Alex Rodriguez has unlikely supporter in Hank Aaron: Report

Alex Rodriguez has been hard at work repairing his tattered image and beside cultivating new fans by high-fiving kids too young to be haters, the Yankees pariah is getting support from one unexpected person. 

Namely, Hank Aaron, the Hall of Famer.

"I am rooting for him," Aaron told Newsday. "Despite all of the things that people say he had been involved in, I'm rooting for him to come back and have a great year."

Still, the former home-run champ is unsure of how 40-year-old A-Rod will do this season in his return to baseball and the Yankees.  Rodriguez missed the past season due to a year-long suspension for his admitted role in the Biogenesis PED scandal.

"I am very much anxious to see what he's going to do," Aaron said. "I wish him well, but I just don't know. When you're [away] from playing the game the whole year and go out and then have to face kids that are throwing 90 miles an hour, it's a tough thing."

Aaron — who fought through his own form of adversity — ended up losing his home run crown to Barry Bonds, another tainted star. Yet, Hammerin' Hank made it clear that he believed records, including his, are meant to be broken.

"And I'm not sitting here saying the reason that a lot of these guys are breaking records are because of steroids," Aaron said. "I can't say that because I'm not God. I don't know [if] they've been in steroids, I can't say that. The only thing I can say is I wish them well and that they do the best they can. They have to live and meet their own maker, not me."

If Rodriguez manages to hit another 100 runs or so, and nears Aaron's home run mark of 755, the one-time career home-run king said he wouldn't mind watching him approach the milestone.

"If I wanted to go to the game and A-Rod was playing, I certainly would go to the game," said Aaron. "I've met A-Rod, and to be honest, between him and me, he's been nothing but a friend to me. I liked him."

That's a high-five A-Rod could surely use.

Man bidding to have charity lunch with A-Rod ... to grill him on his PED accusations: Report

If one Brooklyn man has his way with A-Rod at a charity lunch, the T-bone won't be the only beef getting grilled.

Joe Schiff has saved up $3,500 with plans on bidding to have lunch with Alex Rodriguez as part of David Ortiz’s Celebrity Golf Classic in order to ask the Yankees third baseman about the slugger's PED allegations, according to NJ.com. 

Schiff explained the dastardly reason behind his bid.

“I thought it would be pretty cool to sit down with one of the most controversial people in the world,” Schiff said. “What I’m thinking about asking A-Rod is: Are you guilty?

“I want to make it as awkward as possible for him. … He’s ripping off the Yankees off for $28 million a year. I think it’s wrong.”

It's not exactly Cameron Diaz hand-feeding him popcorn.

Schiff has already bid against himself and said he is willing to go all the way up to $3,500, if necessary, though one could question the strategy behind divulging that information with bidding open until Dec. 14.

It's quite possible A-Rod could bid $3,501 just to get out of the lunch date.

Rodriguez’s arbitration hearing has been completed, and he is awaiting a decision on his 211-game suspension from MLB for alleged PED use.

Schiff, who works in software sales, also wants to ask Rodriguez about his dating life, remembering A-Rod's antics during the 2012 playoffs when he tried to retrieve a girl’s phone number from the Yankee Stadium seats.

“You’re a pretty smart guy, but I don’t know how you make all the wrong choices in life,” Schiff said of Rodriguez, who is dating Torrie Wilson. ”Why can’t you just settle down?”

Schiff did concede he would be willing to talk baseball at lunch, if he got shut down by a publicist.

Source: A-Rod feels Yankees and MLB are conspiring against him

Alex Rodriguez's silence regarding the allegations of using performance-enhancing drugs has led some skeptics to believe the New York Yankees star is guilty by not coming out and speaking publicly about his dire situation.

Now, a source behind the scenes says the embattled slugger is "scared" that higher powers are conspiring to discredit his career and get him thrown out of baseball.

