NEW YORK -- He may not lace up his cleats every day, but Alex Rodriguez now has one more teammate he can count on to pick him up.

Prior to Tuesday's 8-2 loss to the Blue Jays, Rodriguez missed the Yankees' scheduled team picture. As a result, the club's director of publications, Al Santasiere III, was forced to slide into the picture as Rodriguez's designated stand-in.

And Rodriguez, who will be digitally added to the picture at a later date, certainly got a kick out of the situation after hearing about his double's noble service.

"I have to find that guy and shake his hand," Rodriguez said, laughing, "because that must have been a tough situation."

Rodriguez may get reprimanded for missing the team's scheduled photo shoot, but it might not come in a conventional form.

"Captain Kangaroo will probably get Alex for this one," manager Joe Girardi said. "Players aren't always the best at reading the memos put on their chairs, I can tell you that."

And Rodriguez isn't making any excuses for his absence. The slugger is just hoping he can elude the Yankees' legal system. He's also not the only Yankee to ever miss the team photo shoot. Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada both missed the 1999 team photo after celebrating Posada's 28th birthday.

"I'm going to try to delay Kangaroo Court as much as possible, because I know I'm going to get crushed," Rodriguez said, smiling. "The boys are going to get me good. No excuses. Obviously, after talking to you [reporters] on the way out [Monday night], I didn't look at the board."