Jeter provides emotional rescue to Yankees

TAMPA, Fla. – On the subject of Alex Rodriguez, did Derek Jeter say:

(a) I believe him

(b) I support him

(c) I still respect him

(d) Bleep A-Rod and his "boli"-injecting cousin, and the horse they rode in on.

The answer, of course, is all but (d).

Whatever Jeter's private thoughts are, whatever doubts he might entertain, whatever he may really think about having to come to Rodriguez's defense when A-Rod is slumping, when he's squiring strippers, when Joe Torre's new book is calling him A-Fraud, when he's admitting to injections of God-knows-what in his butt, Jeter in the last five years has mastered the art of not piling on to his besieged New York Yankees teammate.

It was no different Wednesday at Steinbrenner Field, when the Yankees conducted their first full-squad workout. Rodriguez ran out to mostly cheers shortly after 11 a.m., and after the team had completed stretching exercises and divided into pairs playing catch, A-Rod partnered with Jeter, still the safest harbor in any Yankee storm.

For almost 30 minutes following the workout, Jeter, in his first sit-down with the media since camp opened, answered questions about Rodriguez. There was one inquiry, near the end of the session, about baseball.

Jeter had sat in the front row, arms folded and poker-faced, when Rodriguez apologized to teammates and offered the latest version of how he flunked a steroids test in 2003. Judging by the reviews, A-Rod's tale of a young and naïve and stupid player deciding to undergo three years of injections of a mystery concoction from the Dominican Republic recommended by an unnamed cousin elicited little sympathy and even less belief.

New York Post: "We're With Stupid.''

Daily News: "Now Try Truth Serum"

Newsday: "You Gotta Believe?''

Jeter? "We're here to support him through it,'' he said, after mentioning that Rodriguez was "very, very sorry" for what he'd done, and how difficult it had to have been to 'fess up with the TV cameras rolling.

"I don't condone what he did, we don't condone what he did, Alex doesn't condone what he did,'' Jeter continued. "At this point now we've got to try to help him be as comfortable as he can be on the field, and help him past this.''

There are moments, of course, especially on a cloudless Florida day, when it seems that A-Rod can just flick his bat and put this all behind him. On his second swing of batting practice, on a back field, he launched a ball over the left-field fence.

"Alex, have fun this year,'' a voice called out as Rodriguez fielded ground balls at third base. He raised a fist in acknowledgment.

Out of the crowd, another voice. "Tell them the truth the next time.''

Jeter, asked if he thought Rodriguez was believable, said he accepts A-Rod's latest version of the truth.

"I believe him, I believe him,'' he said. "What was going through my head was not if I believe him or not believe him, but how difficult it was [to go public].''

And how credible was it for someone with seven years of big league experience to plead "young" and "naïve" as the reasons he juiced? Jeter was 22 when he became the Yankees' everyday shortstop and had four World Series rings and was de facto Yankee captain by the time he was 26. That's two years younger than A-Rod was when he tested positive for Primobolan and testosterone.

"I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt,'' Jeter said.

Jeter has had to answer questions in the past for other teammates, too, like Jason Giambi and Andy Pettitte. But L'Affaire A'Rod, he said, ranks as the biggest distraction since he became a Yankee.

It once again casts in stark relief the differing arcs of the career of Rodriguez, who is widely acknowledged to be the superior player but has never won, and Jeter, who enjoys an adoration that A-Rod craves but has never tasted. Rodriguez's latest and greatest fall from grace guarantees that their relationship, already exhaustively dissected, will invite another round of scrutiny.

"I've addressed our relationship before,'' Jeter said. "People are going to have their opinions about what our relationship is, no matter what I do, no matter what he does. They're going to say it's this, they're going to say it's that. I've said it time and time again, we're here to support him through it. It was the same with Andy [Pettitte] and Jason [Giambi].

"I get tired of hearing about our relationship. That's an old story.''

But for the Yankees to win, and for A-Rod to survive, it almost certainly will require more emotional rescue from Jeter, as much as he may detest being placed in that position.