In the 8th inning while A-Rod was on the bench talking to Yankees manager Joe GIRARDI.
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The Yankees went on to win 6-3.
Rodriguez received an ovation for about 30 seconds.
Rodriguez said he saw Archer before the game and kidded him, telling the Rays right-hander, “Take it easy on the old man”.
Just as Hal Steinbrenner and his wife, Christina, presented Rodriguez a framed Yankees jersey No. 13, the entire gathering on the field was rushed into the Yankees’ dugout to get out of the suddenly inclement weather.
Only once before had two players homered in the first at-bat of their debuts in the same game, and they were on opposing teams: Brooklyn’s Ernie Koy and the Phillies’ Heinie Mueller in the first inning at Philadelphia’s Baker Bowl on April 19, 1938.
New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez plays third base during the ninth inning of his final baseball game as a Yankee player, against the Tampa Bay Rays at Yankee Stadium in New York, Friday, Aug. 12, 2016. But with the Yankees on the cusp of playoff contention, Girardi reneged on his promise and only started him Thursday and Friday after using him to pinch-hit Wednesday.
He did not have to specify the “screw-ups”: his suspension for being involved with performance-enhancing drugs (after denials that he ever had used them), his suit against Major League Baseball and the Yankees, and his public criticism of the team physician. The 24-year-old teammates hit back-to-back home runs in their first big league at-bats, something that had never been done before in MLB history. He was a supporting actor in the Jeter-Rivera epoch, and when the stars left the cast he could not carry the show. But owner Hal Steinbrenner told him on August 3 the end was at hand, and Rodriguez said last Sunday he had accepted an offer to play one final home game and then become a team adviser through 2017, tasked with mentoring young players.
Rodriguez’s locker still had two photographs of himself with daughters Natasha and Ella and three more of the siblings together.
Matt Andriese (6-4) gave up four home runs in five innings on a humid afternoon with a 95-degree temperature at game time. Girardi turned down Rodriguez’s request to play third base in his finale. Gardner said X-rays were negative. “I wanted it to be something”, Giradi said.
New York’s move leaves the team responsible for $27,103,825 remaining in his $275 million, 10-year contract.
Having seen his lights go down on Broadway, is Miami 2017 in his future?
“I was too nervous to be even think about going to talk to anybody”, Austin said.
The game brought to an end an era that started in 2004.
The 14-time All-Star and three-time most valuable player has 3,115 hits and 696 home runs, fourth all-time.
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With no more batting practice to take, he planned to watch the Yankees on television Sunday. I know he hasn’t played in the field in a long time.
