Rodriguez’s quest may get complicated

Just in case his 499th homer turns out to be No. 500, Alex Rodriguez already has the ball.

The Yankees third baseman, who failed to hit a home run in a 7-0 loss to the Kansas City Royals on Thursday night, got the ball he hit for No. 499 on Wednesday night.

Today, he will be on deck when the Yankees resume a suspended game against the Baltimore Orioles in the eighth inning. If he homers in the completion of the suspended game, it would count as being hit on June 28, when the game began. That would make it home run No. 493 -- and Wednesday night’s would become No. 500.

Yankees Manager Joe Torre knows the rule well. His only five-hit game as a player came in 1971 -- his National League MVP season with St. Louis -- in a suspended game against Philadelphia.

“I had to wait a couple of months between my fourth hit and my fifth hit,” Torre said.

Rodriguez, who turns 32 today, would surpass Jimmie Foxx (32 years 338 days) as the youngest player to reach 500 homers.

In Thursday’s game, the Royals’ Jorge De La Rosa repeatedly pitched out of trouble, and the Royals teed off on Kei Igawa to stop New York’s winning streak at six. Kansas City’s Alex Gordon homered, tripled and doubled.