Tommy Lasorda says Alex Rodriguez ‘trying to ruin the game’

Lasorda did not hide his displeasure with A-Rod when speaking to ESPN’s Adam Rubin at a Baseball Assistance Team charity event:

“He should have gotten more. What he’s done? He’s trying to ruin the game. You can’t do that ... He’s going to keep on trying to do something, but he’s got a suspension. He should just sit back and fill it out.”

The longtime skipper added that he once thought Rodriguez was “doing it legitimately,” adding to his disappointment, which was seemingly already prevalent after his god son, Mike Piazza, fell short of Hall of Fame induction earlier in the month.

“You know there’s one word that’s beginning to be big in the voting, and that word is ‘suspicion.’ But they don’t know for sure. How do you fix that? I don’t know how you fix it.”

More than suspicion surrounds A-Rod, which is why he is being forced to sit out the upcoming season. The slugger allegedly was involved in a pile of wrongdoing related to the Biogenesis scandal and has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs earlier in his career.

Lasorda believes those transgressions should keep Rodriguez out of Cooperstown -- and result in a pitch to the kisser if he steps back into the batter’s box:

“When someone breaks the rules, they don’t belong in [the Hall of Fame] ... If I’m pitching and I know that guy up there is using that stuff, I’d hit him right in the mouth. I’d say, ‘Go in and take another shot of it.’”

Rodriguez has filed two separate lawsuits against MLB and one against MLBPA as a result of the PED scandal and punishment as well as the ensuing ruling of arbitrator Fredric Horowitz.

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