After nearly four weeks of silence, New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez stepped up to the plate Thursday and responded to his wife’s demand for divorce.

In the documents – expected to be filed Thursday morning – A-Rod admits the marriage is “irretrievably broken.” But he points out that Florida is a “no fault state” and chastises his estranged wife, Cynthia Rodriguez, for mentioning “immaterial and impertinent” issues like his alleged “extra marital affairs and other marital misconduct.”

Although Madonna was not mentioned in Cynthia’s court documents – filed July 7 – her attorney called the Yankee’s association with the singer an “affair of the heart” and “the last straw.”

In Cynthia’s filing – which claimed “emotional abandonment” – she asked to keep their $12 million Coral Gables mansion. The mother of his two children, Natasha, 3, and Ella, three months, also wants a cut of his earnings during their marriage.

But, in A-Rod’s response, he argues that the divorce settlement should be determined by their prenup, which Cynthia signed a month before their 2002 wedding.

According to the documents, she did so “with the assistance of counsel of her own choosing, freely and voluntarily … and with full and complete financial disclosure of husband’s income, assets and liabilities.”

Regarding the children, A-Rod seeks shared parental responsibility for their “wealth, health, education and religious upbringing.” (There’s no mention of Kabbalah, the mystical Jewish teachings that, sources say, helped foster a bond between A-Rod and Madonna. The pop icon has denied the alleged affair.)

A-Rod admits Cynthia is a “loving and nurturing mother.” In the filing, he suggests the two work out a time-sharing custody schedule without the court’s intervention.

According to his attorneys, Alan Kluger and Jason Marks, “husband requests that both parties are designated as ‘co-residential’ parents, realizing that the children are likely to spend more time with wife given the realities of husband’s professional life.”

A-Rod acknowledges he should pay child support – and asks the court to determine a fair amount.

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WENN

WENN

Cynthia Rodriguez says that she still loves her cheating husband A Rod, but that she had to leave him to prove she is not weak.

She told the New York Post that she walked out because the Yankee’s star arrogantly thought she would stand by him through his infidelities — and she was sick of being taken for granted.

But, while she said she will never go back to him, Cynthia promised she will still be there for Alex as a friend to pick up the pieces when he “cracks up”.

C-Rod walked out on the All Star third-baseman last week after the rumor broke that he was having yet another affair — this time with Madonna.

Although Madonna has denied the affair, Cynthia filed divorce papers just days later.

Now she has told the newspaper that she made the heart-wrenching decision to leave her husband of seven years because he believed the marriage would never collapse, no matter what he did to hurt her — that he mistook “13 years of dedication for weakness.”

She also said that she has to face up to the fact that A-Rod has been warped b super-stardom and that he is no longer the man she fell in love with.

But she says that one day he will come crashing back down to reality — and that it “will be an ugly thing” when it happens.

Cynthia has told her close friends that she will be there for him as a friend when he eventually does “crack up”, because she can use her skills as a psychologist to help the father of her two children, Natasha, 3, and Ella, who is 11 weeks old.

She also admitted that her family is distraught about the split. “Mine’s a close-knit family,” she said, “Never one one divorce on my side. My parents, aunts and uncles are devastated.”

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The world will find out soon enough just what kind of friends Madonna and Alex Rodriquez are if the Material Girl arrives (as planned) at a party hosted by the New York Yankees slugger on Monday, July 14.

“Alex is having a party for the 2008 Major League All-Star game in New York,” a source close to him tells Life & Style. “It’s at the 40/40 club in NYC, and Madonna has RSVP’d to attend!”

While a rep for Madonna denies the RSVP, the source adds “Madonna knows about the party and has said she is coming. Alex’s name, of course, will be on the top of the invite, but Madonna’s name will be on it, too, as a confirmed ‘guest,’” the insider adds.

“He’ll be first on the list, it’s his party. But she’ll be right there, too.” There’s no word on whether Madge’s husband, Guy Ritchie, will be joining his wife at the fete.

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