"He's scared, because he thinks this is so unbelievably false, and he is wondering who could be behind this," said a source, according to The New York Daily News.

"He thinks something could be going on larger than anyone might think," said the source referring to last week's Miami New Times story linking A-Rod to a Miami-area performance-enhancing drug scandal.

The source added that Rodriguez is wondering if the Yankees or even Major League Baseball could be behind the explosive allegations and are out to get him.

Jeter won't comment on A-Rod PED report until teammate himself talks first

Derek Jeter has taken to the field for a full week now and even hit in the batting cage Monday for the first time since breaking his ankle last October.  The Yankees shortstop took 55 grounders — but doesn't move move laterally — and said his left ankle is healing right on schedule. He expects to be ready by Opening Day on April 1.

"Everything's been good, everything's right where it needs to be," said Jeter.  "The goal is April 1, that's when we start our season. I'm progressing, right where I need to be."

While Jeter was upbeat and open about his rehab, one issue the Captain would not discuss is the recent allegation of PED use by Alex Rodriguez — until his teammate talked about it first.

"Let him speak first," said Jeter, true to his m.o.  "Everybody knows that.  I don't comment on anyone until they speak first, so let him address his situation before I comment on it."

Jeter did say he was happy about playing with the Yankees newest acquisition, Travis Hafner, and probably wouldn't play in the team's first spring training game on Feb. 23.

"I guess I'd have to sit down with our trainers and doctors to see what their plan is in terms of when I start playing games," Jeter said. "You've got to progress and I've been progressing just fine.

"Once everything is where it's supposed to be, you just get in baseball shape, which doesn't take that long, I don't think."

Jeter is only taking grounders directly head-on and— unlike his answer to the A-Rod question — isn't moving side-to-side on the field just yet.

Jeter even joked about his 2014 contract option — which will be hanging over his head throughout the 2013 season."

"Next year?" Jeter said.  "No.  I'm trying to make it through this week, so, no, I'm not thinking about next year."

A-Rod plans on returning to Yankees 'as soon as possible'

Alex Rodriguez is confident that reattaching his hip or separating himself from a joint MLB and DEA performance-enhancing drug investigation won't keep him from re-joining the New York Yankees this summer.

Despite all the talk that A-Rod's hip surgery is more serious than first reported and the third baseman has been linked to a South Florida PED supplier, he made it clear yesterday that there won't be any early retirement and he isn't going away that easily.

"Alex is working diligently on his rehabilitation and looks forward to getting back on the field as soon as possible," a source told The New York Post.

Man suspected of selling PEDs to A-Rod is a lifelong Mets fan

The man Major League Baseball and Drug Enforcement Administration agents have accused of peddling performance-enhancing drugs — and have linked to New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez — is a native New Yorker and lifelong Mets fan.

Anthony Bosch — who is suspected of supplying the PEDs to A-Rod and as many as 20 professional athletes — grew up in Queens before he moved to Coral Gables, Fla. as a kid.

"Tony's been a baseball aficionado since the day I met him," former business partner Roger De Armas, who grew up in Astoria with Bosch, told The New York Post.

Bosch loved his hometown Mets  so much he even founded and managed a softball team of medical professionals named the Miami Meds — a tongue-in-cheek reference to his beloved team.

Bosch and De Armas hooked up later in Miami as adults and founded Miami Med Management Consultants in 1986.  The company — which sold home medical equipment — folded, leading to a lawsuit from an investor, said De Armas.

In 2010, Bosch would open Biogenesis — an anti-aging clinic next to the University of Miami.

Records from the since closed clinic were obtained by The Miami New Times and opened up a Pandora's Box of accusations against Rodriguez and the other prominent athletes.  Biogenesis reportedly sold testosterone cream, human growth hormone and other prohibited drugs to A-Rod over the past four years.

Rodriguez has denied any involvement with the clinic.

