Cleveland centre fielder contacts MLB investigators to stop publication of racy photographs from girlfriend’s account

Indians centre fielder Grady Sizemore has contacted investigators from Major League Baseball to stop publication of steamy photographs that he says were stolen from his girlfriend’s e-mail account and then posted online.

A baseball official, speaking on condition of anonymity because no statements had been authorized, told The Associated Press that MLB officials have been contacting the websites that posted the photos and have been asking them to take down the pictures. It is not known how many sites are complying with the request.

Sizemore took the photos, which first appeared Sunday on a website, with a cell phone standing in front of a bathroom mirror. He is partially nude in a few of them.

“We fully support Grady as he deals with this personal matter,” the Indians said in a statement Monday. “The posted photos were stolen from his girlfriend’s e-mail account and a legal investigation is under way.”

Sizemore told The Plain Dealer of Cleveland the photos were intended for his girlfriend. The team said Sizemore wouldn’t make any further comment on the photos.

The 27-year-old Sizemore is the Indians’ most popular player. His fan base includes “Grady’s Ladies,” and several other women’s groups devoted to the three-time All-Star.

With a rare combination of speed and Sizemore, acquired from Montreal in a 2002 trade, has developed into one of baseball’s best all-around players, but he was limited to just 106 games last season because of injuries.

He is one of only two players in club history to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in one season. A two-time Gold Glove winner, Sizemore has endeared himself to Cleveland fans with his hustle and durability. In 2006 and 2007, he played in all 162 regular-season games.

Sizemore suffered an elbow injury and sports hernia during spring training in 2009 and was never 100 per cent. He batted a career-low .248 with 18 homers and 64 RBIs before he deciding to stop playing on Sept. 4. He underwent two off-season surgeries.
Sourced via theglobeandmail.com

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For the second time in its storied basketball history, Kansas is No. 1 in The Associated Press’ preseason Top 25.

The Jayhawks were a runaway choice Thursday, receiving 55 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel to easily outdistance Michigan State, which was No. 1 on five ballots.

There was little suspense as to which team would top the preseason poll. Kansas has all five starters and the top nine scorers back from last season’s team that went 27-8 and reached the third round of the NCAA tournament. The Jayhawks also feature a recruiting class considered among the nation’s best.

“I’m not surprised,” said Bill Self, who was also the coach the other time Kansas was the preseason No. 1 in 2004-05. “But I know this – we aren’t practicing like a team that’s preseason No. 1 in the country. It has been a very few good days of practice but we do have good players. … There’s a lot of excitement surrounding these guys.”

The Jayhawks received great news when guard Sherron Collins and center Cole Aldrich, last season’s leading scorers, decided to return to school rather than test the NBA draft. Then brothers Xavier and C.J. Henry decided to enroll in Lawrence, making the Jayhawks the early national favorite as well as the choice to win a sixth straight Big 12 title.

“My goal for this team isn’t to play to that ranking early in the season,” Self said. “My goal is to play to that ranking when it counts the most. I hope it happens soon.”

Michigan State has seven of the top nine scorers back from the team that lost to North Carolina in the national championship game.

Texas, Kentucky and Villanova rounded out the top five, while North Carolina, a unanimous preseason No. 1 last season, was sixth. Kentucky received three first-place votes and Texas and North Carolina got one each. Purdue, West Virginia, Duke and Tennessee completed the top 10.

While Kansas’ showing this preseason many not have been as impressive as North Carolina’s a year earlier when it became the first ever unanimous preseason pick, both had plenty of reasons to claim No. 1.

“There are some similarities, but that North Carolina team had been through a lot more experiences than our guys have,” Self said. “The North Carolina team had been through Final Fours, had been to Elite Eights, had had some heartache, been through some tough times. I don’t know that this group has been through tough times like they had. The fact we return nine guys and a good recruiting class is the reason people are so optimistic about us.”

Butler was 11th in the poll followed by Connecticut, California, Washington, Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Mississippi State, Louisville and Georgetown. The last five ranked teams were Dayton, Georgia Tech, Illinois, Clemson and Minnesota.

