Monday, June 28

Dominicans get relieve from the Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox organization raised more than the $200,000 in a relief effort started by David Ortiz, the owner himself put down $100,000. Story.

It's good to know that an organization that many people loves here is making so a big contribution to the relief of the town of Jimani.

Good for them!!!

Friday, June 25

The Trade, Jose Guillen is traded

I'll use Rob headline to talk about a trade involving Jose Guillen, the trade involved Dominican Winter League teams, Guillen was traded to Licey current national and caribbean champion from Los toros del Este, Los Toros received Julio Mañon and Dodgers minor league player Jose Rojas.

This trade was made last year, but the Dominican League rejected because Guillen was selected in a draft when he was not protected by the Escogido Lions.

But this was good for licey because mañon was a key player for Licey in the regular season, becoming the closer until Francis Beltan came into play, Mañon is now pitching in Korea.

Thursday, June 24

Beltran is an Astro

Carlos Beltran was dealt to the Astros, the A's got Octavio Dotel, the Royals got 3 prospects, everybody's happy now. story

DePodesta denies Mota Rumor

Dodgers GM Paul Depodesta denies the rumor of Carlos Beltran to the Dodgers.

"All along, anything involving us was a long shot because I know for sure we don't have what they're looking for," said DePodesta. "They're just about ready to go in the next day or two. From Day One when the rumors started, they told me we didn't have what they were looking for. For us to be involved would have taken three or probably four teams."

He said he will dealt, but not to the Dodgers.

Is that time of the year again

This time of the year means hope for us fans who's team are needing a extra bat or arm, this time of the year we hear any kind of rumors, this time of the years teams became buyers or sellers, is in this time of the season where fans get frustrated for the deal or the deal that your GM did not made.

Every morning I tried not to read Dodgers related news, every moment I'm expecting the big news about a big trade that will help the team, but every day I go to bed and now deal has been made.

Rumors already had Beltran with the Dodgers, but Paul Depodesta did not want to part with Guillermo Mota, they said Mota could be our next closer if an agreement is not reach with Gagne.

This year I think the trading market will different for the Dodgers, at least that's our GM has told us.

Wednesday, June 23

Good timing... Bad timing

Sometimes the best deal that you make is the one you did not make.

On Sunday after a day in the beach and a 2 hour drive and the stress of driving in Santo Domingo I took a long shower and prepared my self to watch the Dodgers-Yankees game, the original plan was to go with a friend to a Sport bar, but he was to drunk and I was too tired, sO I decided to stay home.

So the game started and I saw the Dodgers rally and the back-to-back HR by Matsui and Cairo, but then I was too tired and fall sleep, but then I woke up and decided to turn on the TV and there was Guillermo Mota leaving the box, Eric Gagne entering to face Alex Rodriguez, I got the chance to saw A-rod striking out against the great Gagne, that was Good timing.

Bad timing. On Monday I wanted so bad to watch the Dodgers-Giants game that I decided to try MLB.TV, so I signed up for 1 day, to see if my so called high speed cable connection works fine and could see a decent game. So I payed almost 3.00, you can say that's not too much, is a fair price if you can see the game, to my good luck there was a problem with cable so I could not saw the game, that's bad timing.

Bad timing again, at the beginning of this season I made the promise to myself to not loose sleep time because of the Dodgers, but last night I stayed very late just to see or read the Dodgers loose to the Giants, and to see a Deivi Cruz had the game of his life. That's bad timing.

Monday, June 21

Who's the racist? In defense of the people of Boston

Mr. Barry Bonds in recent declarations accuses the people of Boston of being racist.

People in Boston don't need my defense, but getting to know some of them and sharing public transportation with them for two weeks makes me feel to write in favor of them, and being grateful to them for such well treatment to all Dominicans who plays and live in Boston.

Bonds admitted in the Boston Globe article he has no firsthand experience, but said he has heard enough stories to form an opinion.

"Only what guys have said," Bonds said, "but that's been going on ever since my dad (Bobby) was playing baseball. I can't play like that. That's not for me, brother."


When the Globe reporter suggested the racial climate has changed in Boston, Bonds said, "It ain't changing. It ain't changing nowhere."

I've been to both San Francisco and Boston, both are great cities with great people, of course there's racism in both cities, but Bonds is the less indicated person to talk about it.

In Boston people love Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz, they both are black and from the poor third world country named Dominican Republic, they even love the speechless Manny Ramirez.

