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CHICAGO - The Major League Baseball Players Association formally appealed Alex Rodriguezs 211-game suspension Wednesday, sending the case to an independent arbitrator. Union spokesman Greg Bouris confirmed the appeal and said the players association had no further comment. Rodriguez, who was back at third base and batting third for the New York Yankees against the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night, said he had "no reaction" to the filing of the grievance. "I dont think any of us thought it was going to be any different," Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. "As far as having a reaction, its kind of what I expected. Its part of the process that was negotiated between MLB and the players association and you let it play out. I expect him to play a lot. We need him to help us." Major League Baseball declined comment. Rodriguez was suspended through the 2014 season on Monday when the league penalized 13 players following an investigation into Biogenesis of America, a shuttled Florida anti-aging clinic accused of distributing banned performance-enhancing drugs. The other 12 players accepted 50-game suspensions, but Rodriguez said he planned to fight. Union head Michael Weiner said the punishment for the slugger was "way out of line." Under the collective bargaining and joint drug agreements, discipline must meet a "just cause" standard. Rodriguezs punishment was scheduled to begin Thursday, but he is allowed to keep playing until the grievance is heard by arbitrator Fredric Horowitz. He isnt expected to rule until November or December at the earliest. Coming back from hip surgery in January, Rodriguez played his first game of the season Monday night in the series opener at Chicago. The three-time AL MVP singled in his first at-bat and was 2 for 6 with a walk in his first two games. He followed that up by going 1 for 5 with a single and walk on Wednesday. The 38-year-old Rodriguez has been booed lustily since his return, except for when he was hit by a pitch in the third inning of the Yankees 3-2 loss Tuesday night. The Yankees are off Thursday and then open a three-game series against AL Central-leading Detroit on Friday night in New York. It will be the first home game for Rodriguez since the suspension was announced. "I am curious what its going to be like Friday," Girardi said. "Im not sure. And I dont really know what the appropriate response is. I dont think its my right to tell people how to respond certain situations." Asked how he expects to be received, Rodriguez said, "Im not sure." How would he like the crowd to react? "Same way you would like them," Rodriguez said. "Again, Im just super excited to come home, put on the pinstripes and play for the greatest fans in baseball." Rodriguez, who agreed to a 10-year, $275 million contract with the Yankees in December 2007, is the majors active leader with 647 career homers. He helped New York win the 2009 World Series, batting .365 with six homers and 18 RBIs in the post-season that year. In an interview on MLB Network Radio on Sirius XM, former teammate Johnny Damon said Wednesday that title would be diminished if Rodriguez used performance-enhancing drugs during the playoff run. "I really havent gotten to think that far, but if thats how he was able to hit in the post-season, like he did that year, then yeah, absolutely," said Damon, who has been friends with Rodriguez since they were teenagers. "Then you start going and saying, Well, was anybody on their team cheating? "Theres just so many different factors that determine if a team wins, and A-Rod was a huge determining factor." Asked about Damons comments, Rodriguez said he hadnt seen what he had said. "I talk to Johnny all the time so no disappointment whatsoever," Rodriguez said. Sterling Brown Bucks Jersey . The head of USA Boxing came out swinging Tuesday with an open letter to Tyson -- a former Olympic hopeful himself -- that accuses the former heavyweight champion of trying to poach fighters who might be candidates for the U. Vin Baker Bucks Jersey . Nine days before the opening ceremony, organizing committee chief Dmitry Chernyshenko said Wednesday that Sochi is "fully ready" and will deliver safe, friendly and well-run games that defy the grim reports that have overshadowed preparations. https://www.bucksrookiesshop.com/Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar-City-Edition-Jersey/ . -- Linebacker Myles Jack ran for four touchdowns, defensive end Cassius Marsh caught a scoring pass, and No. George Hill Jersey . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. Milwaukee Bucks Jerseys . The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Lions have not announced the hiring, which was first reported by ESPN. Lombardi, the grandson of former Green Bay Hall of Fame coach Vince Lombardi, has been an offensive assistant on Sean Paytons New Orleans staff since 2007. LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. -- Gonzagas fourth straight lopsided victory didnt come as easy as the final score would suggest.Jonathan Williams and Zach Collins led a balanced offense with 13 points apiece, helping the 11th-ranked Bulldogs shrug off a slow start and pull away to an 82-62 win over Quinnipiac in the first round of the AdvoCare Invitational at Disney World on Thursday night.The Bulldogs (4-0) also got 10 points each from Jordan Mathews and Josh Perkins to advance to the semifinals of the eight-team tournament.Like I told the guys, were not going to be up by 30 every game at half. Its Division I basketball, Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. Youve got to scratch and claw, and find your way through it, and I thought we did a nice job of doing that.Gonzaga used a 12-2 spurt to open a 37-25 lead late in the first half. Silas Nelsons basket put the Bulldogs up 48-35 with just under 15 minutes to go, and the closest Quinnipiac (0-3) got after that was 10. Mathews made 3-pointers on successive trips down the floor, sparking a run that enabled the Bulldogs to build the margin to 23.Not every game is going to be an easy game. Quinnipiac, they came out fighting but we fought back. We didnt let the first half dictate what was going to happen in the second half, said Collins, a 7-foot freshman forward. We executed much better in the second half. We played much better defense. ... We just fought, stayed together, didnt let it get us down and just kept rolling.Peter Kiss led Quinnipiac with 18 points and Daniel Harris added 10. The Bobcats limited Gonzagas leading scorer, 7-foot-1 Przemek Karnowski, to eight points on 4-for-10 shooting despite not having a player on the roster taller than 6-foot-9 forward Chaise Daniels.Im proud of our effort, proud of our togetherness. We have a very inexperienced group, a young group, QQuinnipiac coach Tom Moore said.ddddddddddddWe come into this game, obviously, against a program like Gonzaga with a different agenda than they had to have. Were trying to find ourselves, he added. Overall, tonight was a step forward for us. We have a long way to go, a lot of things to get better at. This is a blue-blood program that we played tonight. Im really proud of our effort from start to finish.BIG PICTUREThe Bulldogs figure to get a better idea of where they are over the next two days, when they could face a ranked opponent as well as another on the verge of cracking the Top 25. Quinnipiac stayed close for 15 minutes, but mainly because Gonzaga shot 41 percent in the opening half and missed nine of 11 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. The teams remaining in the winners bracket pose a much bigger challenge.POLL IMPLICATIONSIf the Bulldogs can win this tournament for the third time, it would bolster their argument to crack the Top 10. At the very least, picking up two quality wins would help their position as they move toward a Dec. 3 trip to No. 9 Arizona.STILL PERFECTGonzaga improved to 7-0 in the Thanksgiving tournament at Disney formerly known as the Old Spice Classic. The Bulldogs won the event in 2008 and 2012.Its been great for us. Its always given us a great barometer where were at, Few said. To get out here on the road as a group at Thanksgiving, I think it does nothing but kind of draw us even closer, and weve been working on that all year.UP NEXTGonzaga plays Florida (5-0) in the tournament semifinals Friday night.Quinnipiac faces Seton Hall (3-1) in the losers bracket.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25. ' ' '