Alex Rodriguez began the year in shame.

He stammered, red-eyed and red-faced, as he gave his forced confession to using steroids in 2001-2003. His teammates listened with arms crossed, looking none too sympathetic.

A-Rod was ripped as A-Fraud in Joe Torre's book. The tabloids continued to find him a treasure trove of juicy news on his divorce and romantic entanglements.

Then there was the hip surgery.

It looked to be another difficult year for Rodriguez, another year of trying too hard to be the best, to be accepted as a Yankee and to overcome his unlovable image.

Look how it turned out. Not with another choke in the playoffs but with a World Series title, the 27th in Yankees' history, the first in Rodriguez's 16-year career.

Finally, relief and validation for the most tortured man in sports. He had taken home three MVP awards, signed record-breaking quarter-billion-dollar-plus contracts, recorded individual achievements. But a World Series trophy is won by a team. At last Rodriguez could jump in the dog pile and spray champagne in the locker room.

He could hug Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada, who have won five titles with the Yankees, and know how they felt to be part of something bigger than themselves -- the greatest club in baseball.

In nine months, Miami's Rodriguez went from pariah to hero. On Wednesday after New York's 7-3 victory over Philadelphia, he shed tears of joy inside the new Yankee Stadium.

The armchair psychiatrist -- and Rodriguez's transparent skin makes him an irresistible subject of analysis -- would say that he had to lose his ego to find himself as team player. This time, he was a major reason for the Yankees' first title since 2000. Before, he had been the scapegoat for the Yankees' recent failures. Yankee Nation loved to blame it on A-Rod.

He hit .159 in his three previous playoff appearances as a Yankee. Those came after the 2004 implosion against the Red Sox, when the Yankees blew a 3-0 lead in the ALCS, made comical by Rodriguez's lame slap at pitcher Bronson Arroyo -- and memorialized in one Internet entry with the photo-shopped addition of a purse hanging from Rodriguez's forearm.

But this autumn Mr. July proved his capability as Mr. October/November. (Remember when the World Series ended around Columbus Day?) Rodriguez finished the postseason with a .365 average, six home runs and 18 RBI. He had crucial hits against the Twins, Angels and Phillies. He rose to the occasion; he was hitting .254 in late August.

``The best thing that happened to me was the embarrassment of all the spring training stuff,'' Rodriguez said Wednesday. ``I'd hit rock bottom.''

The superstar who struggles to appear sincere thanked the Yankees.

``I know a lot of people were running the other way and rightfully so,'' he said. ``But I have 25 guys and my coaches and organization, the Steinbrenner family that stood right by me. It just feels good collectively to be sitting here as world champs.''

Had the Yankees lost, and Rodriguez faltered, he never would have heard the end of it. The Yankees won the most games, scored the most runs, hit the most homers. Their $206 million payroll was the highest in baseball, and over the past five years they've spent nearly $350 million more than any other team. They were supposed to win. That expectation created pressure for Joe Girardi and his players -- the type that crushed A-Rod in the past as he yearned to show that he belonged in the same class with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Reggie Jackson, Jeter and Rivera. True Yankees.

``Alex exorcised a lot of demons,'' general manager Brian Cashman said. ``He's done it all now.''

Rodriguez has endured tremendous criticism for his vanity, selfishness, disingenuousness and disappointments at the plate. He is also a future Hall of Famer and deserves praise for confirming it. But it's too simplistic to say he has been transformed or reborn. Victory delivers tidy declarations. Would he be a ``changed man'' if the Yankees had not won the World Series?

With A-Rod, we never know what's coming next. Let's wait to find out.

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