Bonds is the one who's having a war against the world, against the media, against himself and baseball, he's the one who's arrogant as any can be.

He's the one who got involved in a fight with white team mate Jeff Kent, he's the one making racial remarks.

One has to wonder if Bonds counts the 46 percent of nonwhites in Boston and 17.4 percent in the Boston metro area (according to the 2000 census) as "too racist" also?

Those are the kinds of things you should think about before making a declaration as damning as Bonds did.

Four years ago, Atlanta Braves pitcher John Rocker was suspended by baseball commissioner Bud Selig for making racial and ethnic remarks about foreigners, homosexuals and minorities in a magazine interview that, as Selig said, "offended practically every element of society."


link

Saturday, June 19

Blue night

The Dodgers Won! this was not any victory, it was against the most hated team in MLB, but I'm not going to write about the game, if you want to feel what I felt read
Rob at 6-4-2
recap of the game, it's better than ESPN recap because it has feelings, and for the preview and great stat pay a visit to Jon at Dodger Thoughts.

Last night vicory was special for several reasons, the most obvious is the we beat the Yankees, but it was very special for Weaver, he got the win against the team who trated him, maybe this will be the boost he needs to regain confidence and be the pitcher avery Dodger fan expects.

For Juan was a good night as well, his RBI was for the go ahead run, he's been a little better in the last seven days.

But it was better for Dodgers fans who really deserved that win, specially those in Dodger Stadium.

Friday, June 18

The life of Pedro and Manny

You are what you eat, that’s what people said, but this is not the case of Dominican Players.

Since the day the first Dominican played in MLB teams are worried about the nutritional habits of the players, first when a player arrived to the United States because of the language barrier he had to eat fast food or the same thing for a long time.

Today with the academies in the Dominican Republic they teach young prospects English and how to behave in the American Society, they feed them well and teach them the right nutrition, but for some players to give up to some kind of foods is too hard, a recent report on Listin Diario shows a picture of Manny Ramirez and Pedro Martinez eating “Frituras|”, fried parts of chicken, pork and cows in Pedro’s town.

Here a part of the story on what Dominican Players do and eat in the off-season.

Pedro and Manny

Two cars arrived at Fenway Park players’ parking lot, both with different kind of music, from those cars you can see Manny Ramirez and Pedro Martinez, it’s 4:30, they have a game against the Yankees at 7:05 and Pedro will get the start.

Pedro Martinez just like many Latin players refuses to buy a house and lives in a hotel suite. He does not have any bizarre taste, just regular stuff like beer, sodas and Dominican food made by him. He stays in when there’s no game watching TV or reading. His vehicles are normal too, Mercedes, Lincoln and some sports cars, he dresses casual, when he’s going to pitch he stays in his room listening to instrumental music.

Manny Ramirez life you could say is a little messy, but is not, he’s married with two kids, he lives in the Ritz-Carlton of Boston, 4 blocks from Fenway, he also have an apartment in Fort Lauderdale, FL, well equipped, of course.

He likes rap, hip hop and Tekno, he drives a Maisto Premiere Mercedes S Class, a yellow TVR speed, a XJ220 Jaguar and Honda motorcycle, he hangs out with his wife and friends from his childhood.

He preffers any kind of rice, meat, beer, before games he plays Nintendo in his room.

Well, that’s in the U.S. but what about when they come to the Dominican Republic in the winter, Pedro is quiet, he stays home, he goes to some pubs, but he’s a family man, Manny do some partying too.

Life is different in the Dominican Republic, people is kind, there’s a lot of stuff to do, but for those players, specially Pedro the off season is a time to be with his family and friends, away from the media and opportunists.

Saturday, June 12

Me against the world

All the people that surrounds me follows a different team, me, I follow the Dodgers, Angels, Red Sox, Toronto and sometimes the Cubs, my wife likes the Braves just because she went to Turner Field a couple of year ago, in the Dominican Winter Leagues I follow Licey, the Follows Escogido, it's like the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.

My best friend loves the Yankees, I hate the Yankees and every NY sport team, he likes the Lakers and I hate the Lakers since the Larry Bird era, he also follows Escogido here.

In last year AL series we were in a sport bar watching the 7th game of the Yankees-Red Sox series, you all know the story, so I had to pay the tab...

We never rooted for the same team until this February that we were rooting for the Dominican team in the Caribbean Series.

Well, tomorrow at 8:00pm ET we will root for the same team again, for different reasons of course, me because I like the Dodgers, he, because he hates Pedro.

