have a 2-0 lead in this division series against the Twins, and they earned with a riveting performance. A two-run homer by Rodriguez in the ninth to tie the game against closer Joe Nathan. A bases-loaded, no-outs escape in the top of the 11th, thanks to stellar relief work from Dave Robertson. And finally, a walk-off homer — a liner down the line — from No. 3 hitter Mark Teixeira in the bottom of the 11th, capping a 44-hour 22-minute game with delirium.

As Teixeira trotted home, Rodriguez, who went 2 for 4 with three RBI, led the charge out of the dugout, waving his hands at home plate.

Game 3 will be played on Sunday.

In the 9,789th plate appearance of his career, Rodriguez struck a blow to a reputation earned over years, hardened by his latest October failures with the Yankees. Fair or unfair, Rodriguez has been identified for much of his career for postseason difficulties, for shriveling in the biggest moments. There are those who’ve always felt such a reputation is unjustified. After what Rodriguez did on Friday, New York may be all the closer to a full embrace.

By the time Rodriguez dug in in the bottom of the ninth, Yankees trailing 3-1, the stage had already been set. Earlier, he’d provided New York’s previous run with a two-out RBI single, briefly evening the game. Here, Nathan had already allowed a leadoff single to Teixeira. When Nathan fell behind Rodriguez 3-0, then 3-1, some 50,006 at Yankee Stadium reached a crescendo, as loud as a crowd can get with anticipation.

Nathan threw a fastball, dead-center.

Rodriguez swung and knew.

He flicked his bat aside. He watched just the first split-second of the ball’s flight — because away it went, hurtling over the right-center field fence, toward the Yankees’ bullpen. Rodriguez lifted his right arm while rounding the bases.

There it was: A two-run, game-tying homer against one of baseball’s best relievers. Just Rodriguez’s second postseason homer since 2004. Perhaps the grandest clutch hit of his career. A curtain call.

The momentum swung toward the Yankees, who hadn’t led all night. Minnesota scored first, briefly fell into a 1-1 tie, and had taken a 3-1 lead in the eighth with a series of two-out hits against Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera.

The statistical symmetry of starters A.J. Burnett and Nick Blackburn — the former went six innings, allowing three hits and a run; the latter went 5 2/3 innings, allowing three hits and a run — belied the incongruity of their styles.

The Twins’ righty, a pitch-to-contact type with the lowest strikeout ratio in the American League, had a lot of quick, easy innings. Flyouts, groundouts, it didn’t matter; nothing traveled far. He might as well have been throwing beach balls. Only with two outs in the fifth did the Yankees get their first hit.

Inning-by-inning, Burnett — who led the American League in walks — couldn’t match the efficiency, but until the sixth he kept the game scoreless. He was ragged, always, and lucky, sometimes. He issues walks in the first and third. He issues a pair of two-out walks in the fifth, stranding the runners. Most notable, he plunked Delmon Young (lower back) and Carlos Gomez (hand) with two outs in the fourth, and only avoided the initial run because of Gomez’s base running error.

With those two aboard — Young on second, Gomez on first — third baseman Matt Tolbert smeared a single to right. Just when Young was chugging home, though, Gomez slipped while rounding second. Right fielder Nick Swisher rifled a throw to second base, where Derek Jeter applied a tag. Perhaps if Gomez had forced a rundown, rather concede the out, Young would have crossed home in time. But he didn’t; he was 10 feet away from the plate when Jeter applied the tag.

In the sixth, the Yankees and Twins traded runs. Minnesota struck first, when Brendan Harris, pinch-hitting for Tolbert (who left with a strained left oblique) launched a two-out triple against the left- field fence, driving in Young, who had walked. New York answered with a two-out RBI single by Rodriguez, the last batter Blackburn faced.