Yankee Alex Rodriguez's Jet Goes off Runway

A private jet carrying Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez and six others overran a runway at Bob Hope Airport on Friday and was brought to a halt by an arresting system.

"I spoke to Alex. He's fine," agent Scott Boras said.

None of the seven people aboard were injured, federal officials said.

The Gulfstream G-II carried five passengers and two crew members, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement from Washington, D.C. It departed from Las Vegas earlier in the day.

The twin-engine jet was stopped by the Engineered Materials Arresting System, a 200-foot-long stretch of pavement injected with air bubbles designed to collapse under the weight of an aircraft as large as a Boeing 737 jet traveling as fast as 50 knots, airport spokesman Victor Gill said.

"It came to a pretty quick stop," Gill said.

Damage to the aircraft was minor, the NTSB said.

Friday's incident came just two days after Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle's plane failed to execute a U-turn and slammed into the side of a high-rise in Manhattan, killing Lidle and his flight instructor.

Piniella not interested in Giants job

As much as Lou Piniella would have loved to manage the San Francisco Giants, he took himself out of running for the job Friday strictly because of geography.

Piniella, who is broadcasting the American League Championship series for Fox, lives in Tampa, Fla., and was reminded this week on a long cross-country flight of one of the main reasons why he left the Mariners in the first place.

"The whole situation is this: Lou has a very long-standing relationship and friendship with [Giants general manager] Brian Sabean," Piniella's agent, Alan Nero, said in a phone interview. "When the opening came up, he was interested."

Piniella, 63, whose last managing job was with Tampa Bay, is still up for the job to replace Dusty Baker as manager of the Chicago Cubs and he also spoke to the Washington Nationals and Texas Rangers though Piniella said the Washington job was not an ideal fit for either party.

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