Playoffs loom for A-Rod

NEW YORK -- Alex Rodriguez has become the Phantom of the Clubhouse, hardly ever seen by his locker during times the room is open to outsiders.

Other players' high-tech stalls at the new Yankee Stadium are filled with family photos or personalized in some way. Not A-Rod's.

For much of the last month, the only memento was a baseball in a plastic case. A bottle of bubbly was added during the last homestand.

Rodriguez then went out and had the greatest offensive inning in American League history, hitting a three-run homer and a grand slam to reach 30 homers and 100 RBIs for the 12th consecutive year and 13th time overall.

That's fine in the eyes of most Yankees' fans, but right now they're more concerned with fall flops than summer success. He is 8-for-59 (.136) in the playoffs dating to 2004 and is hitless in his past 18 playoff at-bats with runners in scoring position.

If the Yankees are to win their first World Series title since 2000 -- and if A-Rod is to even make it to the series for the first time in 16 major league seasons -- he is going to have to perform more like Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, than Mr. May, Dave Winfield, as the postseason stretches past Halloween into November.

"People talk about the failures of one guy, but one guy does not win a series or lose a series," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "When I look at the last playoff, there were a lot of guys who didn't hit. And because he's the biggest name, or people like to talk about him the most, everyone focuses on his numbers."