"Alex Rodriguez is not going to win the American League's most valuable player award this year. But he's won three of them already, and could easily have won three more. He knows what an MVP season looks like, what it feels like, up close, better than any other player currently playing the sport.

And in case his memory had grown sketchy during his six-week sabbatical, his first day back at work yesterday provided a useful refresher course.

"In my eyes," Rodriguez said yesterday after going 0-for-5 with one splendid defensive play in the Yankees' 3-0 blanking of the Twins, "Curtis Granderson is the MVP."

Rodriguez's may be the most discriminating eyes of all, since he is one of only 10 men to win as many as three MVP plaques. But it is impossible to maintain Granderson's subtle candidacy under the radar any longer.

Boston's Adrian Gonzalez has been the presumptive favorite since spring training, and may still be, but he has gone weeks since his last home run and may not even be the MVP of his own team as splendid as Jacoby Ellsbury has played. Jose Bautista continues to be a fine story in Toronto, but the Jays haven't played a meaningful game all year. Or since 1993, for that matter.

Besides, Bautista is only a homer ahead of Granderson at this point. Yesterday, Granderson launched a shot against the tall wall in right-center field at Target Field, a couple of yards north of the yellow Harmon Killebrew autograph and a few feet south of the top of the fence. The ball ricocheted between center fielder Ben Revere and right fielder Jason Kubel."