You've probably seen the trailers for "Men in Black 3" by now so it's not much of a spoiler to mention that the plot of the movie involves time travel.
So does the plot of the latest Yankees victory. Alex Rodriguez homered twice and Andy Pettitte struck out eight in seven-plus innings of an 8-3 win over the Royals that had you checking to see if it was 2012 or 2004.
Back in 2004, there would have been nothing odd about A-Rod slamming two homers in the same game but we probably don't need to mention that it isn't 2004 anymore. A-Rod's first homer on Wednesday night snapped a 52 at-bat homerless streak and it was his first multi-homer game in more than a year, two stats that have contributed to the parlor game devoted to figuring out whether or not Rodriguez was finished.
It's all enough to make you wonder if some super-strong alien didn't come down from Krigon 4 to inhabit A-Rod's uniform. The Yankees probably wouldn't mind if that was true and the Post would love it.
He's been so powerless of late that Pettitte's strong performance actually comes as less of a surprise, which is both perfectly reasonable and totally illogical. It's reasonable because Pettitte hasn't lost to the Royals since Bill Clinton was in the White House and it's illogical since Pettitte is in his third start back from retirement.
Of course, this start wasn't as good as his last one so it might just be time to stop being surprised by anything Pettitte is able to pull off. As the producers of the new "Men in Black" film obviously hope, some things may just hold onto their entertainment value regardless of how long you put them on the shelf.
Right about now, you're probably asking yourself why all the talk about this movie franchise. The time travel linkage is a bit weak, quite frankly, and joking about A-Rod being an alien feels more than a little stale.
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All true, but what about the fact that Will Smith started the game for the Royals? In one of the stranger promotional appearances in the history of the movie industry, the "Men in Black" star took the mound for Kansas City and served up both A-Rod homers before leaving the game in the fourth inning.
We kid, obviously. The Royals starter was a completely different Will Smith, one that came without D.J. Jazzy Jeff, oversized ears or a double-height trailer parked on a Soho street.
He is, in fact, a rookie who made his first start on Wednesday night in the Bronx. Thanks to a couple of guys kicking it old school, this Smith was complaining that sometimes Yankees just don't understand.
Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City. You can follow him on Twitter and he is also a contributor to Pro Football Talk.
