end less time carping about the umpiring. The guess here is that Toronto wins a more offensive contest and ties it up heading back to Rogers Centre.-- Jerry Crasnick?The Blue Jays are going to take Game 2. I

NEW YORK -- Alex Rodriguez will play his final game for the New York Yankees on Friday night and, as of now, the only thing hes planning for Saturday morning is a hangover.If I wake up on time tomorrow, I would watch tomorrows game, Rodriguez said in a news conference before the Yankees game against the Tampa Bay Rays. But I may have a couple of cocktails tonight, so I may not wake up by game time tomorrow. But Ill definitely watch Sundays game.Rodriguez is batting third in the Yankees lineup against Chris Archer, after which he will be unconditionally released by the club following 11-plus seasons, two American League MVP awards and one World Series title.Thereafter, he will be a free agent for the first time since the brief period in 2007, when he opted out of the 10-year, $252 million contract he signed with the Texas Rangers in 2001 that became the property of the Yankees when they traded for him before the 2004 season.Technically, he can be approached by -- and can sign with -- any of the 29 other clubs, who would be obligated to pay only a pro-rated portion of the major league minimum salary to acquire his services.Rodriguez was asked if a phone call from another team would be difficult to resist, especially since he sits just four home runs shy of 700, a plateau reached by just four other players in big league history.Well, unless its Hal [Steinbrenner], I probably wont be answering the phone for anyone, Rodriguez said. Im going to go and take a nap for a minute. I need some rest, kind of recover and reflect; spend some time with my two little ones. Its been a great run and an incredible journey. I never thought when I first entered Fenway Park as an 18-year-old that I would play for 10 years, forget 22 years. Im going to take some time for myself.After a surprising 2015 season in which he hit 33 home runs despite missing all of 2014 while on suspension for PED violations in connection with baseballs Biogenesis scandal, Rodriguez has struggled throughout 2016. He is hitting .199 with nine home runs and 30 RBIs in 64 games as a designated hitter. Rodriguez, in fact, struggled in the last two months of 2015, hitting just .191 after July 31.And the consensus within the Yankees upper management is that Rodriguezs struggles are not just an extended slump.We just havent seen the explosiveness and the production that wed seen the first four months of last year, manager Joe Girardi said. This is not just this year. It happened in August and September of last year, and when you get to a certain age, whenever you struggle, the first thing theyre going to ask, is he too old? As an athlete, those are things that you have to deal with. I dont ever put anything past someone. Im not ever going to say someone cant do something, but what weve seen has led us to make this decision.Rodriguezs final game caps a tumultuous five days that began with an emotional news conference Sunday, when it was announced he would be released as a player but was given the option of continuing with the Yankees organization as a special advisor, an option he indicated he would accept.General manager Brian Cashman made it clear that Rodriguez was free to change his mind, or to play for another team if he so chose. A team source indicated that the offer would remain even if A-Rod accepted an offer from another team.I do not believe Hal would pull it off the table, the source told ESPN. Hals a good guy. Hes a good person. I dont think it ever got bad between Alex and Hal.Said Rodriguez: Hal has given me an opportunity to stay involved with the organization. With all my screw-ups and how badly Ive acted, the fact that Im walking out the door and Hal wants me as part of the family, thats hitting 800 home runs for me. Thats something Ill be able to share with my daughters for a long time.Rodriguez, however, admitted that his relationship with Girardi has been strained over the past month. Before Thursday night in Boston, Rodriguez had started just one game since July 22 -- and, despite his wishes, started just one of the Yankees three recent games against the Boston Red Sox.Its been very difficult, Rodriguez said. I said its been awkward and difficult. But we are a family and weve had a wonderful relationship for the last 10 years. Its been really good. Families have disagreements and thats OK. He has his opinion and I have mine. But in the long run, were going to be fine.And even while sidestepping the question of whether he would play again, Rodriguez didnt rule it out.I said on Sunday that my horizon is Friday and it still is, he said. We want to win the game tonight. Thats still my approach. After all of this, Im going to need a long nap to recover and Ill see where life takes me. Right now, I value wearing this uniform. For me, the Yankees pinstripes is enough.Wholesale NCAA Jerseys . Paul Pierce couldnt believe he missed at the end. Young scored a season-high 26 points to spark a huge effort from the leagues most productive bench, and Los Angeles beat the Brooklyn Nets 99-94 on Wednesday night after blowing a 27-point lead. Cheap NCAA Jerseys . -- Nate Robinson has played for seven teams, so beating one of them is no longer a rare occurrence. https://www.chinajerseysncaa.us/ .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. NCAA Jerseys China .Y. - New York City has been selected to host the NBA All-Star weekend in 2015, with the game played at Madison Square Garden and the slam dunk contest and other skills events held at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Cheap NCAA Jerseys Authentic . