New York Hispanic Clergy Organization to hold prayer vigil for Alex Rodriguez

Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Members of the New York Hispanic Clergy Organization who support Alex Rodriguez will hold a prayer vigil on Thursday in protest of the 211-game suspension imposed by Major League Baseball on the suspected PED-user.

The vigil for the Yankees’ third baseman will also include New York state Sen. Reverend Rubén Díaz. “I believe that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has been much kinder and gentler in their punishments for others who have done worse things,” Díaz said in a statement.

The vigil will be held at 11:30 p.m. outside the Park Avenue MLB headquarters.

The suspended slugger stormed out of an MLB hearing on Wednesday when arbitrator Fredric Horowitz declined to compel baseball commissioner Bud Selig to testify.

He then went to NYC radio station WFAN and denied to host Mike Francesa that he had done anything wrong, saying that he has not used performance-enhancing drugs since 2003.

“I can’t make any decision now, I’m way too hot,” Rodriguez responded when Francesa asked him whether he was guilty of the latest allegations. “I did nothing, Mike. With the (Anthony) Bosch nonsense, nothing.”

“This is the FIRST hearing under the drug agreement without a positive test,” Rodriguez’s attorney, Jim McCarroll, said in a statement. ”The FIRST where the commissioner’s discretion and decision-making comes into play, without any science behind it. We also understand that under the prior collective-bargaining agreement, the commissioner testified in five of the last seven hearings, and he was harshly criticized in the arbitrator’s decision for not voluntarily appearing in at least one of the two where he did not testify. MLB continues to freely lie to the fans about Alex on an ongoing basis. Today’s statement is just the most recent example.”

[CBS New York]