Archive for August, 2007
Well it seems that they are on the right track. With a game winning homerun from Johnny Damon the Yankees beat the Red Sox 5-3 . This is there first of 3 games in the Bronx. In my opinion they can and need to pull this one off in order to make the playoffs. Theis will be a huge confidence builder for the Bronx Bombers and would definetly boost their morale in the hopes that they make it to the post seaon. October wont be as nice with the Yankees out of a pennant race. I dont any baseball fan really wants them not to make it…..
August 29th, 2007
An injured soccer player, David Beckham, and his crew watched the New York Yankees trim the Toronto Blue Jays 5-4 in a exciting baseball game with the participation of some of baseball’s greatest hitters.
Beckham together with Los Angeles Galaxy team members prolonged their stay in Toronto after a 0-0 draw against Toronto FC on Sunday and took part in a Blue Jays-Yankees party.
Beckham said he did not know much about baseball, however he could easily recognize the Yankees slugger Alex Rodriquez, who is very much popular with the fans, just like Beckham.
Yankees manager Joe Torre gave Beckham a personal tour around the New York dressing room as David was rather enthusiastic.
Unfortunately, the ankle injury of Beckham prevented him from taking part in many events, and he could only make promotional appearances since making the jump from Spanish giants Real Madrid to Los Angeles.
The player Rodriguez became the youngest player in major league history to hit 500 career homers on Saturday, and he also contributed two hits and a run to the New York struggle, while the Yankees snapped the Blue Jays 8 game home winning period, having achieved their 4th straight victory.
Robinson Cano made an important move, his 2-run double keying a 4-run 6th inning put New York in front 5-3.
Mariano Rivera clinched the victory and struck out the last 3 Toronto batters for his 18th save of the season.
The first half of the season was not the best one for the Yankees, leaving them just a half-game back of Detroit for the American League wild card spot.
August 28th, 2007
Legendary baseball player Barry Bonds, who is getting ready to become the home-run king of baseball, stated that the pressure was off after reaching the level of Hank Aaron, who was at the top of the all-time list. The hardest part of his career, in which he tried to equal Aaron’s mark ended on Sunday.
Bonds thinks he has made some improvements in the swing, and if he goes on like this, the spectators will not be waiting for a long time.On the 27th of July, Bonds hit home run No 754, and since then over 400 journalists have been following him day and night. They will all gather again at the San Francisco’s home game versus the Washington Nationals.Outfielder Bonds is getting more calm and relaxed in comparison with the days, when he was still not certain whether he would make this feat or not. Barry stated that the pressure of arriving at Aaron’s mark often gave him rashes and caused him feel sick.Barry is not concerned that he has not seen a lot of the pitching staff of the Nationals. He judges by what they’ve done before. He has been in the play for 22 years and has got some experience.Bonds has been in the majors for 22 years, and he is looking for the record-breaking homer versus a 22-year-old pitcher who began the season with the Potomac Nationals, a Virginia outpost of the Carolina League.Bonds could boast of 754 home runs, when left-handed Lannan received a victory in his first major league game on Thursday. Lannan’s overall major league career is 10 innings pitched.The Giants arena is the only place in the National League, where Bonds is welcomed at all times, and where spectators do not cry out the accusations that he has taken steroids and other illegal drugs. Therefore, he was definitely looking forward to arriving there, which meant getting home.
August 23rd, 2007
All baseball fans are waiting for one of the greatest records to happen. The record concerns the total number of home runs hit, and obviously, it is going to be broken by Giants’ slugger Barry Bonds, who already has 755.
The memorable ball hit by Bonds can collect up to $1million at an auction, which will be held afterwards. For the 22 years of Bonds playing, he has hit the baseball over the fence for 755 times, which is exactly the previous record, which was set by Hank Aaron in the 1970s. The new record can be set already this week, when the team will be playing in San Francisco’s AT&T ballpark.
The desire to see the landmark home run has raised a lot of excitement among both spectators and newspapers, and already 450 sports reporters have registered to come to the current series of games.
For those, who intend to attend the games, there is a great opportunity to earn a fortune as the one who catches the momentous home run could make a substantial profit. Experts predict the ball could be sold at a sum between $400,000 and $1million at an auction right after the event.
