Big league smarts or bush league stunt? Fans were buzzing Thursday over whether Alex Rodriguez broke baseball’s unwritten code by making a remark that distracted a Toronto infielder and allowed a ninth-inning popup to fall for a run’scoring single.

Troy Glaus, Toronto’s regular third baseman, said the last time he saw that move was in the baseball comedy “Major League 2.”

The stumbling Yankees were ahead 7-5 with two outs in the ninth at Toronto on Wednesday night, and Rodriguez was on first base when Jorge Posada popped up. A-Rod ran hard and shouted near third baseman Howie Clark, who was playing his first major league game of the season.

“I just said, ‘Hah!’ That’s it,” Rodriguez said.

“I heard a ‘Mine’ call, and so I let it go,” said Clark, who thought he was being called off by his shortstop. Clark backed off and let the ball drop as Rodriguez got to third.

Toronto went on to lose 10-5.

That set off a storm, with Toronto claiming A-Rod’s utterance went over the sport’s unwritten ethical line.

“He’s allowed to say I got it. I got it,” said former Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda, who recalled a similar play when he was with Triple-A Montreal in the late 1950s or 1960.

“I was coaching first base in Miami - two outs in the top of the ninth inning. We were losing by one run. We had a guy on second base,” Lasorda recalled. “There was a foul ball. Gene Oliver was going over to catch it. I said, `I got it! I got it!’ He pulled back and the ball dropped. He’s screaming at me. And the next pitch a guy hit a home run, and we won the game.”

Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was steaming.

“Maybe I’m naive, but I thought it was a bush league play,” he said.