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Howard Simmons/New York Daily News
Alex Rodriguez admires what could be his last home run as a professional ballplayer.
TRENTON — If these indeed turn out to be the final two appearances ever on a professional baseball field for Alex Rodriguez, the embattled Yankees slugger is going out with a bang.
And not without a fight.
With MLB finally expected to levy a lengthy – and perhaps lifetime — suspension against him SuA-Rod day or Monday stemming from the Biogenesis scandal, A-Rod was back playing minor-league rehab games Friday night.
After belting a mammoth home run in Double-A Trenton’s game against Reading, a defiant Rodriguez also continued swinging with all his might when asked about a possible forced ending to his PED-tainted career.
“It’s not time to hang it up. I have a lot of fight in me,” Rodriguez said after going 1-for-2 with a walk and handling two chances in five innings at third base. “We have a process and the process is not (finished) yet.”
Asked if he believed he was being “singled out” in MLB’s investigation, Rodriguez responded, “What do you think?” He later was asked why he believes that is the case.
“I think it’s pretty self-explanatory. I think that’s the pink elephant in the room,” Rodriguez said. “I think we all agree that we want to get rid of PEDs, that’s a must. All the players, we feel that way.
TOM MIHALEK/AP
A-Rod is swarmed by fans and media, with one fan holding a sign reminding him of the imminent Biogenesis suspension.
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“But when all this stuff is going on in the background, and people are finding creative ways to cancel your contract, that’s concerning for me, concerning for present and I think it should be concerning for future players, as well. There is a process, I’m excited about the way I feel tonight and I’m going to keep fighting.”
Rodriguez, who is attempting to come back from his second career hip surgery and a more recent strained quad, also is expected to play for the Thunder on Saturday night. A-Rod added that GM Brian Cashman told him that “the tentative plan” is for the three-time AL MVP to join the Yankees on Monday in Chicago and “hopefully” be activated from the disabled list while both sides await word on MLB’s plan for a suspension.
“I think it’s possible, yeah,” Joe Girardi said.
“Unless I get hit by lightning,” Rodriguez joked. “And these days, you never know.”
Of course, this was A-Rod’s first game action since he was ordered back to New York from Scranton on July 21 for an MRI that revealed a Grade 1 quad strain. That injury forced him out of the scheduled final game of his first 20-day minor-league rehab assignment with Scranton – kicking off a week of back-and-forth between the 14-time All-Star and the Yankees’ medical staff over the severity of the injury.
