Fenway Fireworks Center Around Alex Rodriguez in Yankee Comeback Win

And again the baseball world was centered around Alex Rodriguez.  And again it was Yankees-Red Sox.  And again it was at Fenway Park.A-Rod was plunked on a 3-0 pitch by Ryan Dempster after Dempster threw behind A-Rod and then in on him twice.  Joe Girardi came out to argue the fact that Dempster wasn't tossed from the game and that both teams were warned, not giving the Yanks a chance to retaliate because if they did, CC Sabathia would have been automatically tossed as well based on baseball's unwritten rule of hitting someone, intentionally or unintentionally, following a warning to both sides to halt hit batsmen.

Instead, the Yanks used actions to get their revenge.  Down 6-3 in the 6th, A-Rod powered a home run to center field off Dempster and Brett Gardner tripled in three runs for a 7-6 lead.  The Yanks added two more and Mariano Rivera earned the save in the 9th inning.

It's obvious that Boston planned this.  Their bullpen rushed the field right away and Dempster knew he was throwing at A-Rod in a 3-0 count.  We all wondered when this day would come, with players being upset at A-Rod for defying the system and shaming the game by going back one more time to the steroid well, this time named Biogenesis.  But Dempster can't prove he didn't do steroids at any point during his career and he plays with David Ortiz, a no-name laugh in Minnesota turned star in Boston who was draped over The Mitchell Report.  Dempster was right in pegging A-Rod but should have also been ejected so the tone was set moving forward.  And maybe Dempster could tell us about how clean of a player he has been over the years to assure baseball fans of why he did this.

More drama.  More A-Rod.  More baseball blunders.  This is what the Yankees and baseball signed-up for when New York (Hank and Hal Steinbrenner really) re-signed A-Rod and baseball, led by commissioner Bud Selig, turned a blind eye towards steroid testing and then all of a sudden cared about it.

It's sad that last night was entertaining for the wrong reasons.

By:  Mike Lindsley, "Mid-Day with Mike," M-F 1-4, Yankees pre/post game host on 104.5 The Team ESPN Radio.  Follow him on Twitter at Twitter.com/MikeLSports.