Certain fans are getting ready for the important moment, and fears connected with it have made one auction house to cancel the offer to buy the ball for $1m. Among the famous fans, who collect home run balls, are Jake The Snake Frazier, who knocked four persons out of their seats while trying to catch a ball, Lee ‘Doc’ Wilson, and Joe Dirt. The latter uses a fishing rod to get the home runs hit into San Francisco Bay.
Nevertheless, there is one reason why the Barry Bonds home run ball may lose its value. It deals with a rumor, that Bonds has been using steroids in order to improve his home run total. Naturally, Bonds has denied the fact of using drugs and he has not been convicted either. Still the accusations have cast a shadow over his achievements.
August 17th, 2007
In 2005, John Schiltz of Sun Prairie served in Kuwait with the Wisconsin Army National Guard’s 1158th Transportation Company. Now, he plays left field for the Blazers of the Men’s Senior Baseball League of Southern Wisconsin. That is why he knows the importance of the donated baseballs, bats, shoes, gloves, and helmets that were piled on Sunday, June 3rd in the back of a pickup truck at Bowman Field. All the donated stuff will be sent to
American troops in Iraq. John Schiltz stated that something like this was going to really mean a lot to all the guys over there so that they know they were not taken for granted. Matthew Varney, League commissioner, said that local donations were part of a national effort that started with an e-mail message from county deputy in Minnesota Ken Wickelgren. He is spending a year in Iraq with a private contractor to train police officers.
He plays for a men’s senior team in southeastern Minnesota. In fact, the league does not have any specific goal. There’s only a hope to collect whatever they can get to send in Iraq. The league has also received cash donations. The money will be spent on baseballs. Equipment will be collected throughout the summer and anyone can donate by visiting the Leagues website at www.msblofsouthernwisconsin.homestead.com. It is not for the first time
that the League will be donating equipment to help American troops serving in Iraq.
August 16th, 2007
Mark Harris was best known for his exciting baseball novels, such as Bang the Drum Slowly. The novelist died last Wednesday at Cottage Hospital. He was 84 years old. His wife stated that he had died from Alzheimer’s disease. The talented author wrote 5 non-fiction books and 13 novels. The best-known among them include Bang the Drum Slowly, The Southpaw, It Looked Like Forever, and A Ticket for a Seamstitch. Bang the Drum Slowly
was adapted for the 1973 film starring Robert De Niro and Michael Moriarty. In fact, it was the most popular of the four books. Sports Illustrated named it one of the Top Hundred sports books of all time. In 1994, a collection of Mark?s baseball essays over nearly a half-century, entitled Diamond,
was published. Haris’s other non-fiction works included Mark the Glove Boy, or The Last Days of Richard Nixon, City of Discontent: An Interpretive Biography of Vachel Lindsay, and Saul Bellow: Drumlin Woodchuck. The novelist taught in the English departments at University of Southern California,
San Francisco State University, the University of Minnesota, California Institute of the Arts, Purdue University, and the University of Pittsburgh. From 1980 to 2001, Mark Harris was also a professor of English at Arizona State University. Mark Harris, according to his wife’s statement, will be cremated. A portion of his ashes will be scattered over the baseball field in Mount Vernon, where he used to play sandlot baseball.
August 16th, 2007
New baseball clinic for young athletes Many things are important to baseball and softball players, like fun, improving techniques, and honing skills. All young athletes from the age of five to sixteen now have a nice chance to sharpen their hitting, pitching, and throwing skills, while having fun at the baseball and softball clinic of Quesnel Minor Baseball Association. Lori Durocher, Quesnel Minor Baseball Association director said that he wanted to give the program a jump start as he hadn?t seen a baseball clinic in Quesnel for several number of years. In fact, this is the first clinic in about ten years in the Quesnel community. Organizers made the clinic happen very quickly. They heard baseball and softball instructors Craig Horswell, Jim Murphy, Jason Cook, Evan Potskin, and Derek Goodline were in the area and did everything possible to arrange it. The instructors will do their best to identify players who will be
able to compete at higher levels and give them exposure with university and college teams. The morning session will focus on defense and instruction and the afternoon session will focus mainly on offence. All athletes will receive information about proper nutrition and training techniques to excel in sports. The baseball clinic will give athletes a wonderful opportunity to gain experience. Lori Durocher stated that they wanted to make it happen
and make it an annual event to train young baseball players and coaches for the future. They also hope that parents and coaches will learn some of the techniques for playing and teaching young athletes and probably take coaching clinics in the future.
