A-ROD Suspended for 2014 Season: Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz Reduces Ban From 211 to 162 Games … Alex Rodriguez Plans to Sue in Federal Court

A-ROD STRIKES OUT … SUSPENDED FOR 2014 BASEBALL SEASON.

Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz has handed down his decision and it bans the New York Yankee’s Alex Rodriguez for the entire 2014 MLB season. Horowitz’ ruling actually reduced A-Rod’s suspension from 211 games to 162; however, it is still the longest penalty ever for a drug violation. The 162 game ban plus any post-season games in 2014 of the 14-time All-Star and three-time Most Valuable Player is a 100% endorsement of Major League Baseball’s accusations that Rodriguez scored an array of PEDs from Biogenesis.

Alex Rodriguez get hit by pitch by Ryan Dempster of Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park as the crowd boos A-ROD and then cheers after he is hit … A-ROD’s  a CHEATER!!!

Alex Rodriguez has been suspended for the entire 2014 season by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz, who handed down a 162-game ban to the New York Yankees third baseman for his involvement in Major League Baseball’s Biogenesis scandal.

The suspension also includes all potential playoff games in 2014.

Horowitz’s ruling upholds a good portion of the original 211-game suspension levied by MLB, which banned Rodriguez in August after concluding its investigation. Rodriguez continued playing after appealing the decision.

A-Rod vowing to take the fight to federal court.

Statement from Alex Rodriguez:

“The number of games sadly comes as no surprise, as the deck has been stacked against me from day one. This is one man’s decision, that was not put before a fair and impartial jury, does not involve me having failed a single drug test, is at odds with the facts and is inconsistent with the terms of the Joint Drug Agreement and the Basic Agreement, and relies on testimony and documents that would never have been allowed in any court in the United States because they are false and wholly unreliable.

“This injustice is MLB’s first step toward abolishing guaranteed contracts in the 2016 bargaining round, instituting lifetime bans for single violations of drug policy, and further insulating its corrupt investigative program from any variety of defense by accused players, or any variety of objective review. I have been clear that I did not use performance enhancing substances as alleged in the notice of discipline, or violate the Basic Agreement or the Joint Drug Agreement in any manner, and in order to prove it, I will take this fight to federal court. I am confident that when a Federal Judge reviews the entirety of the record, the hearsay testimony of a criminal whose own records demonstrate that he dealt drugs to minors, and the lack of credible evidence put forth by MLB, that the judge will find that the panel blatantly disregarded the law and facts, and will overturn the suspension. (more)

UPDATE I: MLB statement on A-Rod arbitration ruling.

“For more than five decades, the arbitration process under the Basic Agreement has been a fair and effective mechanism for resolving disputes and protecting player rights. While we believe the original 211-game suspension was appropriate, we respect the decision rendered by the panel and will focus on our continuing efforts on eliminating performance-enhancing substances from our game.”

NY Yankees A-ROD Booed in Chicago During First Plate Appearance Following MLB’s PED Suspension

Welcome back Alex Rodriquez … CHEATER!!!

The Chicago White Sox fans booed Alex Rodriquez unmercifully last night  in Chicago in his first plate appearance with the Yankees since the MLB suspended him today for 211 games for PED use. Rodriquez said he would appeal the suspension. All I can say is A-ROD thinks he was booed last night, wait until he takes his first at bat back in Yankee Stadium. He is going to hear more than just Bronx cheers. Yankee fans are going to boo him like has not been heard in years.

CBS News:

Alex Rodriguez stepped up to the plate greeted by a standing boo-vation and blooped a single in his first at-bat of the season.

Hours after Major League Baseball suspended the New York Yankees star through the 2014 season in the Biogenesis drug case, Chicago White Sox fans got their say Monday night.

And, boy, did they let him hear it.

They jeered him during pregame warmups and introductions, and they really tore into him when he walked to the batter’s box leading off the second inning.

Reports Swirl that Oscar Pistorius’ Girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp was Shot Four Times through Bathroom Door, Also Claims that Steroids & Bloodied Cricket Bat Found in Home

Gun shots, steroids and bloodied cricket bats, oh my …

There are shocking new reports from Johannesburg, South Africa and the murder of Oscar Pistorius’ Girlfriend  Reeva Steenkamp. According to a CNN report, Reeva Steenkamp was shot four times through the bathroom door. We have to take this story with some skepticism as the account is from a South African official familiar with the case who was not authorized to release details to the media. However, if true, and obviously a crime scene investigation of Oscar Pistorius’ home could easily prove whether there are gun shots to the bathroom door, this would disprove the “intruder” defense. Oscar Pistorius has been charged with the murder of Reeva Steenkamp.

Oscar Pistorius, the Blade Runner thought he had issues following this race … now he has the race of his life, Pic: Wired

Model Reeva Steenkamp was shot four times through the bathroom door at the home of Olympian Oscar Pistorius, a South African official familiar with the case told CNN on Monday.

She was alive after she was shot and was carried downstairs by Pistorius, said the official, who was not authorized to release details to the media.

The details are the latest to emerge in the shooting death that has roiled the nation, and left South Africans asking what went so terribly wrong inside the upscale Pretoria home of the man nicknamed “Blade Runner” for his lightning-fast prosthetic legs.

Also, The Sun  (pics) and Daily Mirror are reporting that police found steroids and a blood stained cricket bat at the home of Oscar Pistorius. Another piece of information that we have to take presently with a grain of salt, but if true, completely damning to the Blade Runner. According to South African sources, the discovery of the bloodied cricket bat emerged as police sources reportedly told South Africa’s independent City Press newspaper that Steenkamp’s skull had been “crushed”. Another source reportedly told the paper that “There was lots of blood on the bat.”

Police also discovered a blood-stained cricket bat in the Blade Runner’s mansion in Pretoria, South Africa — and evidence of heavy drinking before the 3am shooting

Cops are now probing a theory that Pistorius may have blasted Reeva in an explosion of fury caused by the performance-boosting steroids.

They are investigating whether murder suspect Pistorius was in the grip of “roid rage” — a side-effect of high doses of the outlawed drugs.

Officers who searched the 26-year-old’s home after lover Reeva was killed in the bathroom are said to have found steroids. Blood samples taken from Pistorius are being tested for the drugs.

A source close to the investigation said: “Steroid drugs were found at Pistorius’s home together with evidence of heavy drinking. That’s why police have specifically ordered that he be tested for steroids.”