Kentucky, under new coach John Calipari and with a loaded freshman class, Georgetown and Georgia Tech were the only teams in the preseason poll not to play in the NCAA tournament last season.

Texas, Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee lead the 13 teams in the preseason poll who were not ranked in the final poll of last season. Louisville and North Carolina were Nos. 1 and 2 in that final poll. In addition to those two, Pittsburgh, Wake Forest, Duke and Connecticut all were ranked No. 1 at some point in the season.

The Big Ten has six teams in the preseason poll, one more than the Big East. The Atlantic Coast Conference had four and the Big 12 and Southeastern Conference three each.
Sourced via washingtonpost.com

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Television ratings for baseball’s division series were up from last season.

The 13 games on TBS averaged a 3.1 rating, up 11 percent from last year. TBS said Tuesday it had its most-viewed week in the 33-year history of the network.

The playoff return of the New York Yankees and their large market and national appeal helped boost the ratings. New York’s three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins averaged a 4.2 rating.
Sourced via fox11online.com

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We are looking for your nominations for the best looking sport babes in the world. The nominations can include sport babes from around the globe, from any country, from any sporting code-the more the merrier.

Nominations close on 30 September 2009.

Send your nominations to to us by filling out the form below. You may nominate up to 3 athletes per time.

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For the first time in days, the Yankee bats didn’t need to wait until the end of the game to take care of business.

Following three dramatic last-at-bat wins in three days, the Yankees handled the Twins the old-fashioned way Monday night. Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez went deep in a six-run first inning, Andy Pettitte gave his team a workmanlike effort and the bullpen – working without Mariano Rivera – closed it out, finishing a four-game sweep of Minnesota with a 7-6 victory at the Stadium.

Teixeira homered twice and drove in four runs, pacing the 13-hit attack as the Yanks won their sixth straight game and eighth in the last 10.

Pettitte gave up four runs on 12 hits in 6-2/3 innings, but he worked out of trouble one inning after another in picking up his fourth win. Jose Veras, Edwar Ramirez and Phil Coke finished up, with Coke retiring the red-hot Justin Morneau in the eighth in the biggest out of the night.

The Yankees (21-17) are a season-high four games over .500, pulling within one game of the second-place Red Sox in the AL East. They remain 4-1/2 games behind first-place Toronto.

The Twins jumped on Pettitte with one out in the first, as Brendan Harris doubled and Joe Mauer singled him in, advancing to second on Melky Cabrera’s wild throw home. Morneau followed with another base hit, scoring Mauer to give Minnesota starter Glen Perkins a quick 2-0 lead.

Instead of waiting for the late innings to mount their comeback, the Yankees pounced on Perkins. Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon singled to start the inning, setting up Teixeira’s three-run blast to left. In 10 games since A-Rod’s return from the DL, Teixeira is hitting .342 (13-for-38) with five home runs and 13 RBI.

A-Rod extended the lead with a solo shot to left, marking the fifth time this season the Yankees hit back-to-back home runs. After Nick Swisher drove a ball to the warning track for the first out, Robinson Cano doubled and Cabrera singled him in, making it 5-0. A passed ball moved Cabrera to second, setting up Francisco Cervelli’s RBI single up the middle, knocking Perkins out of the game after he gave up six runs in two-thirds of an inning.

Pettitte worked out of trouble in the second, putting two men on base with one out before getting a pair of groundouts, including a spectacular play by Cano at second. The Twins put another runner in scoring position in the third on Morneau’s one-out double, but Pettitte sat down the next two batters, preserving the four-run lead.

Michael Cuddyer led off the fourth with a homer over the visitors’ bullpen in left-center, cutting the lead to 6-3. Carlos Gomez followed with a single, but Pettitte got some help to get out of the inning, as Cervelli threw out Nick Punto trying to steal second and Ramiro Pena made a stellar barehanded play on Denard Span’s slow roller to third, throwing out the speedy leadoff man to end the frame.

