updated 8:03 p.m. ET April 21, 2007

NEW YORK - Alex Rodriguez walked into the Yankees clubhouse, changed from street clothes into uniform, grabbed a bat and hustled off to the batting cage, never taking off the white earphones playing his music. When he got back to his locker, he quickly moved into the trainer’s room, then across the back of the clubhouse to the players’ lounge.

He wanted to talk as little as possible about what he’s doing on the field, one of the great starts in major league history.

A couple of hours later, for the second time in an 11-game span, he homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to turn a loss into a victory, taking a wild run around the bases at Yankee Stadium, arms raised, smile showing off all those pearly white teeth, as fans screamed his name.

Finally, they’re lauding him, not lambasting him.

For the first time, Rodriguez might be living up to the expectations created when he signed a record $252 million, 10-year contract with the Texas Rangers before the 2001 season.

Going into Sunday’s game at Fenway Park, A-Rod was a Hot Rod, leading the major leagues with 12 homers and 31 RBIs in 16 games. He was batting .379 and his home run pace matched Mike Schmidt in 1976 for the fastest in major league history. He’s the first to reach 30 RBIs before his 20th game since Roy Campanella in 1953, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Now, Yankees fans aren’t dwelling on A-Rod’s postseason failures of 2005 and 2006. He’s turned the jeers to cheers, gotten people discussing whether he’ll eventually succeed Hank Aaron or Barry Bonds as the career home run leader. He has 476 homers at age 31.

“I haven’t seen anything like it before. It’s like everything he hits is a home run,” Yankees captain Derek Jeter said. “I can’t relate because I can’t do it. It’s one of the waves you hope you can ride for a long time.”

The new, trimmer A-Rod even has his walkoff routine down as he flies around the bases, slapping third-base coach Larry Bowa, flipping off his helmet and getting mobbed by teammates as he approaches home plate.

“It kind of goes back to when you’re 9, 10 years old, making a jackass out of yourself when you’re running around the bases, but you can’t help yourself,” Rodriguez said.

With a grand slam against Baltimore on April 7 and Thursday’s three-run homer against Cleveland, Rodriguez became the first player to twice hit homers that turned losses into victories with one out remaining over such a short span since the Brooklyn Dodgers’ Dolph Camilli did it over seven games on Aug. 15 and 23, 1942, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

These cool April afternoons have been so different from the dark days of winter. Following A-Rod’s second straight postseason flop last October, there was another offseason of discontent in the Bronx. Did Jeter need to embrace A-Rod? Would Rodriguez exercise the opt-out clause in his contract after the 2007 season to escape the unrelenting pressure and microscope of the Yankees, where the only lasting statistic is World Series rings?

Rodriguez spoke with his agent, Scott Boras, about what he should be doing. Since he arrived at spring training, A-Rod has appeared far happier than during his first three seasons with the Yankees.

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“People keep wanting to know Alex Rodriguez, and my point was, they don’t need to know Alex Rodriguez,” Boras said. “Your job is to perform as a baseball player. What people need to know about you, you can choose to not tell them or tell them. Don’t feel any obligation to hold up a standard where you have to be something off the field. Your job is to perform on the field.”

Has he ever.

“He’s showing his athletic ability. He’s not concerned about making a mistake,” teammate Johnny Damon said. “He already knows he works harder than anyone. He’s put together better than anyone. So he’s kind of just letting his athletic ability take over.”

From manager Joe Torre to general manager Brian Cashman to teammates, they all say Rodriguez has been more at peace with himself since spring training. On his first day at Legends Field, he dropped the pretense that he and Jeter were still buddies away from the ballpark. He acknowledged that he liked having the biggest contract. At some level, the narcissism that every top athlete must have won out over the need to please.

“Just enjoying myself. I just wanted to come back and enjoy myself, regardless of what happens, just enjoy it as much as I can,” he said this week. “Sometimes you try to force things and manipulate things. This game is too hard to try to do all that.”

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