Alex Rodriguez returned to Yankee Stadium on Friday night for the first time since an injury last season and appealing his 211-game suspension for violating Major League Baseball’s drug policy. He received cheers, but mainly a lot of boos.
However, the boos were stronger with every at-bat. He struck out three times and went 0-4 in the game. He is out of the lineup Saturday for extra precautions. Manager Joe Girardi said he wanted to rest Rodriguez because of the Friday night extra inning game and did not want to put too much strain on his injury.
Rodriguez is not surprised by the reactions. From ESPN:
“It was awesome, it was just an amazing experience,” Rodriguez said Saturday morning before the Yankees hosted the Detroit Tigers in a matinee game. “The fans were incredible. Such great energy and such a great response. It was pretty overwhelming. I was having a hard time keeping my emotions in check.”
“For the last 14 years, there’s always been a mix. It’s not going to be, I mean do you ever get 100 percent on anything? Even Chicago was a mix,” he said, referring to his season debut earlier this week. “Boston is a mix. Well, maybe not Boston. No mix in Boston. But I was overwhelmed. Yesterday was a day I’ll never forget.”
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