truebluefan

You wonder if this is a beginning. You wonder if a game-winning home run, a giddy trip around the bases, a group hug at home plate and genuine cheers from the most hostile of fans will be what ultimately brings Alex Rodriguez out of his funk.

Maybe it will. But even if it doesn't, this much is sure: For one day, one afternoon before a sellout crowd at the Stadium, A-Rod managed to make that coveted transformation from punching bag to hero.

His two-run blast in the 12th inning off the Braves' Jorge Sosa turned a likely one-run loss into a 4-3 victory, sending the Yanks into their off day hopeful - confident even? - that their star third baseman may finally be breaking out.

"Every time he goes to the plate," Joe Torre said, "I expect him to do something big. And he did."

As Rodriguez's manager, Torre's faith is understandable. It has not, however, been shared by many observers, particularly those spectators who have taken to roundly booing Rodriguez each time he makes an out.

A-Rod admitted Tuesday that the constant jeering may be affecting him "a little bit," and Torre has said several times that it's impossible for a player to completely ignore it. The only way to turn around the catcalls, the manager said, was with a bat.

"Hopefully (the booing is) behind me," Rodriguez said. "I needed that and the team needed that."

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