(Writing and reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis)
If tabloid rumors are to be believed,  baseball star Alex Rodriguez and pop diva Madonna have been spending a lot of time together, flying around the  country, planning to buy an apartment together and generally getting very up close and personal since their recent twin divorces.

But Rodriguez, 33, is not playing ball with all that talk.  After weeks of  silence about their  relationship,  the sports star  is trying to dispel talk of romance with Madonna, 50.

“We’re friends — that’s it,” Rodriguez told People magazine.
    
Rodriguez’s wife, Cynthia, filed for divorce in July, citing the slugger’s alleged infidelities following news reports that suggested Rodriguez and Madonna were romantically involved.
    
At the time, Madonna was still married to British film director Guy Ritchie.  Since then, the couple went through a lightning-fast divorce that was completed last month.

 “I can tell you this,” Rodriguez told People,  “I have never been on a plane with her.”

 ”I’ve been to two [of her] concerts, yet I’ve read that I went to 20. I’ve also read that we were buying an apartment together. That is absolutely ridiculous and not true.”

 When pressed on how much time they have spent together, and whether he had ever stayed the night at Madonna’s home, Rodriguez laughed: “If I answered every rumor, we’d be here for three weeks.”