Team Madonna launches a curve ball as Rocco Ritchie wears a shirt declaring his support for A-Rod's baseball team

Stuck in the middle: Rocco Ritchie wears a T-shirt supporting Alex Rodriguez's New York Yankees team while out in the Big Apple yesterday



Don't look now, Guy Ritchie.

Madonna's son Rocco was spotted at a New York play centre wearing a navy Yankees T-shirt - the baseball team of Madonna's rumoured new love interest Alex Rodriguez.

The 8-year-old was accompanied by his mother, sister Lourdes, 12, and a huge security team at the Chelsea Piers Gym yesterday.

The outfit appears to be the latest missile from Team Madonna in what is shaping up to be an acrimonious divorce.

Since the couple confirmed they were divorcing last Wednesday, friends and family members from both sides have traded barbs in the press.

But now it seems not even the children are exempt from this bitter split.



Rodriguez, 33, is likely to be an increasingly present figure in Madonna's family life.

He is apparently weeks away from buying a Manhattan penthouse, worth an estimated £40million, just two blocks away from the 50-year-old's apartment.

'Alex knows that this is a difficult time for Madonna, especially as she has children,' a source said.

On guard: Madonna arrived at the Chelsea Piers Gym with her children and a huge security team



Child's play: Lourdes and Rocco enjoyed a day of fun despite their parent's turmoil



Yankee: Madonna's rumoured new love interest Alex Rodriguez

'So he thought this was the best way to be close to her without being too intrusive. He is completely into her and willing to be patient while she sorts everything out.





'All he cares about is just being close to her.'

Madonna and Rodriguez are expected to go public with their feelings for one another in the coming months.

The Daily Mail has learned that she is hoping to enlarge her family with the sportsman, known in the U.S. as A-Rod.

Sources say she is hoping to have a natural child with Rodriguez, despite her age.

A a friend said: 'She thinks he's physically a great specimen. And if she is going to have another child, he would be the ideal man to bring one to her.'