Celebrity Mound

When it comes to dating housewives, A-Rod likes to keep it “Real.”

The Yankees slugger has been stepping out this weekend in Miami with Bethenny Frankel, one of the reality stars of “The Real Housewives of New York City.”

Alex Rodriguez and the sexy chef shared an intimate dinner on Friday night at a local restaurant, a spy tells the Daily News.

Rodriguez dropped off Frankel at the Fontainebleau Hotel around 12:30 a.m. Saturday.

Even though it ended fairly early – he has to watch that hip as he rehabs after surgery – the evening appears to have gone well. Word is the third baseman was due to make reservations for another dinner with Frankel Saturday night.

A source told The News’ Gatecrasher column last month that Frankel and A-Rod hooked up “three months ago” but that, after quickly rounding the bases, “A-Rod cut it off.”

Frankel later laughed off the gossip, telling an interviewer: “We’re madly in love; we’re engaged. I fly to Miami every weekend. I’m in the front row when they’re playing. I never felt this way.”

But really, she insisted, “No, I’ve never been in the same room with him,” adding, “Can it be George Clooney? Can’t it just be the celebrity I want to be aligned with?”

But rumor begat reality, according to one source, who said Rodriguez subsequently got in touch with Frankel.

“I think the reports sparked his curiosity,” said the insider. “I think he respected the way she denied it.”

Though, at 39, Frankel is five years older than Rodriguez, a friend said, “They could be a match. She’s very athletic – she snowboards and surfs. She’s an expert on nutrition. She’s also a no-nonsense, straight-shooting lady. And we know Alex likes strong women.”

Last summer, Rodriguez and his then-wife, Cynthia, went through a bitter divorce in which she accused him of having “an affair of the heart” with Madonna.

Now that her Madgesty has moved on to Brazilian boy toy Jesus Luz, Rodriguez has been playing the field.

He had a Valentine’s weekend dinner with model Melissa Britos – at the same hotel where Frankel is staying.

Frankel, also a divorcée, has endured one awkward date after another on “Real Housewives.”

(source)

A former Manhattan madam who supplied Eliot Spitzer with hookers also counted Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez as a customer – and found him so charming she dated him herself for free, former employees of the call-girl agency tell the Daily News.

A-Rod wooed ex-madam Kristin Davis with flowers, jewelry, persistence and heated e-mails, according to the sources.

“Throughout the years, there were a number of clients that I befriended and it was not uncommon for them to want the women they can’t have whether it be the phone bookers or the madam,” Davis said.

“In regard to Alex, all I can say is our paths have definitely crossed personally and professionally.”

Davis met Rodriguez in June of 2006 in a gym in Philadelphia, shortly after she opened a branch of her call-girl service in the City of Brotherly Love, sources said.

Davis told a friend the then-married Rodriguez asked her, “What are you doing tonight?”

The shapely madam didn’t know who A-Rod was but found him “hot as hell,” she told the friend. “I said, ‘I’m having dinner with my boyfriend. But if you’re looking for someone to hang out with, here’s a number.’ I gave him my agency’s card.”

That night, Davis told a friend, Rodriguez booked a two-hour “date” with one of her girls, who met him at the Four Seasons on Rittenhouse Square.

“He gave his real name,” Davis told the friend. “The next day we found out who Alex Rodriguez was. The girl we sent freaked out. Her father (works for) another Major League Baseball team.”

Rodriguez soon became a repeat customer of one of Davis’ three Manhattan agencies, two former employees said.

In an e-mail exchange provided to The News by a former booker for Davis’ Wicked Models, Rodriguez purportedly told Davis on Nov. 17, 2006: “Thanks for setting me up with Samantha. She was gorgeous. But she is not you. When can I see you you are gorgeous . . .”

The exchange goes on:

Davis: “Hi Alex. You don’t want to see me. I’m no fun. lol. Just because your (sic) so sweet, here are some pics of me and I appreciate the compliments. Your (sic) a doll. Thanks, Kristin”

Rodriguez: “You have been playing hard to get for a year now, your (sic) killing me.”

Davis: “It’s not playing I am hard to get. Maybe you should try harder.”

Rodriguez: “Kristin, I definitely will and I love the pics. I put the one on my cell so I can look at you all the time. Alex.”

Davis: “You are too sweet. I’ll let you know when I get someone you like.”

Two former agency workers said A-Rod hired prostitutes more than a half-dozen times, often meeting them at the Four Seasons hotel on W. 57th St.

(source)

Friday night, the embattled Yankee slugger hung out with Ingrid Casares at Scarpetta, a restaurant in the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach, but he played the field Saturday. By day, he was photographed with model Melissa Britos; at night, he went on a date with “three hot chicks” to Prime 112, in South Beach, as Britos hung solo at the Louis Bar & Lounge at the Gansevoort South. “He left with the stunning blonde at, like, 3 a.m.,” our spy said. Calvin Klein was also in Miami with “two model-type guys” at Meat Market. In New York, Paul McCartney took Nancy Shevell to the Oak Room at the Plaza, Jessica Simpson cozied up to Tony Romo at Serendipity 3, Boogie Dash made out with Chanel Iman at the Plumm, and Caroline Kennedy and Ed Schlossberg went to the Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel concert at the Beacon.

(source)