A-Rod Mocks Ball-Horder, Lofton Backs Off Joe

-In the aftermath of Game 1 of the Yankees' pivotal stretch starting last night, Alexander was particularly jovial during his post-game recital. John Harper referred to it as his "lighter side" within this piece, detailing A-Rod's joke about having finally reclaimed his historic home run ball....but wait guys, just kidding, he's only got #501, and according to A-Rod the price was ChapStick and a glass of water. That barb was directed towards Rutgers grad student Walter "Money-Hungry Sonny" Kowalczyk who continues to Gollum-ize the 500th ball. Quite the pleasant day for A-Rod in terms of his media quotes, as he and Joe also validated Chipper Jones' statements from Thursday, with A-Rod handling Chipper with ultimate kid gloves.

Undoubtedly, a season of consistent performance, combined with the lengthy road trip keeping him away from his F-bomb-throwing wife and in the arms of countless enthusiastic Yankees "fans" in strip clubs in Toronto and Cleveland have improved Alex's mental outlook.

Either way, though, A-Rod doesn't seem to be too bent out of shape over the continuing stalwart that is BallGate. He's cracking jokes and putting his faith in a PR flak to get his ball back, showing me that it's not exactly any sort of priority. With that kind of approach, I'd imagine Walter Kowalczyk will be simply slowly tortured into turning over the ball when he realizes that not even his potential benefactor cares too much one way or another about acquiring the ball.

-In other news, Kenny Lofton attempted to clarify what at first seemed like his claim that Joe Torre was a racist. Kenny, as most overrated athletes with loose lips tend to do, stated that his agreement with Gary Sheffield's vitriolic statements about Joe were misrepresented. My favorite quote from the Daily News piece that chronicles the back and forth between Sheff, Lofton and Torre comes from Kenny in regards to why Joe and he didn't get along:

"I got treated differently and always wondered why. Maybe (it was because) I was the new guy, maybe I can't play and he didn't want to put me on the field. I don't know. Maybe I suck to him and he didn't want a guy who sucks on his team." (courtesy of Mark Feinsand and this story)

Yeah Kenny, I'm sure your new guy status, combined with your immediate complaints about playing time upon arrival in the Yankees clubhouse really endeared you to Joe and your new teammates. That, combined with the fact that your outfield play made Bernie Williams look like a still-Gold Glove-caliber centerfielder, I mean, Joe should have still been excited to write your name in the lineup?

Now he's made what seems like his 25th team switch, back to where it all went right in Cleveland, but hey at least he's not holding too much of a grudge. Not as much as say, the Anti-Mr. October (1-for-12, I believe?) hitting cleanup for Detroit.