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Alex Rodriguez attorney says David Ortiz not his target

Joseph Tacopina, agent for suspended ballplayer Alex Rodriguez.Jessica Hill/Associated Press

Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is one of the few major league players to voice support for Alex Rodriguez in recent months.

Ortiz took Rodriguez out for dinner in Boston late last season after the controversial Yankees third baseman was mercilessly booed at Fenway Park. Ortiz even criticized teammate Ryan Dempster for throwing at Rodriguez.

In December, Ortiz invited Rodriguez to his charity event in the Dominican Republic.

So much for that goodwill. On Tuesday, Rodriguez’s lead attorney seemed to cast aspersions on Ortiz during an interview with ESPN Radio.

Joseph Tacopina said he would not name other players accused of using performance-enhancing drugs, “but some of them are God-like in Boston right now.”

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In 2009, the New York Times reported Ortiz tested positive for an unnamed substance in a 2003 survey test.

Tacopina, via an e-mail to the Globe, denied he was alluding to Ortiz, but he would not say to whom he was referring. It is unclear what other Boston athlete would fit the description given by Tacopina.

Rodriguez was suspended for the entire 2014 season for using PEDs and obstructing an investigation. On Monday, he sued Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association in federal court to overturn the ban. The suit went so far as to criticize MLBPA executive director Michael Weiner, who died last November.

Efforts to reach Ortiz for comment were unsuccessful.

Peter Abraham can be reached at pabraham@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @PeteAbe.