A-roids

By Erick Arzate (Chicago, IL) 

TRENTON—Boos, applause and chants of “P-E-D! P-E-D!” filled the air at tonight’s Trenton Thunder game as a full-capacity crowd gathered to watch Alex Rodriguez play what could prove to be his last game in professional baseball.

Rodriguez, often referred to as to A-Rod, is awaiting a ruling from Major League Baseball in connection with taking performance-enhancement drugs as part of the Biogenesis scandal. The sport’s most well-paid athlete, 38, was playing with the double-A Yankees affiliate as he recuperates from a hip injury.

Fans at Arm & Hammer Park ranged from an octogenarian Yankees aficionado to 13-year-old Bianca Dimiano, who claimed to be Rodriguez’s “number-one fan.”

“I feel like crying,” Dimiano said when she found out during the fifth inning that ESPN was reporting that Rodriguez would be suspended through the end of the 2014 season.  She said she traveled three-and-a-half hours to attend the game.

Rodriguez was denied the opportunity to punctuate his last game with any fireworks, however, going 0-0 with four walks in the Thunder’s 7-5 victory. As Rodriguez took the field, the park filled with applause that quickly turned to boos.

“What he did was wrong,” said Carl Perkins, an 80-year-old Yankees fan who has been following the sport for 60 years. “It’s not fair to the other players because he makes players who are good look bad.”

           

But others in the stands were happy to catch one more glimpse of the superstar. Patrick Moriarty, a 14-year-old Yankees fan who came to the game specifically to watch Rodriguez play, said, “I’m going to enjoy him now while I can.”