Alex Rodriguez after an inside pitch last week. Last year at this time, he was on a home-run spree. On Wednesday, his birthday, he remained on the bench.
HOUSTON — When Alex Rodriguez turned 40 last summer, it was quite the celebration. His daughters were with him in Arlington, Tex., his teammates celebrated afterward with a party, and Rodriguez made his own mark by hitting a home run in a Yankees victory.
The day, more broadly, also seemed to stamp Rodriguez’s return from pariah status after his yearlong drug suspension, marking him as a still vital player for the Yankees and a repentant one at that.
Rodriguez celebrated his 41st birthday Wednesday from a markedly different position — the bench.
It, too, represents Rodriguez’s standing at the moment — as a fading, ancillary piece in the Yankees’ recent surge, which has kept their playoff hopes percolating with eight wins in their last 10 games.
“Last year was magical,” said Rodriguez, who has not played since Friday. “Every year is different. Every year has different challenges.”
It was hard to know at the time, but Rodriguez’s last birthday might have been a final peek at him at the height of his powers. In the week before his birthday, he had hit four tape-measure home runs — 453, 480, 428 and 424 feet — and the one on his birthday was his 24th of the season.
In the year since, he has batted .206 with 18 home runs.
At the beginning of the month, Rodriguez was relegated to playing only against left-handed pitchers, and on Monday the opportunity to start at designated hitter against the Houston left-hander Dallas Keuchel was taken away because Manager Joe Girardi wanted to rest right fielder Carlos Beltran’s legs while still keeping his hot bat in the lineup.
Since the All-Star break, Rodriguez is 2 for 23 in sporadic playing time. He hit a home run last week at Yankee Stadium, the difference in the Yankees’ 2-1 win over Baltimore. But his only other hit since the break was a dribbler he beat out to break up the perfect game Boston’s Steven Wright had been working on in the fifth inning.
Girardi also chose not to use Rodriguez as a pinch-hitter for the struggling Aaron Hicks in an extra-inning loss to San Francisco on Saturday.
“Part of the reason that he’s not D.H.-ing more is he hasn’t hit like he did last year, and the other thing is I need to D.H. Carlos,” Girardi said.
Curiously, Rodriguez asked Girardi for the opportunity to work at first base, thinking that it could lead to an opportunity to play. Rodriguez said he had taken grounders at first base during the All-Star break and had done so a handful of times since but had not worked out at the position in close to a week.
Girardi said he was unsure why Rodriguez had stopped the effort but made it clear the decision had been Rodriguez’s.
“He can take ground balls at first, and we’ll continue to look at it,” Girardi said. “He knows that the opportunity is there.”
The prospects for regular at-bats do not look promising. The Yankees head to Tampa Bay next, and its unforgiving artificial turf may leave Girardi hesitant to start Beltran — who plays with a brace on his knee — in the field all three games, even though left-handers are expected to start for the Rays on Saturday and Sunday. The Yankees then play the Mets on Monday and Tuesday at Citi Field, where the designated hitter is not in use.
Through it all, Rodriguez has maintained an outwardly positive attitude, saying he is working hard on his swing to ensure that when his next opportunity arrives he will be prepared to take advantage of it. He also has appeared to be an encouraging teammate, typically one of the first Yankees to congratulate a teammate on his way back to the dugout after a successful at-bat.
“He’s been very professional through the whole ordeal,” said left fielder Brett Gardner, the longest-tenured Yankee besides Rodriguez. “Ever since he’s been back the last couple years, he’s really been a great teammate, not just to me — I’m somebody that’s known him and played with him for eight or nine years now — but even to new guys and young guys, always willing to help guys out with their approach. I think that says a lot about somebody.”
Gardner surmised that Rodriguez — after all he had been through in his career, the good, the bad and the unseemly — was especially thankful to still be able to play a game he remains passionate about.
“He loves talking about hitting; he loves talking about the game,” Gardner said. “When you have somebody that’s had as much success as he’s had around you on a daily basis, you almost can’t help but pick their brain a little and find ways to get better. He’s been great in that regard.”
Rodriguez indeed said he was grateful for many things: his health, his family, his friends and “the opportunity to wear the pinstripes” among them. As he arrived in the clubhouse Wednesday, he received birthday wishes and fist bumps from a parade of teammates. But there would be no party afterward. He said it was because the team was flying to Tampa.
When he was reminded that the ’86 Mets had done plenty of partying on planes, he laughed.
“That was my team,” he said.
But there was only so much room for nostalgia. When he was asked if he thought Girardi might have given him a start out of sentimentality, he shook his head.
“That’s cute,” Rodriguez said. “We’re about winning games. The team’s playing well. I never thought about that.”