"I still consider Tony a friend," said De Armas, who ran into Bosch last year. "I figure the last thing he wants to be doing is being on the phone explaining what he was doing — or not doing — the last four years."

Mets 1, Yankees 0.

A-Rod denies report linking him to PED purchases

An  explosive report in the Miami New Times Tuesday that claims Alex Rodriguez purchased illegal performance-enhancing drugs from an anti-aging clinic over the past four years has been challenged by the New York Yankees slugger.

A spokesman for A-Rod denied the report — which included other athlete's names — hours after it was released this morning, according to The New York Post.

"The news report about a purported relationship between Alex Rodriguez and Anthony Bosch are not true," the PR firm Sitrick And Company incorporated said in a statement.

"Alex Rodriguez  was not Mr. Bosch's's patient, he was never treated by him and he was never advised by him.  The purported documents referenced in the story — at least as they relate to Alex Rodriguez — are not legitimate."

Rodriguez faces suspension by Major League Baseball if the evidence is authenticated.  MLB released a statement Tuesday after the story broke and said they are in the "midst of an investigation."

The MLB statement read:

"We have the best and most stringent drug testing policy in professional sports, we continue to work with our doctors and trainers to learn what they are seeing day-to-day and we educate our players about the game’s unbending zero-tolerance approach," the statement read.

"We remain fully committed to following all leads and seeking the appropriate outcomes for all those who use, purchase and are involved in the distribution of banned substances, which have no place in our game. We are in the midst of an active investigation and are gathering and reviewing information. We will refrain from further comment until this process is complete.”

The Yankees will not act upon the information until MLB has sorted it out, according to an industry source.

"We fully support the Commissioner's Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program," the team said in a statement.  "This matter is now in the hands of the Commissioner's Office. We will have no further comment until that investigation has concluded."

A-Rod, other MLB players linked to recent PED purchases: Report

A report in the Miami New Times on Tuesday alleges that Alex Rodriguez purchased illegal performance-enhancing drugs from a South Florida anti-aging clinic over the prior four years.

The explosive report says that the newspaper obtained records from Biogenesis, a clinic that has closed and was owned by Anthony Bosch, the son of Florida physician Pedro Bosch who was linked to Manny Ramirez when the former Los Angeles Dodger was suspended for illegal PED usage in 2009.

According to records given to the Miami New Times, the clinic repeatedly mentions Rodriguez, as well as many other sports stars and prominent major league baseball players — including Gio Gonzalez, Nelson Cruz, Melky Cabrera and Bartolo Colon, reports Yahoo! Sports.com.

Rodriguez, the New York Yankees star third baseman has already admitted using illegal PEDs while he played with the Texas Rangers from 2001 through 2003, but has denied using anything since.

According to the clinic's records obtained by the newspaper, A-Rod — identified in the records as  "Alex Rodriguez," "Alex Rod," or "Cacique," the name of a pre-Columbian Caribbean chief — paid $3,500 in 2009 for what is identified as "1.5 HGH (sports perf.), creams test., glut., MIC, supplement, sports perf. Diet."

Both the HGH and testosterone cream are banned by MLB.

Another record links  "Cacique" to IGF-1 — a banned substance that stimulates insulin production and muscle growth.

Yuri Sucart — A-Rod's cousin and purported drug mule when he was in Texas — was also identified as having paid Bosch $500 for a weeklong supply of HGH in 2009.  Sucart was banned from any non-public areas involving the Yankees including the clubhouse or team buses back in 2011.

Other baseball players identified in the clinic's records include former Yankee players Cabrera and Colon — who were both suspended by the league last season — and Nationals pitcher Gonzalez and Rangers outfielder Cruz.

The Yankees will not act upon the information until Major League Baseball vets the situation, according to an industry source.  This could lead to Rodriguez being suspended if the evidence is able to be obtained and authenticated — which could take a while.

A-Rod is currently recovering from hip surgery and is not expected to be back with the team until at least the All-Star break.