Angels righthander Ervin Santana entered in the eighth inning of Game 6 of the American League Championship Series on Sunday. He faced Rodriguez first.

He kept the ball low. Santana drilled two fastballs to run a 1-0 count to 1-2. He missed again, to make it 2-2 – an intentional miss, a miss designed to make Rodriguez fish if he wanted it.

Then, Angels catcher Mike Napoli set up low and inside, near where the other two called strikes crossed.

It was perfect location.

It was perfect execution.

Then, it was a single to centerfield.

As the ball popped off Rodriguez' bat head, Napoli glanced up at Rodriguez as if to say, "Are you kidding me?"

A-Rod has been getting that look a lot lately.

Once the poster child for postseason futility, Rodriguez is hitting .438 in nine postseason games this year. He has five homers and 12 RBI.

He also has nine walks, three of them intentional, but one huge walk that definitely was earned. In that same Game 6, in the telling fourth inning, Rodriguez walked to force in the run that made the difference in the 5-2 win that pushed them into the World Series against the Phillies.

It was a typical, professional, complete game for the new A-Rod.

He finished his tumultuous 2009 season – he was outed for using steroids and missed the first 5 weeks with a torn hip labrum – with 30 homers, 100 RBI, 14 stolen bases, a .286 average . . . and a clear head.

He hit .364 in his last 36 games, with nine homers and 36 RBI.

Why? How?

Confident codependence.

"All along I don't think I've felt pressure because we've had such a good thing," Rodriguez said. "You realize, you don't have to do too much. You draw a walk. You get a base hit. With our pitching now, score one or two or three runs, and sometimes that's enough to win a game."

Rodriguez said the addition of free-agent ace CC Sabathia, free-agent No. 2 A.J. Burnett and switch-hitting slugger Mark Teixeira finally, after six seasons in pinstripes, has given Rodriguez the breathing room to not try to win every game with one mighty swing.

Go figure: The Yankees spend $275 million on Rodriguez, then, after committing just $425 million more on that luminous trio, they make him happy enough to succeed.

Well, they're in the World Series for the first time since 2003. Maybe it's money well spent.