MINNEAPOLIS — As Carl Pavano smacked down the Yankees on Sunday night as though they were doctors urging him to play through his discomfort, you couldn’t help but summon all of the crazy, unexpected brands of misfortune that have befallen the Steinbrenners’ club the past five years.

The Lake Erie midges in 2007. Kenny Rogers’ revenge in 2006. The great Bubba Crosby-Gary Sheffield collision of 2005. Oct. 17-20, 2004.
But this year’s Yankees appear immune to Mother Nature, and bad luck, and score-settling, and meltdowns. They appear to have found a solution for the annoying, small-sample size of October baseball, just in time to take on their nemeses out in Anaheim.
Call him A-Game A-Rod.
The Yankees are back in the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2004, Alex Rodriguez’s first season in pinstripes, and their third baseman is a huge reason why.
His seventh-inning solo homer against Pavano, the last ever big-league blast over the Metrodome’s “Baggie” in rightfield, tied AL Division Series Game 3, and the Yankees’ eventual 4-1 victory gave them a sweep of this series, three games to none, and moves the Twins outdoors to Target Field for 2010.
No, A-Rod isn’t helping the statistically minded folks who have defended him ardently since his playoff underperformance began on 10/18/04. The whole notion was that many people were to blame for the Yankees’ five-year funk that kicked off with the collapse to the Red Sox, and that Rodriguez, even with his huge reputation and salary, was shouldering too much of the blame.
But who deserves the most credit right now? A-Rod, of course, who went 5-for-12 (.417) for the series, with a walk, two homers and six RBIs. In his previous 16 postseason games, dating to Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS against the Red Sox, he had a .314 on-base percentage, .214 slugging percentage and exactly one RBI.
His homer on Sunday night was enough to set off even the “Minnesota nice” fans here, who chanted, “STEROIDS!” after A-Rod tied the game.
To think, he began his 2009 spring training by discussing his use of illegal performance-enhancing drugs. He began his regular season on the disabled list, rehabilitating from significant hip surgery.
And he began his postseason by being the monster his critics always wanted him to be.
Now, of course, just as he didn’t deserve all of the blame, don’t give him all of the credit. Winning pitcher Andy Pettitte threw extremely well, ultimately topping his former teammate Pavano, and catcher Jorge Posada showed off his value at a time when his defensive prowess has been questioned once more. The Yankees’ Game 1 and Game 2 starting pitchers, CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett, lived up to their salaries, as did their fellow pinstripe freshman Mark Teixeira.
But it’s A-Rod who wiped out deficits in Games 2 and 3. Who leaves mouths agape with the force with which balls travel off his bat.
And you can’t help but wonder how the last five years would’ve been different had we seen more of this A-Rod. How his world and that of the Yankees would’ve been different.
Unfair? Entirely. But, you know, that’s the world in which we live. So many of the Yankees’ past fortunes could’ve turned on one more hit. And A-Rod served as the most likely guy to deliver that hit.
Two more rounds to go, and remember, five years ago at this time, A-Rod had experienced nothing but postseason success as a Yankee. So time remains for him to revert to a goat.
Don’t see it happening, though. A-Game A-Rod looks like he’s not here to talk about the past. He looks ready to make up for any otherworldly forces that might threaten this club.
“The Angels are in the Yankees’ heads” versus “A-Rod is playing out of his mind”? I like the Yankees in that contest.