Pettitte gave up two more hits in the fifth, once again catching a break to help him get out of the jam. With runners at the corners and one out, Joe Crede hit a comebacker, the ball drilling Pettitte in the glove. Pettitte picked it up and headed to third, where he caught Harris in a rundown, eventually throwing to Pena, who tagged the runner out.

After cutting the lead to 6-4 in the sixth on Span’s RBI single, the Twins threatened against Pettitte again in the seventh, putting runners at first and second with one out. Joe Girardi called in Jose Veras to face Cuddyer, who walked to load the bases. Veras, who could be in danger of being designated for assignment when Brian Bruney is activated from the disabled list today, got Gomez to fly out to center, stranding all three runners.

Teixeira gave the Yankees a little more breathing room with a homer to lead off the bottom of the seventh. It was Teixeira’s second two-homer game of the year, matching his feat from May 4 against the Red Sox when he also went deep from both sides of the plate.

Sourced via nydailynews.com

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This is right around the time of year that previous A’s teams – some, not all -have found their footing after slow starts the past decade or so.

Could a little two-game sweep of a first-place team be a sign that this year’s club is starting to come around, or is that the Royals are fading? Oakland welcomed Kansas City to the Coliseum and thumped the AL Central leaders soundly, including 7-2 on Wednesday night.

The Royals have lost five in a row, falling into a first-place tie with Detroit, and they were outscored 19-5 in Oakland.

Orlando Cabrera ignited the A’s offense the night before by calling for a hitters-only meeting before the game, and Cabrera got things going on Wednesday without any get-together needed. He singled with one out in the sixth, Kurt Suzuki followed with a second hit to left and Jason Giambi lofted a ball to left center that barely eluded Coco Crisp’s jump near the wall. Crisp appeared mad at himself afterward, shaking his head in disbelief.

Cabrera sprinted in on that double, and after Matt Holliday walked to load the bases, Jack Cust drove in Suzuki with a sacrifice fly to left.

Bannister left with stiffness in his right shoulder, and Horacio Ramirez took over and got Ryan Sweeney to fly out to end the inning.

The next inning, however, Ramirez walked Adam Kennedy to start things off. Even though the A’s had only one well-hit ball in the innings, they went on to score five runs.

With one out, Jamey Wright walked Bobby Crosby, then Cabrera reached on an error by third baseman Mark Teahen, loading the bases. Suzuki was hit by a pitch, sending in one run, and with two outs, Holliday hit a slow chopper that Teahen couldn’t come up with on the run. One run scored, and Cust stepped up and cleared the bases with a double to right center.

Holliday appeared to feel a twinge in his left side after hitting a foul ball during his at-bat in the fourth, but he remained in after a brief chat with manager Bob Geren and assistant trainer Walt Horn.

Kennedy, obtained Friday from Tampa Bay, was on base three times, with a single, a double and a walk.

Josh Outman had a shot to become just the second A’s starter in 19 games to work more than six innings. He opened the seventh – but he walked Billy Butler and was lifted immediately.

Outman did some good things in his outing; the rookie left-hander allowed only three hits and two walks while striking out four, continuing to show a mid-90s fastball. He also earned his first victory of the season, the second of his career.

The Royals’ run off Outman came in the second – when they recorded all three of their hits off Outman, with Miguel Olivo singling in Butler. Andrew Bailey gave up a solo homer to Mike Jacobs in the ninth, ending a string of 16 consecutive batters retired by the rookie right-hander.

The game drew 16,057, a big improvement on the previous night’s 10,156. The bad news as far as the A’s are concerned: Wednesday night’s attendance was the highest of the entire nine-game homestand. The team is averaging 18,030 fans per night, the second lowest in baseball after Pittsburgh.

Sourced via sfgate.com

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SAN FRANCISCO, May 13 — Here was the moment Ryan Zimmerman said he would gladly accept in exchange for his 30-game hitting streak.

In the seventh inning, with the Nationals rallying and Zimmerman still hitless, Giants Manager Bruce Bochy chose to intentionally walk the 24-year-old third baseman. The move backfired: Elijah Dukes drove in two runs with a broken-bat single, the key hit in the Nationals’ 6-3 win over San Francisco.

