Yankees deny A-Rod’s last wish before his final game

This is the end for A-Rod. On Friday night, he’ll play what he says is his final MLB game, suiting up one last time for the New York Yankees before they release him and he goes home until next season when he’ll start back with the club in an advisory role.

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You can see how the A-Rod saga ends in New York, live right here on Yahoo Sports as the Yankees play the Tampa Bay Rays. It’s the MLB Free Game of the Day, which means you can stream the game on the Yahoo Sports app, Yahoo’s Sports Home, MLB index, video home and this very post. Local blackouts apply, per MLB rules. The pregame ceremony begins at 6:50 p.m. ET, and the first pitch is now at 7:35 p.m. ET, pushed back 30 minutes from the original start time of 7:05 p.m. ET.

For his final game, A-Rod had a request: He wanted to play third base again. And Yankees manager Joe Girardi had an answer: No. This definitely isn’t the Derek Jeter farewell tour, folks.

From the New York Daily News:

“It would have just been fun again,” Rodriguez said. “It wasn’t a big request. I get that we’re playing games, so I totally get the answer. Obviously I played as a Yankee, a big portion of it was playing third base. I thought it would have been fun.”

Girardi indicated that Rodriguez’s lack of work in the field – he hasn’t played there since May 23, 2015 – and the fact that the Yankees sit only 3½ games behind the Red Sox for the second AL wild-card spot were enough for him to veto the idea.

“It’s not that I wouldn’t like to see it, but we’re in a part of the season where we’re trying to win; we’re still in this,” Girardi said. “It would be different if everything was determined. I still believe that we can win.”

A-Rod will DH and might be in the cleanup spot like he was Thursday night against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park, his only other start since announcing Sunday that he’d be retiring. On Thursday night, A-Rod went 0-for-4 in the Yankees’ 4-2 win. He did, however, drive home a run on a fielder’s choice.

The Yankees are planning some sort of on-field farewell for A-Rod, though the details are hush-hush. What will be more interesting is if A-Rod can shake off the rust — he’s only had six at-bats this month — and do something memorable at the plate.

Remember: Jeter got a walk-off hit in his final home game as a Yankee. No pressure, Alex.

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