NEW YORK -- Alex Rodriguez was back with the Trenton Thunder on Friday and hit what might be his last home run in a while. John Brown Jersey UK . With a lengthy suspension looming, the New York Yankees star hit a two-run homer to left in the third inning of a 6-2 win over the Reading Fightin Phils. Rodriguez is among 14 players facing discipline in Major League Baseballs Biogenesis investigation, and suspensions are expected on Monday -- with Rodriguez facing the longest penalty. "I am mentally prepared to play for five more years," he said, later adding, "Its not time for me to hang it up. I have a lot more left in me. I will keep fighting." Coming back from hip surgery and a quadriceps injury, A-Rod hopes to rejoin the Yankees for Mondays series opener at the Chicago White Sox, what would be his first time back in the major leagues since last October. "I think its possible," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said in San Diego. Rodriguez is counting on it. "Unless I get hit by lightning, and these days you never know," he said. "A night like tonight illustrates to me that I can play now and I can play for a long time," he said. But he might not get back to the Yankees any time soon because of his alleged connection to the closed anti-aging clinic thats been accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs. Most targeted players face 50-game bans, including All-Stars Nelson Cruz of Texas and Jhonny Peralta of Detroit. Many are expected to follow the example set by Milwaukees Ryan Braun last month and accept penalties without a challenge before an arbitrator. First-time offenders who challenge suspensions can continue to play until their appeals are decided. "Lets just get it over with," Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. The Yankees expect A-Rod to be accused of recruiting other athletes for the clinic, attempting to obstruct MLBs investigation, and not being truthful with MLB in the past. Baseball has been attempting to gain a suspension through at least 2014 and has threatened a possible lifetime ban. Negotiations over Rodriguezs penalty are likely to go through the weekend, with the 38-year-old resisting such a lengthy stretch on the sidelines. He seems to think the Yankees are trying to keep him off the field. While he remains on the disabled list, New York is reimbursed for his salary by insurance. "There are a lot of layers," he said. "I will say this: There is more than one party that benefits from me not being on the field. Its not my teammates and not the Yankees fans." Rodriguez feels singled out. "I think it is pretty self-explanatory. I think that is the pink elephant in the room," he said. "I think we all want to get rid of PEDs. Thats a must. All the players, we feel that way. But when all this stuff is going on in the background and people are finding creative ways to cancel your contract and stuff like that, I think that is concerning to me. Its concerning to present players and I think it should be concerning to future players, as well." And he concluded boos were caused by his strong performance that helped the Yankees beat Philadelphia in the 2009 World Series. "I think there were a lot of Phillies fans out there, and they dont have good memories from me," he said. Baseballs highest-paid player with a $28 million salary, A-Rod has three law firms working for him -- Gordon & Rees; Reed Smith; and Cohen, Weiss & Simon. Rodriguez seemed to be on the verge of rejoining the Yankees before the leg injury last month. New York assigned him to Trenton for two games and has not said where hell go afterward. It is not clear whether Commissioner Bud Selig would attempt to use provisions of baseballs labour contract to prevent Rodriguez from playing until arbitrator Fredric Horowitz rules on an appeal. Lawyers from management and the union plus attorneys for individual players spent Friday working their way through the many issues resulting from mass suspensions. For instance: Will there be different treatment for minor leaguers depending whether they are on 40-man rosters. Under the drug rules, 40-man roster players serving a 50-game suspension would have major league games in September count as time served after the minor league seasons end. Seattle catcher Jesus Montero, Mets outfielder Cesar Puello and Baltimore third baseman Danny Valencia might be in that group. But that time wouldnt count for players not on 40-man rosters, whose suspensions would spill into 2014. Yankees outfielder Fernando Martinez could be in that category. For many players, the damage to their images already has been inflicted. Rodriguez has faced fan taunting since 2009, when he said he used PEDs while with Texas from 2001-03. Nike