Alex Rodriguez

The competitive nature in Kobe Bryant forever lingers. But there's no reason for the Lakers star to fret about the team's 114-80 loss Wednesday to the Utah Jazz at Honda Center, let alone its 0-4 preseason record. Instead, Bryant has his mind on other things. Once a few media members trickled away from his locker room stall, Bryant quickly shifted focus to another result that bothered him. "The Yanks lost again, huh?," Bryant asked a reporter. They sure did. The Yankees' 2-1 loss Tuesday to the Detroit Tigers put them in a 0-3 deficit in the American League Championship Series.

Brian Cashman , the New York Yankees' general manager, said this in spring training: "The story that we're too old gets written so much that at some point they'll be right. " This appears to be that point. The Yankees learned last week that Derek Jeter's left ankle had fractured once again, and he'll be 39 when he returns after the All-Star break. Then again, the Yankees thought he might be ready for opening day. Mariano Rivera is 43, and he says this season is his last.

The Yankees did not have a change of heart overnight. Alex Rodriguez and Curtis Granderson were out of the lineup Wednesday night for Game 4 of the American League championship series against the Detroit Tigers. That game was postponed due to rain, but Manager Joe Girardi has opted to go with the same card when the game is made up Thursday afternoon. That leaves Rodriguez on the bench for the third time in nine postseason games. It also means that the highest-paid player in baseball won't be starting for the Yankees in an elimination game.

New York Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez will make more money this season than the entire Houston Astros roster combined, and he'll probably miss at least half of the regular season while recovering from hip surgery, according to the Associated Press. Rodriguez is under contract to receive $29 million. The Astros budget is about $25 million. The highest-paid player on the Astros, first baseman Carlos Pena, is slated to earn $7.25 million this season. "When we get on the baseball field with whomever the opponent is, they are not sitting there saying: 'Well, their players make more money than us so therefore you're deemed a winner and we're deemed a loser,'" Astros manager Bo Porter said.

Despite rumors to the contrary, Alex Rodriguez is not on the trading block, New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said Wednesday. Cashman called a report that the Yankees had discussed trading Rodriguez to the Miami Marlins "100 percent false. " Still, the highest-paid player in baseball hasn't been of much use to the Yankees lately. He's 3 for 23 with no extra-base hits or RBIs during the playoffs and was slated to start a third postseason game on the bench before Wednesday's Game 4 of the American League championship series -- an potential elimination game for the Yankees -- was postponed due to inclement weather.

As spring training dawned in 2009, Alex Rodriguez faced the cameras and confessed to his use of performance-enhancing substances from 2001 to 2003. “My mistake … I was immature and I was stupid,” he said then . Yet that very same year, the New York Yankees star was supplied with performance-enhancing drugs , according to a report posted Tuesday by Miami New Times. The newspaper cited 16 records from a now-closed Florida clinic that indicated Rodriguez was provided with human growth hormone and other substances as recently as last year.

New York 4, at Baltimore 0: Alex Rodriguez announced his return by hitting a three-run homer on the first pitch of his late-starting season, CC Sabathia pitched a four-hitter and the Yankees ended a losing streak at five games by beating the Orioles. at Boston 7, Tampa Bay 3: Jason Bay and J.D. Drew homered as the Red Sox scored five runs before an out was recorded in the sixth inning. The Rays' winning streak came to an end after three games.

On the day baseball issued its accounting of the steroid era, Jose Canseco wondered aloud why the Mitchell Report did not include Alex Rodriguez. On the day Sports Illustrated reported that Rodriguez tested positive for steroids six years ago, Canseco offered a terse response to the news. "You guys are still questioning what I had to say?" he said Saturday.

He did not just do it once. Alex Rodriguez admitted Monday that he used performance-enhancing substances for the three years before baseball initiated steroid tests in which violators would be identified and suspended. "I was stupid for three years," the New York Yankees' Rodriguez told ESPN.

In the wake of Tuesday's report linking Alex Rodriguez to performance-enhancing drugs , the New York Yankees star could be subject to the hollowest of suspensions: a ban on playing in games he would sit out anyway. Major League Baseball could not suspend Rodriguez on the basis of a newspaper report. However, if league investigators can use the documents in the report to uncover sufficient evidence that Rodriguez used banned substances, MLB can suspend him even in the absence of a positive drug test.