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide.Go inside the numbers and matchups that will decide Saturdays Game 2, and then vote for which team will win at the bottom of the page.What we learned in Game 1Terry Francona couldnt have ordered up a more perfect script as Corey Kluber, Andrew Miller and Cody Allen combined to strike out 12 Blue Jays. Miller did throw 31 pitches in 1.2 innings, so he may have more limited availability in Game 2, but Allen threw only 11 in an efficient ninth inning.?-- David SchoenfieldInside the pitching matchupWhen J.A. Happ is on the mound: Happ signed a three-year, $36 million contract that turned into the bargain of the offseason as he went 20-4 with a 3.18 ERA, showing the mechanical changes he made late last season with the Pirates (he raised his arm slot a bit and started taking a more direct stride to home plate) did, indeed, make him a better pitcher.Happ was more of a soft-tosser when he first came up but now throws 92-93. He has developed better command of his fastball, working the outer half of the plate but moving the ball up and down, while mixing in four-seamers and two-seamers. His swing-and-miss rate with the pitch has improved from 15.9 percent in 2014 to 20.5 this year. He throws the fastball a lot: Among qualified starters, only Bartolo Colon and Aaron Sanchez threw a higher percentage of fastballs.His secondary pitches are a slider, curveball and changeup. Happ had one of his best starts of the season back in July against the Indians, allowing one run in seven innings while matching his season high with 11 strikeouts. Happ was especially tough from the stretch, allowing a .201 average with runners in scoring position. Like a lot of pitchers, the OPS against him increases the third time through the order:First: .618Second: .615Third: .750When Josh Tomlin is on the mound: Tomlins season is divided into three parts. He had a 3.43 ERA through July, then fell apart in August when he allowed 46 hits and 35 runs in 26.2 innings. He found himself again September, posting a 1.69 ERA and allowing just one home run. He then had a good start against the Red Sox in the division series, allowing two runs in five-plus innings and no home runs. As a finesse right-hander, keeping the ball in the park often determines his bottom line. He allowed 36 home runs, so this recent stretch is either a good sign or a lot of good luck.Hes not going to beat himself -- with 20 walks in 174 innings, he had the lowest walk rate among qualified starters -- but he needs all his pitches to work. The key pitch may be his cutter: It was a bad pitch for him most of the season and then really bad in August, when batters hit .407 and slugged .847 off it. In September, batters hit .188 without an extra-base hit in 34 plate appearances.Tomlin had a notable reverse platoon as lefties hit .229/.247/.438 off him while righties hit .299/.323/.522. Torontos lineup, of couurse, skews right-handed.dddddddddddd The weird thing about that split is righties hit just .191 off his fastball. Every other pitch (slider, curveball, changeup) seems to work better against lefties. In other words, it will be interesting to see how Tomlin attacks the meat of the Toronto lineup.Player in the spotlightFrancisco Lindor. This series could be end up being his showcase event for a national audience that hasnt seen him play much and he got off to a good start with a two-run homer in Game 1. Hell likely win the Gold Glove Award but hes also the teams No. 3 hitter, a switch-hitter who hit .301/.358/.435. Lindor is one of many Indians with a large home/road split, hitting .344 at home and .258 on the road, with 23 of his 30 doubles at home.?-- SchoenfieldWhat will decide Saturdays gameThe Indians have a .946 OPS in the first three innings of games this postseason, jumping out to early leads, as they have not trailed at any point after the third inning so far in the playoffs. The best OPS in the first three innings of any playoff team since 2010 (minimum 2 games) was .940 by the 2011 Arizona Diamondbacks. --Daniel McCarthy, ESPN Stats & InfoDid You Know?The Blue Jays have had six pitchers reach the 20-win plateau, but only J.A. Happ and Jack Morris reached the postseason. When Jack Morris won 20 games in 1992, the Blue Jays won the World Series. --Daniel McCarthy, ESPN Stats & InfoChoosing sides: Who will win?? The Indians have every reason to feel they have something special going on, but Fridays series opener might have ended differently if Toronto had been able to summon even one clutch early hit against Corey Kluber. The Jays went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position against Kluber and wasted several opportunities in the early innings. Josh Tomlin isnt Kluber, and the Blue Jays have what it takes to send the series back to Toronto tied 1-1 if they can focus on hitting and spend less time carping about the umpiring. The guess here is that Toronto wins a more offensive contest and ties it up heading back to Rogers Centre.-- Jerry Crasnick?The Blue Jays are going to take Game 2. Indians starter Josh Tomlin is far more attractive opponent than Corey Kluber. The Jays hitters actually got to Kluber in Game 1, but they just couldnt deliver the crucial big hit to put a run on the board. That will change against Tomlin.-- Andrew MarchandWhere the series standsTomlin replaces Trevor Bauer, who cut his finger fixing a drone and was pushed back to Game 3. (This never happened to Sandy Koufax or Bob Gibson.) Its not necessarily a bad thing for Cleveland, as Tomlin has been pitching better. The Jays will have to adjust to Tomlins finesse after seeing all that power pitching in Game 1.?--?Schoenfield ' ' '