If you're an Orioles fan, and who can resist those lovable lunks right now, you might want to catch up on your rest over the next couple of days because you're going to have to be on your game this weekend even if your favorite team isn't.
The Yankees are coming and there's a pretty good chance they're bringing Alex Rodriguez with them, so you're going to want your lungs to be in tip-top shape. It's not as if you're going to be able to just sit around waiting for Mark Teixeira to come to bat anymore.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi tipped his hand a little Monday. He created a theoretical timetable that seemed to target Friday at Camden Yards as the most likely date for A-Roid to return from the disabled list after a couple of months on the sideline recovering from hip surgery.
"Is Friday the day? I can't tell you," Girardi said Monday in New York. "So much of it just depends on how he feels and when he believes that he's ready to go. I have not really put a date on it, because I want to see how he bounces back on Wednesday or even tomorrow. ... When he feels that he's ready, we're probably going to take him back."
Rodriguez, who went 3-for-6 with two home runs in an extended spring training game Tuesday, is ahead of schedule. He originally figured to return in late May, but his rehabilitation program at the Yankees' camp has been going well - certainly a lot better than the image makeover he's going to need in the wake of the new book about him by Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts that was released Monday.
The book, A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez, portrays Rodriguez as a guy who was taking steroids as far back as high school and includes the bombshell accusation that he tipped pitches to opposing hitters during his years with the Texas Rangers in exchange for reciprocal treatment when he was at the plate.
The tipping charges have been disputed by many of his former teammates - and, frankly, it's hard to imagine that he could have masterminded such a conspiracy without it leaking out a lot sooner than this - but A-Rod's recent admission to steroid abuse during the Rangers years and the many apparent inconsistencies in his public attempt to control the damage from Roberts' revelation of his positive steroid test have made it pretty easy to believe just about anything about him.
