Alex Rodriguez

AFP/New York

Disgraced drugs cheat Alex Rodriguez was greeted with a mixture of cheers and boos as he hit a single in his first exhibition game at-bat since returning from a performance-enhancing scandal.
The New York Yankees slugger hit a two-strike single to left field on Wednesday in a spring training plate appearance. He also walked and hit into an inning-ending play in the Yankees’ 3-1 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies. “I am just feeling really good that I get to play the game I love,” said the 39-year-old Rodriguez. “I was happy I made contact.”
When Rodriguez walked to the plate for his first bat, he heard mainly cheers but mixed in with those was some noticeable booing from the crowd of 9,600 at Steinbrenner Field.  Rodriguez was among more than a dozen players suspended as a result of the Biogensis clinic scandal uncovered in 2013, which saw steroids and human growth hormone distributed to players.
But “A-Rod” received the longest ban, in part because of attempting to impede Major League Baseball’s investigation of the matter. Rodriguez, a three-time American League Most Valuable Player, was originally given a 211-game ban but it was later reduced to 162 games, the entire 2014 campaign.

Tanaka on track for pre-season debut
Japanese hurler Masahiro Tanaka is moving closer to his first game of spring training for the New York Yankees. The Yankees have been keeping a close eye on Tanaka, looking for trouble related to the partially torn right elbow ligament that sidelined him for part of last season.
He threw a 30-pitch bullpen session on Wednesday at the Yankees’ spring training facility in Tampa, Florida.
“Gradually, I’ve been able to build up pretty well thus far,” Tanaka said in comments posted on the team’s website. “Whenever they want me to go, I think I’m ready to go.”
Tanaka will probably pitch a simulated game before being scheduled for his first start in an exhibition game. “We’re getting closer,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi, predicting Tanaka’s first exhibition game would be late next week.