MLB

A-ROD LEAVES A LOT OF QUESTIONS STILL UNANSWERED

TAMPA – It wasn’t as bad as R. Budd Dwyer’s last press conference 22 years ago, when the Pennsylvania treasurer shot himself to death on national television. But yesterday’s performance by Alex Rodriguez was full of holes.

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Rodriguez wanted to face the media at George M. Steinbrenner Field to explain his use of steroids from 2001 to 2003. Instead of putting a lid on issues, Rodriguez added gasoline by outing an unnamed cousin as a drug mule between the Dominican Republic and the United States and saying the cousin injected him – two times a month for six months during each of the three seasons. Furthermore, Rodriguez said he didn’t know if the drug worked.

Talking as about 30 teammates and coaches sat to his right, and with GM Brian Cashman and manager Joe Girardi seated near him, Hank Steinbrenner standing in the back and Hal Steinbrenner watching on TV in New York, Rodriguez blamed himself for staining a career.

However, questions remain.

Who is the cousin? Why didn’t Rodriguez, when asked during a television interview on Feb. 9, mention the cousin, but eight days later not only remembered the cousin but the injection schedule?

“I wasn’t prepared to say that [on Feb. 9],” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t remember, it was a long time ago.”

Rodriguez opened the proceedings by reading a statement that was solid until outing a cousin and that ended with Rodriguez breaking down while thanking his teammates for their support.

“I thank them for being here,” said Rodriguez, as he looked at the first row of seats where Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada (who split two-thirds into the 38-minute ordeal), Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera sat. “I love you. It will be the best season of our lives.”

Rodriguez said it wasn’t his place to judge if his accomplishments from 2001-03 when he used “boli,” which is the street name for Primobolan, one of two steroids he tested positive, are tainted. He gave the same answer when asked if he believed he was a cheat.

His teammates, a group that included newcomers CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, split the pavilion without responding. Jeter, the captain, said he will address the toxic issue today, which is the first full-squad spring training workout.

“Hopefully, I can put it behind me so my teammates don’t have to answer the questions,” Rodriguez said.

As for the substance for which he tested positive in 2003, Rodriguez said it was purchased over the counter in the Dominican.

“In 2001, my cousin told me about a substance that could be purchased over the counter in the DR known as boli,” Rodriguez said. “It was his understanding that it would give me a dramatic energy boost and otherwise harmless.

“My cousin and I, one more ignorant than the other, decided it was a good idea to start taking it. My cousin would administer it to me, but neither of us knew how to use it properly, [proving] just how ignorant we both were.

“That’s how ignorant we both were. We consulted no one and had no good reason to make that decision. It was pretty evident that we didn’t know what we were doing. We did everything we could to keep it between us, and my cousin didn’t provide any other players.”

Rodriguez said a neck injury in 2003 put a halt to his steroid usage.

“I haven’t taken it since,” Rodriguez said. “The neck injury scared me half to death. I was scared for my career and my life after baseball.”

george.king@nypost.com

In response

Here are Alex Rodriguez’s answers to questions from Post writers at yesterday’s conference:

Mike Vaccaro asked, if A-Rod didn’t know what he was doing was wrong, why was he so secretive?

Rodriguez: “I knew we weren’t taking Tic Tacs. I knew what we were taking was potentially something that perhaps was wrong. .  .. When you are 24, 25, there are a lot of things you don’t tell a lot of people, not just that. You don’t want to share everything you do with the public. That was just one of those things that I decided to not really share with anyone.”

George King asked for the name of A-Rod’s cousin, and who transported the substance from the Dominican Republic?

Rodriguez: “I’d rather not get into who my cousin was. I’m here to stand front and center and take the blame, because I am responsible for this. He basically took an instruction from me and felt he was doing something that was going to be helpful, not hurtful.”

Joel Sherman asked, why would Rodriguez inject himself so many times with a substance he knew little about?

Rodriguez: “It goes back to being young and being curious. When it started it was probably in the middle of ’01 and ended in the middle of ’03 when I realized after my neck injury that I was being silly and irresponsible. And I decided to stop.”