Fake Fenway blondes have fun -- at A-Rod's expense

Fans who caught Friday's Red Sox-Yankees game may have noticed a group of fans sitting behind third base, wearing identical costume masks depicting a blond woman.

The fans were jeering Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez after the New York Post last week ran a front-page photograph of the Yankees slugger, who is married, in the company of another woman. She was later identified as a stripper.

The masks were the brainchild of Jim Phipps, a life long Sox fan, who happened to have a box of them lying around the house. Phipps, 57, of Wakefield, said he got the idea to bring the masks after a friend landed him four coveted tickets for the Yankees-Red Sox matchup.

"I never get good seats like that; I'm usually up in the grandstand," Phipps said yesterday. He said his location, in Section 25, was perfect for the gag. So the four people in the Phipps party broke out the rosy-cheeked masks, which other fans eagerly put on.

"People were offering me money for them," Phipps said.

"I respect A-Rod as a human being and as a good ballplayer," Phipps said. "I hope he takes it with a grain of salt."

A-Rod, the subject of louder-than-normal booing Friday night, did at one point toss a wink in the direction of the masks, Phipps said.

But the fake blondes did not appear to distract the A-Rod, who went 1 for 3 and scored twice in the 9-5 Yankees victory.