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February 21, 2008

A-Rod: Comments on drug tests were exaggerated

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - Alex Rodriguez says he was exaggerating when he claimed he was given nine or 10 drug tests last year.

Rodriguez made his original statement Wednesday, before the Yankees' first full-squad workout of the year. If A-Rod had been tested that many times, either he was selected for an unusually high number of random checks or he might have been subjected to additional tests - which would happen, for instance, if a player tests positive for a banned stimulant for the first time.

"I know it was more than one," Rodriguez said after Thursday's workout. "It's a few. The lesson is, you've got to be very, very specific with what you say because everything then will come back and people are going to ask you. I learned my lesson."

Under baseball's drug-testing rules, players are tested at least twice: within five days of arriving at spring training and again at a randomly picked unannounced date. There also are 600 additional random tests, of which as many as 60 may be conducted during the offseason.

"I was simply stating, just for the sake of saying that I felt we have a very good testing system in place," Rodriguez said. "I think we have an effective system in place. I was commending major league baseball. That was the story, not how many times I got tested."

Asked whether he tested positive for a stimulant or had been subject to reasonable cause testing, Rodriguez responded: "No."

Initial positive tests for a stimulant are not announced.

Posted by Mike McDermott  at 4:17 PM | Permalink

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