ST. PETERSBURG -- Even with Alex Rodriguez hitting like it's 2009 all over again, the New York Yankees might very well still end up being a bad baseball team.

But without Rodriguez, the Yankees would be worse than just bad. They would be boring.

A-Rod was a one-man wrecking crew in Friday night's win over the Tampa Bay Rays, hitting two monstrous home runs and driving in four of the five Yankees runs, including the game-winner on a single that was probably his best at-bat of the night. It was not only his best night of the season -- which is not saying much for a season that is only 10 games old -- but his best night at the plate in nearly three years.

But most importantly, it was the kind of night that had reporters asking one another -- as well as asking the manager of the Yankees -- just exactly where would this club be without Rodriguez?

“It’s hard to say. Not 4-6, I know that," Joe Girardi said. "Without Alex, we're going to lose that ballgame."

That might seem like a laughably obvious pronouncement, but think about this for a moment: This is a player who had not swung at a big-league pitch for nearly 19 months. A player who will turn 40 is three months. A player who was considered washed up two years ago, even before Major League Baseball set him down for an unprecedented 211 games, later reduced to an equally unprecedented 162, midway through the 2013 season.

A player who had only been welcomed back by the Yankees because they had no other choice, as they were precluded from punishing him further -- or voiding the remaining three seasons of his 10-year, $275 million contract -- by the provisions of baseball's Joint Drug Agreement.

A player for whom his own team had such scorn that, at meeting in which he came to apologize for past sins, he was informed that not only was he not fully forgiven, but that the club had no intention of paying off on a separate merchandising contract both sides had agreed to when he re-signed with the Yankees in 2007.

A player who was told in no uncertain terms that not only did the Yankees have no place for him to play in their field, but he would have to prove he could hit well enough to earn a part-time spot in their lineup.

This same player, who the Yankees seemed to be going out of their way to get rid of just four months ago, is the one player their lineup can not afford to be without.

Call it irony, call it vindication, call it just desserts, call it what you will, right now the A-Rod comeback story is by far the most compelling tale in professional sports.

Back in February, when reporters were staking out the Yankees minor-league complex and the front office was stewing about the nerve of the guy to show up early for work, what were the odds that Rodriguez would be the one and only feel-good story to come out of the Yankees season so far?

And truth be told, through all of it, A-Rod has performed a lot better than his bosses expected him to, and behaved a lot better than his bosses have, too.

Friday night, he enjoyed his first two-home run night since May 2012. He had had 56 of these previously, but none could have been any sweeter than this one, considering the backstory, the current state of the team, the future fallout of what he has done in the first 10 games, and what he is bound to do over the next 150.

He absolutely killed the first home run, a blast over the left-centerfield fence measured at 477 feet. It wasn't only the longest home run of the season by any player so far, but also the longest home run both at The Trop in 10 years, and by a New York Yankee since Rodriguez hit a 488-foot homer in 2006.

And his second one, coming with a man on in the sixth inning and the Yankees down by two, would have been one to remember had he not hit the first one, a guided missile deep into the lower left-field seats just inside the foul pole. That one gave him 658 lifetime home runs, just two behind Willie Mays for No. 4 on baseball's all-time home run list, and just two good swings from what promises to be the next big A-Rod drama, the squabble over the payment of his first home run bonus.

"I try not to think about that," he said. "I’m just really focusing on trying to help the team win.”

But it was his third at-bat that was the revelation, because if Rodriguez has shown anything this season, it is that he retains the ability to hit a fastball, especially if he guesses right. Both the home runs came on fastballs, a 92 MPH heater from starter Nathan Karns and one clocked at 94 by Ernesto Frieri. But, truth be told, he has sometimes looked a little sick against the breaking ball.

Not this time.

Batting against reliever Kevin Jepsen with Brett Gardner, pinch-running for Carlos Beltran, at first, Rodriguez worked the count to 2-2. Gardner then stole second, raising the possibility the Rays would walk A-Rod to take the most dangerous bat in the Yankees lineup out of play. But manager Kevin Cash, no doubt mindful that A-Rod was 0-for-10 lifetime against Jepsen, chose to pitch to him. The first 3-2 pitch was a fastball that A-Rod just missed, fouling it back. The next one was a slow curveball, down and slightly away. Rodriguez stayed with it and stroked it into center, allowing Gardner to score easily with the game-winner.

Afterward, as has been his habit, Rodriguez adopted a posture of humility, preferring to talk about the team rather than individual performance.

"More than anything, I’m just feeling very grateful to be back playing baseball," he said. "I’m very grateful to (owners) Hank and Hal [Steinbrenner] for giving me the opportunity to put the uniform on again. It’s something I don't take for granted and it’s much appreciated. It just feels good to be playing baseball. I’m having fun out there."

And while Girardi and Gardner were saying that they knew he would be a productive player again, Rodriguez acknowledged that his fast start -- he is hitting .344 with a team leading four home runs, 11 RBI and 1.113 OPS -- is more than he could possibly have imagined for himself.

"I don't think anyone knew what to expect," he said. "Including myself."

Does he mean it? Who knows. Rodriguez has lied often enough, played the martyr often enough, been disingenuous often enough that anything he says has to be taken with a whole shaker of salt.

But there's nothing phony about the way he's hitting right now, and nothing false about the belief that without Rodriguez, the New York Yankees would be nothing right now.

You would've thought it would be the other way around.