After questions and speculations to why Alex Rodriguez has been benched during the most crucial times of the New York Yankees season thus far, new reports suggest that it's because of Rodriguez's search for love.

In Game 1 of the American League Championship Series, Rodriguez had a ball delivered to two female fans in Yankee Stadium in search of one of the women's phone number. According to The New York Post the woman is identified to be Australian bikini model, Kyna Treacy.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman said before the Game 3 loss to the Detroit Tigers that Rodriguez was benched for the matchup with Justin Verlander for performance reasons only, and the source supported that claim.

"The only reason Alex didn't play was because he's been struggling so much against right-handed pitchers," the source said. "His benching had nothing to do with this story. He would've been in there if the Tigers started a lefty. Even if Sandy Koufax was on the mound, he would've played."

Rodriguez was also benched for the crucial Game 4 that was scheduled for Wednesday night, which eventually was postponed.

Prior to the game, he was asked if he felt he was being punished for actions other than his performance on the field.

"Look, I addressed that yesterday and I said it was laughable," he said. "I've been here a long time in New York, I think nine years, and I've never addressed anything from Page Six (in the Post), and I've never addressed anything from blogs or gossip columns. We're here to cover baseball. I do think some of the criticism out there is very fair, and I can live with that, but some of the other stuff is not fair. So you just move on, you don't worry about it too much."

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