Accused dope cheat Rodriguez sets grand slam mark

Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees rounds third base after hitting a grand slam in the seventh inning againts the sanfransisco gaints

NEW YORK (AFP) - New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, playing only because he has appealed a 211-game Major League Baseball doping ban, now owns the sport's North American career grand slam record."A-Rod" smacked the 24th bases-loaded home run of his career to give the Yankees a 5-1 home victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday, pushing him one ahead of the grand slam mark established in 1938 by Yankee legend Lou Gehrig.Rodriguez, nursing a tight hamstring and a sore calf muscle, hit a two-ball, one-strike blast off Giants relief pitcher George Kontos over the right-centerfield wall with two outs in the seventh inning to produce his historic homer."I'm not thinking home run right there," Rodriguez said. "I'm actually thinking of putting a good swing on the ball and not try to do too much."The blow snapped a 1-for-25 batting slump for Rodriguez, who was more thankful for the victory than the record as the Yankees fight for a wildcard playoff spot in the final 10 days of the six-month season."It's hard to think about things like that right now," said Rodriguez of the record. "We're really in a sprint to the end here and every win is huge for us."That's baseball. One swing can turn a lot of things around. Hopefully this ended the streak and we can get something rolling from here."The 38-year-old third baseman's record blast was the 654th homer of his career, six shy of Willie Mays for fourth on the all-time North American homer list and 108 shy of the career record set by Barry Bonds.But Rodriguez, who had not belted a grand slam since June of last year, might be in the final days of his career.Last month, he was issued a ban through the end of the 2014 season, 211 games in all, for taking performance-enhancing drugs, including testosterone and human growth hormone, as well as for trying to obstruct a Major League Baseball investigation into the Biogenesis scandal.While a dozen other players accepted 50-game doping bans, Rodriguez chose to appeal his case to an arbitrator, who is not expected to hear the appeal until after the season, allowing "A-Rod" the chance to play until a verdict on his appeal is rendered.