"That's bush league! Audrey!"

"I oughta slap you!"

Yesterday was not Alex Rodriguez's day.

Yesterday morning, the Yankees third baseman was slapped all over New York newspapers as stories of him gallivanting around the city with a "mystery blonde" started showing up. Apparently A-Rod capped off the night with this woman by taking her to a strip club.

(By the way, Alex Rodriguez is married.)



However, in typical A-Rod fashion, this wasn't the most controversial part of his day. Not even close.

In case you missed it, here's a short recap of what happened:

The stumbling Yankees were ahead 7-5 with two outs in the ninth at Toronto on Wednesday night, and Rodriguez was on first base when Jorge Posada popped up. A-Rod ran hard and shouted near third baseman Howie Clark, who was playing his first major league game of the season.

"I just said, 'Hah!' That's it," Rodriguez said.

"I heard a 'Mine' call, and so I let it go," said Clark, who thought he was being called off by his shortstop. Clark backed off and let the ball drop as Rodriguez got to third.

Toronto went on to lose 10-5.

So the debate rages on: was what A-Rod did dirty? Was it bush league? It depends on who you ask.

On one side of the debate, you have the A-Rod supporters. They say that what A-Rod did was not against any rules. They say that if what he did really was interference of any kind, the umpire would have called him out. They say it's just a baseball player doing anything he can to win.

On the other side, there's the people that say that what A-Rod did was cheap and that it was bush league for him to try something like that.

So where do I stand?

Well...it depends on what he said.

Rodriguez says that he just yelled "Hey" at Howie Clark as he was running past. Clark says that he heard A-Rod yell "Mine". You can decide for yourself. Check it.



Now there may not seem to be a lot of difference between A-Rod saying "Ha" and "Mine" but there is. It's actually a big difference. If he just yelled "ha" then I don't really care. Sure, it's a little dirty, but A-Rod was just trying to make a noise to distract Clark. Whether I agree with it or not, Clark needed to make the catch.

But if Rodriguez actually did call "mine" then it's a whole different dirty story.

Let's think about this...starting back in little league, kids are taught that when someone calls for a pop fly, everyone else is supposed to clear out and let that person catch the ball. They're also taught that the shortstop has authority over the third baseman on infield popups. There's 2 reasons for the "call off" rule:

1. So 2 players don't collide and drop the ball
2. So 2 players don't collide and injure themselves.

This is where the specifics of what Rodriguez said come into play. If he did indeed call "mine" as Clark claims he did, then I would say it does count as interference. Clark was going for the pop fly and Rodriguez shouted at him from behind. This is a completely a classless move simply because Alex Rodriguez called Clark off the ball from behind, when Clark had no way of knowing whether it was A-Rod calling him off or a member of his own team. Of course he moved out from under the ball. For all Clark knew, it was a teammate calling him off.

After the game, A-Rod defended himself by saying that that kind of thing happens all the time and that it happens to him "2-3 times a week" and I don't buy that for a second. If all players in MLB try this tactic, we would have known about it. If it was so commonplace, how come the Toronto manager, as well as their players and commentators, said they have never seen anyone try that before? Hell, even Johnny Damon, A-Rod's TEAMMATE, said that he didn't think it was legal. The fact that none of Rodriguez's teammates came to his defense speaks for itself as well.

Sure, Ozzie Guillen and Barry Bonds have come out to defend A-Rod, but as Claire told me earlier tonight, "Bonds and Guillen...there's the moral compass of Major League Baseball!"

People may defend Rodriguez by saying that what he did was no different than the old fake-throw move or the hidden-baseball-in-the-glove-at-first trick, but it's absolutely nothing like that. Clark was called off by a member of the opposing team that was impersonating one of his teammates without having any way of verifying who it was calling him off.

Need further proof that what Rodriguez did was wrong? A college player got called out on interference for the same thing recently. So why was the college player called out and Rodriguez wasn't? Because it's up the the umpire to decide whether they think it's interference or not. Maybe the ump last night missed it. But the mere fact that it could be illegal in some umpires' eyes makes it a bush league move.

Do I really blame A-Rod for what he did? Not really. Hey, he did it and got away with it, so why not? But he should be prepared to be called out for the dirty play.

Whether he said "ha" or "mine" will never be known. The next time the Yankees and Blue Jays play, A-Rod will get drilled, and he should take it like a man and go to first base. And that will be the end of it.

Maybe he and Clark can go out to a strip club later and make up.