A-Rod Has Date With Feds Today

Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez is expected in Buffalo Friday to be interviewed by federal investigators probing a Canadian physician.

U.S. Attorney William Hochul and the head of the Buffalo FBI office, James Robertson, are keeping tightlipped about the meeting.

But Rodriguez is expected to talk about his treatment from Dr. Anthony Galea last year, which the doctor said consisted of prescribing anti-inflammatories after a hip surgery.

Galea, who also has treated golfer Tiger Woods, is being investigated in Canada and the U.S. after his assistant was caught bringing human growth hormone and other substances over the Ontario-New York border last fall. Galea faces four charges in Canada.

He said the HGH was for his own use.

Other major leaguers, including the Mets' Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran, have been contacted by federal investigators about Galea. Colorado closer Huston Street has said investigators might want to talk to him about the case. Reyes and Beltran have said they did not receive HGH from Galea.

Galea, who also has treated golfer Tiger Woods, was charged by Canadian authorities in December with selling an unapproved drug known as Actovegin. He also was charged with conspiracy to import an unapproved drug, conspiracy to export a drug and smuggling goods into Canada by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Galea was arrested Oct. 15 after a search warrant was executed at the Institute of Sports Medicine Health and Wellness Centre near Toronto.

Vials and ampules containing HGH and Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf's blood, were found in a car driven by Mary Anne Catalano, according to the RCMP and U.S. federal court documents. Catalano told American authorities at the border in Buffalo that she knew the drugs were illegal and that she was transporting them for her employer.

Galea told the AP during the March 8 interview that Catalano was carrying only a minuscule amount of HGH and that it was for his own use.