Davidoff: A-Rod wrecks Indians after intentional pass to Tex

We still had a ballgame here, Yankees up by a run on a perfect Memorial Day afternoon at Yankee Stadium, when Cleveland's Rafael Perez fell behind Mark Teixeira 3-and-0 with one out, pinch runner Ramiro Peña on third base and Curtis Granderson on second.

On deck, of course, stood Alex Rodriguez. Indians manager Manny Acta knew that. He decided to go through with his plan anyway, replacing the lefthander with righthander Chris Perez.

"Three-and-oh, it wasn't difficult at all," Acta said afterward. "I didn't want to take a chance on having this guy laying a pitch in there with the infield in and all of that. The best chance was to put him on and try and get a double-play ball."

Granderson said of Rodriguez: "He's in a different area when it comes to certain things like that, where everyone is wondering what's going to happen when he steps up there. He's a different animal. When he comes up, everybody's on their feet. Everyone's looking for something big to happen."

Five pitches later, game over (essentially). A-Rod crushed a 3-and-1 fastball for a grand slam to centerfield, the Yankees' lead jumped to five runs, and by the time the Indians skipped town, the Yankees had an 11-2 victory.

"Sure enough," Granderson said, "he delivered again today."

And as we open baseball's third month, A-Rod - with six RBIs on the day - delivered a reminder that the Yankees' offense has plenty coming from its established players.

"I think we have a long ways to go," he said. "We definitely want to improve on what we've done in May, and I think we will. I think we went through a lot of injuries, and hopefully, June's a lot better for us."

With only seven homers through nearly one-third of the season, A-Rod is well off his standard pace. But he hasn't been embarrassing himself, not with a .376 on-base percentage and .492 slugging percentage.

And as moments like yesterday afternoon's display, he isn't backing down from the perceived big moments. As Elias Sports Bureau pointed out, Yankees opponents have intentionally walked Teixeira to load the bases for A-Rod seven times in 2009 and 2010. In those seven plate appearances, A-Rod has three grand slams, two singles, a walk and a sacrifice fly for 18 RBIs. The only other time an opponent tried it this year, on May 14, A-Rod punished the Twins' Matt Guerrier similarly.

"For some reason, you kind of just see things like that coming a little bit," A-Rod said of the free pass to Teixeira. "I would appreciate it if we keep those numbers to ourselves and not share them with any other managers."

Acta, the manager with no regrets over his decision, said: "When you go to 3-and-1 on a normal hitter, you make him Barry Bonds of 2003. You can imagine a guy the stature of A-Rod at 3-and-1. You pay the price for that."

Chris Perez said: "I guess he was struggling, entering this series, with guys on base. I guess he's not struggling anymore."

A four-game visit from the lowly Indians seems to have cured what ailed the Yankees' offense, and we'll see if they can continue their success against the equally lousy Orioles. Andy Pettitte continued to pitch as though he is 27 rather than 37. Joba Chamberlain never arose from his bullpen seat.

Sure, the Yankees have concerns; in a related story, Javier Vazquez starts Tuesday night. When you take a step back, however, you see many more reasons for optimism than pessimism.

And A-Rod ranks in the former category. As do Teixeira, Granderson, the banged-up Derek Jeter and the currently inactive Jorge Posada.

It's enough to keep other teams thinking, and sweating, for the duration of the season.