SAN DIEGO -- Detroit Tigers reliever Francisco Rodriguez boarded a plane in Seattle with the rest of his teammates after Thursday night's game and arrived in southern California at about 3 a.m. local time on Friday.
By that time, Tigers general manager Al Avila had already talked with team owner Chris Ilitch and gotten approval to make a move that had become unavoidable: Parting ways with K-Rod.
"It had to be done, in our opinion. We're still trying to win games and obviously he wasn't getting the job done," said Avila, who is accompanying the team on this road trip.