Inc. confirmed Friday that it no longer has a relationship with Braun, the 2011 NL MVP who accepted a 65-game suspension last month that ended the Milwaukee outfielders season. Brett Favre Jersey UK .Prince Fahad bin Jalawi Al Saud, an international relations consultant to the president of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, told a French Olympic website that resolutions passed by the IOC last month open the door for a possible joint bid with mens events on Saudi territory and womens competitions in Bahrain. Andre Reed Jersey . As the season progresses, the gaps are narrowing and the fields are closing in on the leaders. A week ago, there wasnt an obvious challenger in the mens or pairs event. PHOENIX -- Yovani Gallardo has always pitched well against Arizona. Home, away, doesnt matter. He has the Diamondbacks number. Gallardo outpitched Chase Anderson in seven strong innings to remain undefeated against Arizona, lifting the Milwaukee Brewers to a 4-1 win over the Diamondbacks on Thursday. "Sometimes you look at it as how this game is," Gallardo said of his track record against Arizona. "There are certain things like that I wish I could explain, but I just cant." A day after losing to Arizona on a walkoff hit, the Brewers beat the Diamondbacks for the third time in four games behind Gallardo (5-4). The right-hander entered the game with a 1.93 ERA against the Diamondbacks and lowered it by holding them to a run over seven innings. He improved to 7-0 in 10 career starts against Arizona and earned his 86th career win, tying Ben Sheets for fifth on Milwaukees all-time list. "Weve had him on the ropes several times, but his somehow wriggles out of it, but today he just kind of dominated us," Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said of Gallardo. "There wasnt a lot of opportunities out there for us and when we had the opportunities we didnt do anything with them." Milwaukees Carlos Gomez had a run-scoring single in the eighth inning to extend his career high-hitting streak to 15 games and reached base for the 32nd straight game, the majors longest active streak. Francisco Rodriguez worked around a hit in the ninth inning for his majors-leading 23rd save this season and 327th career, moving past Roberto Hernandez for 14th all-time. Gallardo did most of the heavy lifting. Coming off two solid starts, he retired the first 10 batters he faced until Chris Owings blooped a single to right in the fourth inning. Owings reached third, but Gallardo stranded him there. The Diamondbacks had two hits to start the fifth inning and scored a run on Didi Gregorius grounder, but that was it off Gallardo. He alloweed five hits and struck out four, improving to 5-0 in six career starts at Chase Field. Jonathan Ogden Jersey. . "He gets to where hes throwing a lot of strikes and you know hes going his rhythm going then," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said. Anderson (5-2) wasnt bad, either. He had a superb start to his major league career, becoming the first Diamondbacks rookie to win his first five starts. Even though he pitched well, his run came to an end in his last start, when he allowed two runs on four hits in five innings of a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The right-hander was good again against the Brewers, holding them without a hit until Aramis Ramirez led off the fifth inning with a double. Lyle Overbay followed with a run-scoring double and Elian Herrera added an RBI single to put Milwaukee up 2-0. Ramirez made it 3-1 with a run-scoring single in the sixth after Jean Segura wound up on second with an infield single and a throwing error by Anderson. Anderson allowed two earned runs on five hits and struck out five in six innings. Hes allowed two earned runs or less in six of seven starts. "That was one of the better days Ive felt out there," Anderson said. "A couple of bloop hits, but limited the damage and felt good." Gomez struck out three times before hitting a run-scoring single in the eighth off Matt Stites, who made his major league debut. NOTES: Gregorius, a shortstop throughout his career, made his first career start at third base to give Martin Prado a rest. He was tested right away and made a nice play, snaring leadoff hitter Scooter Gennetts sinking liner. ... Brewers OF Ryan Braun, who has played 999 career games, and C Jonathan Lucroy were given the day off. ... RHP Josh Collmenter will start Friday when the Diamondbacks open a three-game series against San Francisco. RHP Marco Estrada will pitch for the Brewers to start a three-game road series against Colorado on Friday. NFL Jerseys Cheap China Jerseys CheapWholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Jerseys NFL Cheap ' ' '