August 16th, 2007
After the Cubs were defeated by their city rivals, closer Ryan Dempster told reporters that he was moving to the rotation. Thus, he confirmed the rumors that had been blowing around the Windy City. The player then excused himself and went to a meeting with pitching coach Larry Rothschild, Piniella, and general manager Jim Hendry. 20 minutes later, Ryan changed his tune. He said that they just kind of talked about things, and that he was going to go back down there and close. The move is still imminent, but no one appears to know when it might happen. Piniella has confirmed only that Rich Hill will start the game on Tuesday against the Padres. Lilly will follow him on Wednesday, but further changes are coming to the rotation as Piniella wants to kick-start his underachieving team. After Hendry spent 300 million dollars on new signings this winter, the Cubs are still 2 games under .500. However, moving Ryan Dempster to the rotation seems to be a strange move. Ryan has converted 9 of 10 save opportunities
this season. He looks settled in the role again after struggles during the previous season. Piniella seemed to be really upset with Dempster last Thursday, when he allowed five ninth-inning runs to give the Mets a 6-5 win over his team. However, overall Ryan has delivered something that the coach himself acknowledges. If the Cubs closer really is to become a starter, Marshall would become a short-term move. But we know that trying to
second-guess Piniella is an impossible task.
August 16th, 2007
In early May, baseball Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda was charged by law enforcement officials with possessing marijuana and other drugs. 69-year old Cepeda now works as a community representative for the San Francisco Giants. He speaks to children about the dangers of drugs. Cepeda was stopped while driving 83 mph on a highway with a speed limit of 65 mph. When the police officer made contact with Orlando Cepeda,
she smelled the odor of marijuana coming from his car. She decided to do a search of the vehicle and found marijuana. The officer also some other controlled substance, methamphetamine or cocaine. The police also found a syringe. The former baseball star was held in a local jail for some time. However, he was not suspected of driving while under the influence of drugs. Orlando’s lawyer stated that his client was innocent and that he does not use drugs and that the marijuana was for medicinal use by his family member suffering from diabetes. Court hearing concerning this case was put on hold Tuesday, May 22. Prosecutors will be seeking for more information about his traffic stop as well as the substances that were found in the vehicle he was driving. It was stated that prosecutors were waiting for laboratory results to identify the powder that was found in the car. The CHP (California Highway Patrol) test identified the white powder as cocaine. A more conclusive laboratory test will be completed in two weeks. In its report to prosecutors, the CHP recommended that Orlando Cepeda be charged with a felony count of possessing a controlled substance and the
speeding violation. Moreover, they also recommended 2 misdemeanor charges, for possession of a syringe and possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana. Now we are waiting for the court decision.
August 16th, 2007
If you usually follow baseball new that you probably remember the story of Jason Giambi taking an amphetamines test within the last year. This year the sportsmen took the test again and failed it. Newspapers reported that with the failed amphetamines test, the player has been subjected to 6 additional tests during this year. However, the player declined all comment to the newspaper. The Yankees slugger has recently stated in an interview to USA Today saying that he was probably tested more than anyone else. Lawyers for MLB would also like to talk to Giambi about his comments made last Friday. He said he was wrong for “doing that stuff”. The remarks of the New York Yankees hitter many interpreted as an admission of the use of steroids. Management lawyers insist on holding the meeting
as soon as possible. The failed amphetamines test would not be probably discussed at a meeting to keep a first positive test secret. Hall of Famer Frank Robinson reacted to Giambi’s comments saying that we all, including ownership, players, and everybody should have stood up a long time ago. We should have apologized back then as well and made sure that we had a rule in place and gone forward. So Giambi should speak for himself. If Giambi wanted to confess his past mistakes, then he should have come out and said that he was guilty. He should apologize to baseball and to all
the fans that supported him and baseball over the years. He should promise that he will clean up his act and promise he will not do anything like this in future. But he shouldn’t drag others into the affair, because when he says baseball, logically, that includes everyone in baseball.
August 16th, 2007
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