Zimmerman’s streak — just the seventh of 30 or more games this decade — quietly ended here Wednesday afternoon. Zimmerman went 0 for 3 with two walks, failing to hit the ball out of the infield. In his final at-bat in the ninth inning, he grounded into a force play, then stood stoically at first as the crowd at AT&T Park rose to give him a standing ovation.

“I’ll tell you, it makes you appreciate how much 56 really is,” he said afterward, laughing.

Zimmerman was still a month’s worth of games from Joe DiMaggio’s steroids-impervious record, which has stood since 1941. But the chase had reverberated throughout baseball and, in some ways, diverted attention from the Nationals’ appalling start. Moments after the game, ESPN broadcast the end of the streak as its lead story, and several players looked up at the clubhouse television to watch.

“He put us on the map a little bit with what he did,” Nationals Manager Manny Acta said.

Zimmerman had said that he would happily trade the streak for a win, and that’s pretty much how it went down. After another horror show the night before, the Nationals (11-21) hinted at something of a future as they finished an eventful West Coast swing 4-4. Right-hander Shairon Martis, 22, is now 5-0 as he throttled his former team on two hits in seven innings. First baseman Nick Johnson had four hits and two RBI — his seventh RBI in the past two games — and Kip Wells even registered a save.

Throughout the streak, Zimmerman had seemed a man apart, calmly and rhythmically stroking hits while his club went up in flames. In the end, though, it was his streak that was a sidelight: Zimmerman played almost no role Wednesday in the Nationals’ offense, which scored 49 runs during the eight-game trip.

The at-bat that will be remembered came in the seventh, with the Nationals leading 2-0 and runners at first and second. It had been rare that Zimmerman made it this interesting; he extended his streak on his first at-bat in 14 of the 30 games, and on the second at-bat in nine games.

Left-hander Barry Zito, looking much tougher than last year, had gotten Zimmerman to ground into a double play in the first inning. In the third, he battled Zimmerman over a 10-pitch at-bat and then walked him.

This time, his first pitch was in the dirt. It one-hopped catcher Steve Holm and dribbled to the backstop. Both runners moved up. Bochy was thus left with a decision over whether to pitch to Zimmerman or walk him intentionally to create a force.

Bochy decided to walk him, drawing a smattering of boos from the fans who were aware what was going on. “Once the wild pitch happened, we had no choice,” Bochy said. “You are behind on the count and you have the hottest hitter in baseball up there. You are just trying to limit the damage.”

Neither Zimmerman nor Acta seemed bothered by the move.

“No way, it’s the game,” Zimmerman said. “They’re trying to win the game, not cater to my hitting streak.”

Acta said: “I understood what Bruce did totally. You have to do it in that situation. I would have done it myself.”

Bochy brought in right-hander Merkin Valdez to face Josh Willingham. Willingham scorched a line drive to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who speared it above his head with the white of the ball still showing.

After that, however, Dukes shattered his bat by looping a base hit into center field, scoring two more runs.

“I told you every day that I’d rather win than continue the streak,” Zimmerman said. He acknowledged that he was disappointed to see it go. Then he added: “It would have sucked a lot more if we had lost.”

“I’m not relieved it’s over, because I’d like to have done it as long as I can,” he said. “But it will be nice to kind of go back to your routine and not be worried about every hit.”

Sourced via washingtonpost.com

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BOSTON — When it came right down to it, Jonathan Papelbon only had one option left in what could have been a dire situation for a lot of closers.

Runners were at the corners with nobody out, and all the Rays needed was a sacrifice fly, a soft grounder to the right side or any kind of hit. But Papelbon put his foot down on the proverbial clutch and brought his fastball to the highest gear he has. And the Rays went down in succession. Three straight whiffs ended a thrilling, 4-3 win for the Red Sox on Sunday night at Fenway Park.

“Pap really turned into Pap,” said Red Sox manager Terry Francona.

