Alex Rodriguez on Yankees turning corner, Dee Gordon suspension, aging

BOSTON -- Mired in last place in the American League East, it’s easy to identify some of the Yankees’ issues. Lack of timely hitting. Inability to score runs. Starting pitchers who can’t go deep into games and give up too many runs while they are in games.

Rectifying the problems isn’t as easy as identifying them.

“It’s been a little surprising because we really had a really good spring training,” said Alex Rodriguez on Saturday afternoon before the middle game of a three-game set with the Red Sox at Fenway Park.

“We all came out healthy. We all came out feeling good and optimistic. But it’s 21 games or

whatever it is. The truth of the matter is you got to be consistent over six months. It starts with one game at a time.”

The Yankees’ 40-year-old designated hitter is batting just .194/.286/.419 in 17 games. But he thinks he may be turning a corner.

“I think at my age it just takes a little bit of time to get warmed up and get in a groove,” he said. “Overall, I feel like I’m finding my groove more over the last seven or eight days.

“I just think it’s – as weird as it sounds – just getting used to playing everyday. But I feel pretty good. I feel like my cadence is getting better, like I’m more in my groove. I felt very bad the first week or so.”

Rodriguez sat out games on Monday and Tuesday at Texas after tweaking an oblique. He returned and went 3-for-3 with a home run. In his last three games heading into Saturday night’s contest he was 5-for-9 with two doubles, two home runs, two RBI, two runs scored, and a walk, raising his average 62 points, his on-base percentage 53 points and his slugging percentage 174 points.

He knows it – like the season as a whole so far – is a small sample size. But it’s something to build on.

“I tweaked a little something and (manager Joe Girardi) gave me an extra day, which I thought was smart,” Rodriguez said. “So lesson learned that I listen to Joe. That extra day benefited.”

Early Friday morning before the start of the series at Fenway, news broke that the Miami Marlins' Dee Gordon had been suspended for 80 games after testing positive for PEDs. That came just a week after the Toronto Blue Jays was given the same punishment. Rodriguez, who served a season-long suspension in 2014 for PEDs, paused when asked his reaction to the news.

“MLB is doing a great job,” he said. “It’s obviously a sad day. But I wish everyone the very best.”

In his return last season, Girardi planned Rodriguez’s days off. In 151 games, he hit .250 with 33 home runs, 86 RBI and an .842 OPS. Rodriguez figures he will need days off this season, but doesn’t think it will be more than one at a time.

“My job is to be productive in the middle of the lineup and give our lineup a definite right-handed punch,” he said. “But I think Joe has a good idea of how he wants to play me and how he thinks I can be most helpful to help us win.”

Which is something the Yankees have struggled to do so far this season. Speculation has been that the Yankees got too old too fast to compete. Rodriguez is one of a quartet of Yankees who are 35 or older with right fielder Carlos Beltran (39), first baseman Mark Teixeira (36) and left-hander CC Sabathia (35).

“Look, there’s no question, the numbers don’t lie, right? We are an older group,” Rodriguez said. “We also have some great new players. And we have some guys who are in their early 30s. So I think we have good mix.

“I think there’s a definite curse of being a little bit older. One is that it’s a little bit more of a grind when you’re older. But you have, in my case, over 20 years of experience to deal with moments like last night (a 4-2). And you understand the sun comes up the next day.

“We’ve played one-eighth of our season. So I understand perspective better than I did maybe 10 years ago. But the one thing I keep advocating to our club is we can control two things – our attitude and our work ethic. And I think for the most part we’ve been making them both. And if we keep that up, the results will follow.”

On Friday he made a bit of history. His leadoff home run in the second inning was his 3,082 career hit, moving him past Cap Anson for sole possession of 20th place on the all-time list. He and David Ortiz became the first pair of 40-somethings to hit home runs in a game. Ortiz will retire at the end of the season.

“He’s going to be missed, not just in New England but in baseball,” Rodriguez said. “Everyone focuses on his greatness, and I’ve known David since (Class A) Appleton, Wis., and we’ve been friends for over 20 years. But what makes David different is what kind of human being he is and what he does for the community here in the U.S. and what he does in the Dominican Republic, what he does for players. Everyone loves Big Papi. There’s no one like him and he’s our version of Magic Johnson.”

Though Rodriguez briefly flirted with the concept of retirement in spring training, it’s on the shelf for now.

“Look, we’re 8-13, right?,” he said. “I’m hitting under .200, I better be thinking about the next game. I better not be thinking about anything else.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/yankees/2016/04/30/alex-rodriguez-a-rod-new-york-ny-yankees-dee-gordon-david-ortiz-boston-red-sox-cap-anson/32598089/

ith the Yankees. Kim Klement, USA TODAY Sports