Does anyone have a phone number for Chipper Jones? The New York Yankees are looking for him. It's no secret that with Alex Rodriguez sidelined until at least the All-Star break because of hip surgery, the Yankees are in need of some help on offense. General Manager Brian Cashman on Monday said there is one guy he wouldn't mind bringing aboard to help: Chipper Jones, who retired after last season after a 19-season career with the Atlanta Braves. But Cashman said he did not have a working telephone number for Jones' agent, B.B. Abbott, so he told the reporters they could report his interest through Twitter as a way of letting Jones know.

Alex Rodriguez is unlikely to ever play for the New York Yankees again, people familiar with the Yankees' situation with their troubled third baseman told the New York Daily News, no matter what happens regarding new allegations that he is again involved with performance-enhancing drugs. According to numerous people in baseball, the hip surgery Rodriguez is now recovering from will probably derail his playing career, leaving him in such a diminished role that he might consider a settlement or an outright retirement.

New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez has already admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs from 2001 to 2003. But now A-Rod is said to be one of several people who received PEDs from a now-closed Florida clinic as recently as last year, according to a report Tuesday by the Miami New Times. A spokesman for Rodriguez has denied the report. Writers from around Tribune Co. discuss whether the Yankees should try to find a way to void the slugger's hefty contract and if such an attempt would be successful.

As spring training dawned in 2009, Alex Rodriguez faced the cameras and confessed to his use of performance-enhancing substances from 2001 to 2003. "My mistake … I was immature and I was stupid," he said. Yet, that very same year, the New York Yankees star was supplied with performance-enhancing drugs, according to a report published Tuesday by Miami New Times. The newspaper cited 16 records from a now-closed Florida clinic that indicated Rodriguez was provided with human growth hormone and other substances as recently as last year.

In the wake of Tuesday's report linking Alex Rodriguez to performance-enhancing drugs , the New York Yankees star could be subject to the hollowest of suspensions: a ban on playing in games he would sit out anyway. Major League Baseball could not suspend Rodriguez on the basis of a newspaper report. However, if league investigators can use the documents in the report to uncover sufficient evidence that Rodriguez used banned substances, MLB can suspend him even in the absence of a positive drug test.

New York Yankees General Manager Brian Cashman said it's possible third baseman Alex Rodriguez could sit out the entire season while recovering from hip surgery. The 37-year-old Rodriguez had surgery on his left hip last week. The team said the rehabilitation time was expected to be six months, which would sideline the star slugger until the All-Star break. On Friday, Cashman said it was possible A-Rod could be out all year. The Yankees signed free agent Kevin Youkilis during the off-season to play third base while Rodriguez is out. Cashman said Rodriguez is doing everything "in his power to put himself in the position to get back and be healthy and productive.

Alex Rodriguez was removed from the New York Yankees' lineup at a key moment of Game 3 of the American League division series Wednesday night. It was a bold move by Manager Joe Girardi and one that paid off -- pinch hitter Raul Ibanez hit the game-tying home run in the ninth inning and the game-winning homer in the 12th to give the Yankees a 3-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series. But even with those spectacular results, don't expect to see the Yankees' slumping superstar on the bench for the start for Game 3. When Girardi was asked Thursday if he expected Rodriguez to be back in the lineup for the 4:37 p.m. Pacific time game, Girardi said : "Yeah.

Alex Rodriguez is unlikely to ever play for the New York Yankees again, people familiar with the Yankees' situation with their troubled third baseman told the New York Daily News, no matter what happens regarding new allegations that he is again involved with performance-enhancing drugs. According to numerous people in baseball, the hip surgery Rodriguez is now recovering from will probably derail his playing career, leaving him in such a diminished role that he might consider a settlement or an outright retirement.

NASHVILLE -- Alex Rodriguez had struck out seven times in his first 12 at-bats in the American League championship series. New York Yankees Manager Joe Girardi called for a pinch-hitter, and Rodriguez told his manager about a painful hip. The Yankees sent Rodriguez for an MRI examination that night, with no announcement. Rodriguez had surgery on his right hip three years ago, and the Yankees feared the hip might be injured again. The MRI examination showed no injury. It was not until after the end of the season - and the end of Rodriguez's miserable postseason - that a follow-up exam revealed a torn labrum in his left hip. The Yankees announced Monday that Rodriguez would undergo surgery on the hip in January and would sit out four to six months thereafter.