Carlos Pena was the first to go down. After Papelbon fell behind him 3-1, he finished him with a 96-mph heater for strike two and then 95 for the first out. On strike three, Jason Bartlett stole second. Now, the Rays knew that a single could not only tie it, but put them ahead.

Papelbon wasn’t having any of it. He blew a 95-mph pitch past B.J. Upton to end that four-pitch at-bat. Now, Papelbon’s options opened up again. He no longer needed a strikeout. Any kind of out would do it. But he delivered the K anyway, reaching back for a 96-mph fastball that Carl Crawford swung right through, handing the Red Sox the rubber match of the three-game series.

“I basically put myself in a situation where I had to go into punchout mode,” said Papelbon. “That’s not always the situation I want to be putting myself in, but it is what it is. I always know that that gear is there. It’s just, when do I need to bring it out?”

This was the perfect time. The Red Sox had just gone ahead in the bottom of the eighth to break what had been a 3-3 tie.

With David Ortiz, believe it or not, still looking for his first home run of the season, the slugger played the role of setup man this time. Big Papi led off the inning by lofting a double off the Green Monster. Ortiz scooted to third on a wild pitch and there was still nobody out.

Then, the Red Sox simply had the right man at the plate in Jason Bay, and the red-hot left fielder delivered again, lofting a Monster double of his own against Dan Wheeler that put the Red Sox ahead for good.

Bay leads the Majors with 11 RBIs in “close and late” situations.

“There’s hitting and then there’s hitting when it counts,” said Bay. “Don’t expect me to do it every time, but in those situations, you want to come through. Wanting and doing are two different things, but it’s definitely a little more gratifying, yeah.”

For Ortiz, there was also plenty of gratification. The star slugger is hitting .224, and his homerless stretch has now reached 116 at-bats. Maybe this was the big hit that will get Big Papi going.

“I think I’ve been working on my swing this year more than ever,” Ortiz said. “Sometimes when you don’t see the results that you expect, it’s a little frustrating. But this is a game that nobody says is going to be easy. It’s a long season. You have to keep on fighting and the results will come.”

Ace Josh Beckett went six innings and allowed six hits and three runs, walking three and striking out five. Beckett took a no-decision. Ramon Ramirez (3-0, 0.55 ERA) got the win, recording just one out.

The Rays (15-18) got one in the top of the first, as speedster Crawford roared home all the way from first on a Pat Burrell single that was lined off the Green Monster.

But back came the Red Sox, as Bay started a second-inning rally with a double. Bay moved to third on a flyout to right by Mike Lowell and scored on a fielder’s choice grounder by J.D. Drew.

The Red Sox (20-12) had some cause for concern to start the top of the fourth, when second baseman Dustin Pedroia exited the game with a strained right groin. However, the injury isn’t believed to be serious and Pedroia should be back in the lineup on Wednesday night in Anaheim, Boston’s second game on the upcoming West Coast swing.

In the fifth, Boston rallied with nobody on and two outs. Jeff Bailey hammered a double off the wall in center. Jason Varitek followed by lining an RBI double to left to give the Red Sox the lead. Nick Green made it a 3-1 game when his wind-blown popup fell for a hit in short right.

For the Red Sox, it was nice to finally be able to do at least a little something against Matt Garza, who had owned Boston in his previous six starts.

“I thought we swung the bats good,” said Pedroia. “A lot of hard-hit balls. The last few starts he had against us, there weren’t really any hard-hit balls, so hopefully that means we’re turning the corner on facing him. But he’s got great stuff and he’s going to be good for a long time.”

But Tampa Bay would chip away against Beckett. An RBI single by Crawford in the fifth cut Boston’s lead to one. Bartlett lofted a sacrifice fly to right in the sixth to tie it.

Finally though, the Red Sox had the last laugh against a Rays team that had beaten them in six straight series, including the 2008 American League Championship Series.

They needed Papelbon’s high-wire act to finish the job.

“I take my chances with Pap,” said Ortiz. “He knows how to get it done. He’s unbelievable.”

