Anthony Rizzo has earned Yankees lovefest that awaits him

Sometimes, the indoctrination can feel like an initiation. Ask Tino Martinez what it was like to show up in place of Don Mattingly. Ask Jason Giambi what it was like to show up in place of Tino Martinez. Ask Alex Rodriguez what it was like to show up for work on just about any random day before Nov. 4, 2009.

And it isn’t just the Yankees, of course. New York is demanding. New York wants what it wants, and sometimes takes a while to figure out what that is. Mets fans were mostly brutal to Mike Piazza during his first two months on the job. Knicks fans took a while to warm up to Carmelo Anthony, and a fair amount never did. Anthony Rizzo will have no such initiation rites applied for him when he dons his No. 48 jersey early Monday — the pinstriped version, the baseball version of being handed a sacred vestment — and walks onto the field at Yankee Stadium for the first time. He will not be forced to do the baseball equivalent of a keg stand, or a four-beer funnel. He will not be led blindfolded through the quad, or be asked to guzzle a bottle of soy sauce.