Mrs. October? A tribute to the 2009 version of A-Rod

You want him to do it. He comes to the plate, and you say, "Come on, A-Rod. Over the fence."

And he does it, effortlessly. In his prettier-than-springtime swing, he sends the ball sailing out of the diamond. Left field, right field, deep, short — a homer's a homer, and Alex Rodriguez is hitting them whenever they're needed.

Rodriguez took the monkeys off his back last week as the Yankees steamrolled the Minnesota Twins behind half a dozen A-Rod RBI.

Tonight, he pulled the Yankees onto his back by keeping them in a game they blew numerous chances to win.

New York had been clipping along fine, with Robbie Cano smashing a triple to score a run, then Mr. Postseason hitting a homer (Derek Jeter, who is not much of a power hitter, smacks round-trippers in the postseason like a kid raiding the cookie jar once his parents have left the house).

But scattershot-throwing A.J. Burnett let the lead slip away. A walk and a wild pitch with hits interspersed vaporized the 2-0 New York edge.

Both teams hung tough and piled men on the bases. Both teams saw unusual errors fall from their usually golden gloves. Both teams also got gutsy pitching and good fielding to keep it all close.

At first base, Mark Teixeira showed he was worth every penny of his $172 million with play after play. Stretching, lunging, scooping — any ball tossed within 10 feet of the bag fell into Tex's mitt.

Johnny Damon made a great catch in left, and Yankees speedsters Freddy Guzman and Brett Gardner were available to spare the old legs.

But New York couldn't break the tie. And then Los Angeles went ahead by a run.

The Yankees have had 51 come-from-behind wins this year (out of 103 total wins) and 15 walkoff shots. Signs in the outfield seats read "WE WANT PIE" as the rain fell harder and Burnett, the team's resident walk-off baker, watched his squandered lead loom larger.

Enter A-Rod.

The cleanup batter was 0-for-4 so far in the game, the first game of this postseason he didn't have an RBI in yet.

But when Alex Rodriguez shows up in October, he really shows up. The 2009 A-Rod changes games, bails his team out, pierces the challengers to the heart.

A-Rod fell behind 0-2 in the count, but looking as calm as he has every other time he's altered a game in the past two weeks, he stepped back into the box for another pitch.

Connection. It's in the air, a line drive at least. It'll drop in right. No wait, it's carrying. It's carrying! It's in Bobby Abreu land (that's a good sign this won't be a catch).

It's gone. How on earth did he do that — again?

Bottom of the 11th, game tied, a few more scoreless frames to follow. (Including one where A-Rod fails to drive in a go-ahead run with the bases loaded; does he only work October magic when tying games?) I don't think there's anyone in New York, or the rest of baseball, doubting A-Rod anymore. Monkeys off the back, team on it.

I'm not ready to anoint him Mr. October — he still runs like a girl. Could this be Mrs. October?

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