Sourced via .mlb.com

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The Boston Red Sox have swept the first two series of the season against the Yankees, winning all five games. Like most things in their fierce and ancient rivalry, there is precedent for that. But it happened so long ago that Babe Ruth was still a student at St. Mary’s Industrial School for Boys.

The last time it happened (in series totaling at least five games) was 1912, when the Red Sox won 105 games and the World Series. The Yankees lost 102 and finished last in the American League. The difference is not as stark anymore — the Yankees are .500 and decimated by injuries — but the mood at Yankee Stadium on Tuesday was as bleak as the blustery weather.

The Red Sox blitzed Joba Chamberlain early and never let the Yankees recover, taking a 7-3 victory and a sweep in the waterlogged two-game series. Chamberlain humbled the Red Sox for the rest of his outing, setting a career high with 12 strikeouts in fewer than six innings. But it was not enough.

“It’s not fun,” Manager Joe Girardi said. “You’ve got to take a chip out on your shoulder tomorrow. We need to play better. We can’t dig ourselves a hole.”

The Yankees lost Jorge Posada to a torn right hamstring on Monday, and they are eager for Alex Rodriguez to join the team, perhaps this weekend. But the Red Sox also have no home runs from their main power source, David Ortiz, yet they have found a way to start 17-10.

With Kevin Youkilis out of the lineup because of back trouble and Jacoby Ellsbury lost to a hamstring pull after three innings, the Red Sox rode a four-run first inning and a resourceful Josh Beckett to a win. Beckett allowed 10 hits in six innings, but just three runs.

Chamberlain allowed four runs before his first out. After that, he worked five and two-thirds innings, allowing an infield single and no runs. Three other batters reached base (two walked, one was hit by a pitch), and 12 struck out.

“It seemed like his stuff kicked it up a notch,” Boston’s Jason Varitek said. “He looked like he was up closer to 95 a lot. He had a good mix of his pitches.”

As Varitek noticed, though, the fastball was much harder after the first inning. When Jason Bay hit a three-run homer on a belt-high pitch down the middle, the radar gun read 91 miles an hour.

Catcher Jose Molina, starting in Posada’s absence, said he would implore Chamberlain not to conserve velocity early in games. Molina said it seemed as if Chamberlain was not letting loose at first.

“I saw 89, 90 early, but then I saw 94, 95,” Molina said. “It’s four or five miles difference. As a hitter, that’s a huge difference. If that’s the case, he needs to throw like he did from the second inning on.”

Chamberlain was pitching on the day that his mother, Jacqueline Standley, made headlines for her arrest Saturday in Nebraska; she is accused of selling a gram of methamphetamine to a police officer for $110 in February. Chamberlain’s father, Harlan, raised him as a single parent.

It was natural to wonder if the unusual nature of Tuesday’s outing — from awful to overpowering — somehow sprang from off-field stress. Even Girardi admitted it could have played a part. “We aren’t immune to issues in our life,” he said.

Chamberlain did not discuss it directly but said: “I’ll never make an excuse, ever. That’s just the type of person I am. I let my team down, and that’s the biggest disappointment.”

Whatever the reason, Chamberlain looked lost in the first. He went to a 2-0 count on three of his first four hitters, and to a 2-1 count on the other. Ortiz singled in a run before Bay’s blast to the seats in left field.

“Obviously, you want to choke yourself,” Chamberlain said. “But there’s only so much you can do. If there was a hard wall, I’d probably hit my head against it a few times.”

There was no hint then that Chamberlain was about to embark on an overpowering effort. Twelve of his final 14 outs were strikeouts. He kept the Red Sox flatfooted, mixing fastballs, sliders and changeups to baffle a sophisticated lineup.

Nine of the strikeouts came on called third strikes. After hitting Bay (who was then 10 for 17 against the Yankees this season) with a first-pitch fastball in the fifth, Chamberlain had two on and two out against the dangerous Mike Lowell. He got him looking on a 2-2 changeup, pumping his fist and howling.

