A-Rod: "I will NOT be ignored!"

It's not spring training if there isn't an item on A-Rod and his precarious state in the Bronx, and the AP does not fail us on this one.

Headline: "A-Rod says he's not as close to Jeter as he once was."

It's like they gave bloggers everywhere a rocket launcher to aim at the barrel of sea bass.

"The reality is there's been a change in the relationship over 14 years and, hopefully, we can just put it behind us," Rodriguez said. "You go from sleeping over at somebody's house five days a week, and now you don't sleep over. It's just not that big of a deal."

Early reports from the Jeter camp* are that Rodriguez wanted to cuddle, and Derek hates it -- plus, A-Rod was trying to re-decorate the bachelor pad in utterly unacceptable ways: throw pillows, fancy curtains, expensive china. All of this led to Jeter telling Alex to take his toothbrush and change of clothes home.

Odds on A-Rod going Glenn Close on Jeter: 8/1. "You think you can just go back to your Hollywood starlets and fun-loving nightlife with Jessica Biel, and leave me here to suffer at the hands of people who can't stand me, and not care about how I feel for one second? Well, no longer, mister!"

(*That is, completely fictional reports.)