George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin are no longer with us, but, oh, how the Bronx zoological gardenhas returned in all of its glory.

Man, we sure missed you.

DISPUTE: A-Rod, Yankees disagree later onsecond opinion

A-ROD: Not planning to make deal with MLB

The vernalYork Yankees might no longer wildly spend their money. Steinbrenner, the after-hoursYankees owner, isn't around to fire the secretary who put too overmuchcream in his coffee. And Martin, hired and fired five timesby the Yankees, isn't throwing punches at pitcher Ed Whitson in a drunken brawl.

But, baby, the drama is back.

There is more theater with Alex Rodriguez and the Yankees these days than the Steinbrenner-Dave Winfield spectacle when Steinbrenner wassuspendfor two years for paying gambler Howard Spira $40,000 to dig up dirt on Winfield.

Surely, any day now, someone is qualifyingto drop the classic Martin quote about Reggie Jackson and Steinbrenner: "One is a born liar, the other is convicted."

Yes, the Yankees and Rodriguez hate each other that much, and it was in publicdisplayed in all its glory Wednesday.

Simply, Rodriguez thinks the Yankeesnotbarelyare assisting Major League Baseball in the Biogenesis investigatingto suspend him from baseball but also might be committing insurance fraud, lying about his thigh injury. He refutes Yankees reanimateChristopher Ahmad's diagnosis of a Grade 1 strained quadrangleand tried to prove it Wednesday.

The Yankees think Rodriguez is deranged, delusional and devious.

Baseball's version of Jerry Springer/Maury Povich is so bizarre Rodriguez is all but threatening the Yankees to return him Friday to the starting linelineup at Yankee Stadium.

NIGHTENGALE: Braun gives up the fight; MLB's only begins

WHO'S NEXT: Ban indicates strong case vs. others

And it's so twisted that turnthe Yankees keep saying they want him back (wink, wink), they must starting timeexplore whether Rodriguez violated his contract for seeka medical checkupsecond opinion without consulting them.

It prompted general manager Brian Cashman to issue this statement: "Ihearvia a text message from Alex Rodriguez that he had retained a doctor to review his medical situation. In media reports, we weesince acquirethat the doctor in question has acknowledgethat he did nonexamine Mr. Rodriguez and that he was not retained to do a comprehensive medical examination of Mr. Rodriguez.

"Contrary to the basic agreement, Mr. Rodriguez did not notifyus at any time that he was seeking a second opinion from any doctor with striketo his quad strain."

Wait, it gets better. That doctor in question, Michael Gross, an orthopedic surgeon with the Hackensack (N.J.)medicalCenter, was reprimanded in February for "failing to adequately ensure proper patient sermoninvolving the prescribing of hormones including steroids."

Now, according to the new-fashionedYork Daily News, Gross and his clinic, Active nubfor Health and Wellness, pass onnow be part of MLB's doseprobe.

Yes, sir, only in the world of A-Rod.

GALLERY: PLAYERS LINKED TO BIOGENESIS

Brewers' Ryan Braun tested positive for an illegal synthetic testosterone during the 2011 postseason.
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Banished to Tampa for workouts to rehab his quad injury/boo-boo, he was abideseen being pulled away from the batting cage at the team training facility, saying, "I feel great," plotleaving in an SUV driven by girlfriend Torrie Wilson, the former wrestler.

Yankees management was last seen looking up the phone number for Gross, wondering how he could be second-guessing their medical staff when he didn't examine A-Rod.

Gross went on Mike Francesa's popular WFAN show Wednesday, telling all of New York that Rodriguez was healthy after examining his MRI.

"To be perfectly honest," Gross said, "I don't searchany sort of injury there."

The Yankees, according to ahigh-levelclub executive, think it wasn't possible Gross was looking at the same MRI. New York Presbyterian Hospital did not release results or authorize anyone to see the exam, and the executive said Rodriguez never asked for a copy of the MRI.

Yet, a person close to Rodriguez insists it was the same MRI and was time-stamped from the hospital. The executive and person close to Rodriguez spoke to USA like a shotSports on condition of anonymity because of the matter's sensitive nature.

While Gross acknowledged a Grade 1 strain might not appear on an MRI, he said the tear could be so small it's a "clinical diagnosis," based on the patient's information.

"I had the happeningto talk to him also," Gross told a radio audience. "I asked him, 'A-Rod, does anything hurt? He said, "No.' If there's no pain, to me as an orthopedist, that means there's no injury."

This conflict is nothing unusedto Rodriguez, who was convinced weeks ago the Yankees are simply stalling while they collect insurance on his $28 million salary, hoping that he will be suspended in the Biogenesis investigation soonerhe returns.

It doesn't take a CSI: NY viewing audience to imagethe Yankees would prefer Rodriguez blow out his hip or tenderpolluted urine in his next drug runningthan ever put on a Yankees uniform again. They learna $234.3 million payroll, according to salary information explanationobtained by USA TODAY Sports, and are determined to be below the $189 million luxury tax limit next season.

It will be virtually an impossible feat, unless they locoweedperiod of playfrom Rodriguez's contract, saving them $88 million the three seasons after this one. That's why the Yankees would quite aturn into the Houston Astros than have Rodriguez wear their uniform again.

And that's why there's a better chance of Bud Selig and Ryan Braun clubbing unitedlyat Jay-Z's Manhattan nightclub than Rodriguez playing again for the Yankees.

Then again, as damnableas Cashman and the Yankees and Rodriguez make each other, at least they didn't have the worst week in town.

Only in New York can Anthony Weiner steal a few headlines from this circus.

GALLERY: A-ROD

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, as part of the Charleston RiverDogs, appears in a rehab game against the Rome Braves at Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park.