Major League Baseball

K-Rod can't go home after fight

Published Aug. 14, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Brawling pitcher Francisco Rodriguez is out at home — and off to anger management, the New York Post reported Saturday.

A stone-faced K-Rod showed up at Citi Field on Saturday afternoon to make his first public statement since allegedly assaulting the grandfather of his children and verbally lashing out at his girlfriend last week in a shocking dustup inside the clubhouse.

Rodriguez was later booed when he pitched the ninth inning in the Mets' 4-0 loss to the Phillies, the first time he's been on the mound since his arrest and subsequent two-game suspension. He gave up a double but no runs.

At the brief media appearance, the Venezuela-born relief pitcher stared straight ahead into a room packed with reporters as he apologized to Mets’ management -- but not to his girlfriend Daian Pena or her 53-year-old father, Carlos.

“First of all, I’m extremely sorry. I want to apologize to Fred Wilpon, Jeff Wilpon and Mr. Katz for the incident that happened Wednesday night. I want to apologize also to Mets fans, to my teammates,” said Rodriguez.

“I want to apologize, of course to the front office for the embarrassment that I caused. And I’m looking forward to being a better person. Right now, the plan is I’m going to anger management program, and I can’t speak no further about the legal stuff that I’m going through right now. But I apologize.”

Earlier Saturday, Rodriguez moved out of the Long Island, N.Y., house that he shared with Pena, their one-year-old twins, and Carlos Pena.

“His things are gone,” sobbed his teary-eyed girlfriend, after a moving van pulled up in front of the couple’s Long Island house and was loaded up with several large suitcases and bags. The van departed not long after -- followed by two women in a taxi.

“I can’t tell you if I’ve talked to him,” an emotional Pena told the Post, as she struggled to contain her emotion.

The troubled couple’s relationship imploded after her father tried to intervene in a vicious fight between his daughter and Rodriguez at Citi Field Wednesday night following a dismal loss by the Mets to Colorado.

“You can’t talk to my daughter that way!” said Pena, as the combustible closer launched into a foul-mouthed tirade against the mother of his children outside a room filled with players’ families.

The hot-headed hurler allegedly attacked Pena, pummeling him with his fists and then banging the elder man’s head against a wall.

At his arraignment in Queens court, Rodriguez pleaded not guilty to third-degree assault and second-degree harassment. He was released on $5,000 bail.

The judge said the pitcher’s family was not safe at home, and issued restraining orders.

The ruling prevents him from entering the home or visiting their children without permission from Family Court.

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