'Young and stupid' A-Rod was injected by cousin

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Over and over, Alex Rodriguez blamed himself, using the phrase "young and stupid" as he tried again to explain where he went wrong.

The slugger who might someday become baseball's all-time home run king remembered more details about performance-enhancing drugs Tuesday, saying his cousin repeatedly injected him from 2001-03 with a mysterious substance from the Dominican Republic.

"I didn't think they were steroids," the New York Yankees star said. Later, he admitted, "I knew we weren't taking Tic Tacs."

Making his second public attempt to explain a 2003 positive drug test while with Texas, baseball's highest-paid player described a clumsy scheme in which a cousin persuaded him to use "boli" — a substance he said the cousin obtained without a prescription and without consulting doctors or trainers.

Rodriguez said the cousin, whom he wouldn't identify, told him it would cause a "dramatic energy boost."

Yet, when asked to explain why the secrecy if he didn't think it was an illegal substance, Rodriguez revealed he had a pretty good idea he was doing wrong.

"Look, for a week here I've been looking at people to blame," he said, "and I keep looking at myself at the end of the day."

Some, including Yankees radio broadcaster Suzyn Waldman, had trouble believing him.

"Do I believe that Alex Rodriguez, who won't have a Snickers bar or a cookie, let his cousin inject him with something that he didn't know what it was? I find that really hard to believe," she told WCBS radio in New York, the team's flagship station.