Chamberlain was nearing 100 pitches, but Girardi let him face two more hitters. He fanned both, one on a fastball and the other on a slider. His pitch count reached 108. Chamberlain exceeded that total just once last season, and Girardi did not let him do it again.

“I wasn’t necessarily happy about that, and he understood that,” Chamberlain said. “But he also understands it’s my fifth start and we’ve got a lot more to go.”

That was a recurring theme in the clubhouse: a long season with an ending that has not begun to unfold. But the Yankees are clearly searching for answers, which was evident at the end of the game.

They used six relievers, including the rookie Mark Melancon, who threw 14 balls among his 22 pitches in the ninth inning. It was painful to watch, and most fans did not. There was not much intrigue at the end of another Boston sweep, just bullpen auditions for a depleted team in an emptying stadium.

Sourced via nytimes.com

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Earlier this month, Alex Rodriguez pledged to keep his focus on baseball and nothing else. Thursday, he lived up to that promise.

After playing in his first rehab game since having hip surgery on March 9, A-Rod brushed off questions about Thursday’s Daily News’ story that cited excerpts from Selena Roberts’ upcoming book, “A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez,” which is scheduled to be released on Monday.

The book alleges that A-Rod used performance-enhancing drugs after 2003, and cites a former high school teammate who said Rodriguez was on steroids while at Westminster Christian High in Miami.

“I’m not going there,” Rodriguez said not once, but twice. “I’m just so excited to be back on the field and playing baseball. My team’s won two games (in Detroit). Hopefully I can come back and help them win some more.”

When the questions kept coming, Rodriguez asserted once more, “I’m not going there,” and walked away from the group of reporters that had gathered to watch him in his first game action since early March. The subject was also ignored inside the Yankees clubhouse, where Rodriguez’s teammates shied away from commenting on the emerging details of the book. Manager Joe Girardi said it sounded like “a lot of ‘He said, she said’ stuff,” adding that as far as he’s concerned, the book release shouldn’t be much of a distraction for Rodriguez or the Yankees.

“We’re going to move on. Alex has talked about how he’s going to move on, so to me, the focus about Alex Rodriguez is that he had eight at-bats today,” Girardi said. “We’re moving on.

“There’s an easy way for players not to make it a distraction. All they have to say is, ‘I have no comment.’ They’ve been down this road before. Things come up in Yankeeland that people want to talk about and players don’t necessarily want to talk about. They do have practice with these things. I’ll watch to make sure it’s not a distraction, but I don’t see it being a distraction.”

The Yankee third baseman will certainly face a multitude of questions regarding Roberts’ book, but if any player in the game is equipped to handle that situation, it’s Rodriguez. “Alex is used to being under a microscope every day, anyway,” Girardi said. “He’s been playing that way for a long time, so you don’t expect this time to be any different when he comes back just because he’s been on the DL.”

At least on the field it was a positive day for A-Rod, who went 1-for-6 with two walks and a home run in an intrasquad game at the Yankees’ minor league complex in Tampa. Both before and after his appearance, Rodriguez took batting practice on an adjacent field. He did conditioning work in the outfield following the intrasquad game, and also worked out inside the complex.

“It’s been a long time,” said Rodriguez, who could rejoin the Yankees within a week. “It feels good to be in the (batter’s) box and see some professional pitching. It just feels good to actually execute the swing and track some pitches.”

Even though he was hitless through his first five appearances Thursday, Rodriguez still ran out each play – strikeouts and walks included – albeit at half-speed. He mentioned afterward that running the bases at 100% and “making some good turns” were on the list of things to perfect, but that the biggest hurdle he’ll have to clear will be sliding in game situations.

“Sliding, I think I have the most reservations about,” he said. “But everything else, we’re on schedule.”

Rodriguez is scheduled to DH again in an extended spring game today, and he could be back at third base as early as tomorrow.

“He feels great, he’s in a good place and he’s excited to get back,” said Girardi, who spoke with Rodriguez after Thursday’s game. “He’s finally getting to do what he loves to do. This has probably seemed like forever for Al from the last time he played a game until today.”

Sourced via nydailynews.com

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