Doctor: HGH was for his use

A sports doctor at the center of drug investigations in Canada and the United States said Monday he treated Alex Rodriguez after the New York Yankees slugger had hip surgery last year and prescribed anti-inflammatories but not human growth hormone.

Dr. Anthony Galea also told the Associated Press an assistant who was stopped at the U.S.-Canadian border in Buffalo, N.Y., last year was carrying only a minuscule amount of HGH -- which Galea said was for his own use. The doctor reiterated that he has never given the drug to an athlete.

“I only brought enough for her to do two injections into me because I was away for two nights,” said Galea, who believes authorities and the media have exaggerated the accusations involving him and his practice.

“They made it look like I had 100 vials. I had one little vial and two doses were for me and you think that someone along the line would ask, ‘Well, how much is there?’ ”

Rodriguez and other high-profile baseball players including Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran have been contacted by U.S. federal investigators regarding Galea. Reyes and Beltran each say they did not receive HGH from Galea.

Commissioner Bud Selig announced that he had appointed longtime baseball executive Sandy Alderson to help reform baseball’s operations in the scandal-plagued Dominican Republic.

Last year, Alderson headed a blue-ribbon committee that evaluated baseball in the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The committee wrote a report summarizing its findings and suggesting fixes. Monday’s appointment essentially means Alderson hasA been asked to serve as a consultant in the implementation of his report’s findings.

--Kevin Baxter

PRO FOOTBALL

Attorney backs Roethlisberger

A high-profile defense attorney hired by Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger disputed a college student’s claim that the two-time Super Bowl winner sexually assaulted her at a Georgia nightclub.

The 20-year-old told police Roethlisberger, who had been out barhopping with friends, assaulted her early Friday. Roethlisberger has not been charged.

“The facts show that there was no criminal activity. No sexual assault occurred,” attorney Ed Garland said in a statement. “Ben is completely innocent of any crime.”

Milledgeville, Ga., police said at a news conference that they expect to interview Roethlisberger in the next several days. They said they have not taken a DNA sample from him but probably will.

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According to several reports, the Philadelphia Eagles will pick up Michael Vick’s roster bonus this week, giving the team time to decide whether to keep the quarterback or trade him.

ETC.Ping wedges to be banned

The 20-year-old Ping wedges with square-shaped grooves will no longer be allowed on the PGA Tour starting March 29 under an agreement reached with Ping executives.

John Solheim, the chairman and chief executive of Ping, said the Phoenix-based company is waiving its right that had kept the PGA Tour from banning Ping Eye2 wedges made before April 1, 1990, that have deeper, wide grooves no longer allowed under new USGA regulations.

Those wedges were allowed through a 1990 settlement from when Ping sued the PGA Tour and U.S. Golf Assn. Phil Mickelson, Hunter Mahan, John Daly and Fred Couples were among players who used the Ping wedges. It had become such a divisive issue that Scott McCarron accused Mickelson of “cheating” by using the club.

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Boise State senior safety Jason Robinson has been suspended indefinitely for violating team rules. Robinson attended Los Angeles University High.