NEW YORK -- Alex Rodriguez admitted that the slide he used to take out Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia on Tuesday was a "little awkward," but he offered no regrets on the play. "I always play hard, and I'm never going to apologize for the way I play," Rodriguez said. "If I had the same play today, I'm going just as hard. That's it. You just try to keep it clean, that's all. It's part of the game."
In the eighth inning of Tuesday's game, Jorge Posada chopped a bases-loaded grounder that Red Sox third baseman Mike Lowell whipped to second base. Pedroia received it to force out Rodriguez, who slid in hard and then appeared to throw an elbow into the infielder.
After the game, Pedroia told reporters that he thought the play was "a little cheap." Rodriguez said that his intention was to go in "hard and clean" to break up the double play, which he succeeded in doing, as Posada was ruled safe on a run-scoring fielder's choice.
"I like Pedroia. I have a lot of respect for those guys over there," Rodriguez said. "Every run for us is huge, and I'm not just going to go in there like a little baby doll and try to hug him. I have a lot of respect for him, but I'm trying to play hard. By any means, it was not intentional."
Pedroia told reporters after Boston's 7-3 victory that he would remember the play the next time Rodriguez slid into second base, dropping his arm slot. Asked about Pedroia's comment, Rodriguez deflected.
"That's a good idea," Rodriguez said. "I played short for a long time. In the course of a long year, you're going to have plays where guys touch you, and some guys hit you really hard. I barely touched him."
Manager Joe Torre said that the aggressive slide was unremarkable, and opined that plays of that ilk have long been accepted in baseball.
"The only thing I saw is that he went in hard," Torre said. "I didn't notice anything unusual."
Rodriguez said that the play was indicative of the Yankees' current situation. Tuesday's loss dropped New York to four games under .500, at 20-24, and 10 1/2 games behind the American League East-leading Red Sox.
"We're playing for our lives right now, and trying to do the best we can, and taking every pitch and every inning as if it's the last thing," Rodriguez said.
Pedroia did not believe that the play would carry over into future games between the Yankees and Red Sox.
"We'll go out [on Wednesday] and play," he said. "That's the main thing. I don't think we're going out there thinking about the way he's sliding into second base. We're just going out there and playing, playing to win. That's about it. That's all we can do."
