‘This is it’: A-Rod savors final games

BOSTON — And so it has come down to this: Friday night at Yankee Stadium against the Rays is the last game of Alex Rodriguez’s baseball career.

The 41-year-old designated hitter made that pretty clear on Thursday night at Fenway Park after seeing that Yankees manager Joe Girardi had not only kept his promise to pencil him into the lineup, but batted him in the cleanup spot against Red Sox left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez.

“I’m focusing in on [these games] as this is it, I mean, like, this is it,” A-Rod told a group of reporters in front of his locker in the cramped visitors’ clubhouse at the old ballpark. “I’m not looking beyond that. I value the pinstripes. I value this organization. To me, this is it.”

On Friday night, the Yankees have announced they will have a pregame ceremony honoring Rodriguez, beginning at 6:50 p.m. ET. First pitch has been pushed back to 7:35 p.m.

When it’s all over, Rodriguez will have played in 2,784 games during the course of 22 seasons, and that’s with missing 118 games in 2013 recovering from hip surgery and the entire 2014 season because of a drug-related suspension.

A-Rod went into his last road game on Thursday night with 696 homers, 3,114 hits, 2,084 RBIs and 2,021 runs scored, the only other player in Major League history aside from Hank Aaron to amass more than 600 homers, 3,000 hits, 2,000 RBIs and 2,000 runs scored.

Rodriguez’s slash line of .295/.380/.550 is nothing to be ashamed of. Aaron finished his 23-year career in 1976 with a comparable line of .305/.374/.555. Aaron also hit 755 homers, second on the all-time list to the 762 smacked by Barry Bonds.

It’s been a week racked with emotions for both A-Rod and Girardi, who has had to balance his job winning games and catering to a player …

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