Pudge Rodriguez will never forget the day he became a full-time catcher. "I was a pitcher, and I'd thrown seven no-hitters in Little League," Rodriguez said Friday. "The last pitch I threw, a guy hit a home run. The fence was 325 feet away, and then there was a school 60 feet behind that, and the school was four stories high. He hit it over the school. A 14-year-old kid. "My dad called time out, and he walked onto the field. He said, 'You're not pitching anymore. If you pitch again, I'm not coming to see you anymore.' That's when I focused on catching. I think he was right." Now it's two decades later, and Rodriguez has caught 2,056 major-league games. Friday, he tied Gary Carter for third place on baseball's all-time list, 170 games behind all-time leader Carlton Fisk. "Hopefully, I just keep playing," he said. "I'm going to be in baseball for a while. Three or four more years. I don't think age means anything. I'm a very disciplined person. I try to take care of myself.