Tomorrow and Mondays newspapers will cover a lot of Sunday night game, the game will be watched by half the country, and me and my friend will be the only two rooting against Pedro, It will be fun to root against him.

Dodgers and Red Sox, games 1 and 2

Odalis Perez must be frustrated, I know he's a Pro, but it must be hard to pitch such a great game and watch your team bat with a rolled newspaper.
Last night the Dodgers fall to the Red Sox 2-1 in a great game, both pitchers were great, it was a great game to watch for us in the Dominican Republic, one of the starting pitchers was Dominican and a fellow Dominican decided the game, Odalis pitched well but did not win, but today the Dodgers scored all the runs they did not scored in the two first games of the Toronto series and last night, they beat the Red Sox 14-5, Yes! 14-5, I can imagine Odalis talking to Lima in the Dogout " Mira eso Lima, ayer no batearon nada, y hoy bateo hasta Juan".

Odalis is so frustrated that unless there is a change in his next games I don't see him resigning with L.A next year.

For tomorrow game I'll be rooting for my Dodgers against Pedro and half the city of Santo Domingo.

Above the league

Danny Almonte helped his team last night to win the NY City Championship. Link

Almonte could hardly have been better. He struck out the first five hitters he faced and retired 11 of the first 12 batters. The sophomore finished with 11 strikeouts and surrendered just one hit a clean single to center by Gustavo Duran.

"Once I struck out the first three batters, I knew I was going to be good," Almonte said. "They said they wanted to play us, so they got it."

I hope people start to give him credit for his abilities, he made a mistake a few years ago, but so for he has shown great potential.

Good luck Danny!


Friday, June 11

An eye catching series for Dominicans

This weekend series in Boston will be a very followed one, two teams with a lot of tradition and many fans will play in a 3 game series.

This two teams have 10 Dominican players on their rosters, the Dodgers have 6 and the Red Sox 4, L.A is the MLB team with most Dominicans on their roster, followed by the Angels.

The Dodgers have lost many fans since they won it all in 1988, Dodgers fans are usually older than 25, but Boston have the most fans here because of Pedro, Manny and David.

Sunday game will be on national TV, every baseball fan here will watching Pedro against the Dodgers, it's going to be the only game I wish Pedro loose.

The Dodgers have great tradition here in the Dominican Republic, Tom Lassorda has being manager 2 times here, the Dodgers had working agreements with Escogido, Licey and Toros, by the way, they break the agreement with Licey after the 1988 season and you know the rest of the story, no postseason wins since then.

Well, good luck to the Dodgers this weekend, they'll need it.

Thursday, June 10

Raul Mondesi is now 118

Is not a lucky number, or Raul's number in Japan, is the Batting average of Mr. Mondesi since joining the Angels, now he's injured and may be lost for the rest of the season, first he took 200,000 from the Pirates, now the Angels will have to pay him and he will seating at home, driving his kid to school, of course if he's awake or his hip allows him to do that, poor Mondi, all that effort and now he wont be playing againg this season, i guess Rob prayers were heard.

Poetry VS Merengue

Last night an interesting matchup took place in Toronto, two Dominican pitchers were facing each other, both pitchers are in the art wannabe business, Miguel Batista is a poet, or at least that's what he thinks, and Lima is a singer with his band in the Dominican Republic, both players belongs for the same team in the Dominican Winter League, The Escogido Lions, both have differences with the owner of the team.

Both teams the Toronto Blue Jays and the Los Angeles Dodgers have facilities here and had developed many good players, today the Dodgers is the team with more Dominicans in MLB roster with 6 players.

Well, last night Batista pitched a complete game and won, giving the Dodgers their third in a row.

Tuesday, June 8

Danny Almonte, the next big Dominican star

Danny Almonte is a kid from Moca, a town in the north side of our country, his mother is sick and have to get a shot every day, his son is in New York playing baseball and will have a tryout for MLB teams this weekend, he's not eligible for a draft until 2006, he sure will have a big signing bonus, but now he can't accept help for his mother because will be against NCAA rules, he does not want to be involved in another scandal.

Speaking of scandals, a few years ago it was discovered that he was 2 years older, 14 not 12 at the time he was playing little league baseball and his team victories and his records were taken away along with his dignity.

I remember many people making fun of him, now he's playing in the Finals again, in his last game he was the difference.

he has a very promising career ahead, I hope the adults that are near him don't make the same mistakes.

Update: for all of those people who made fun of him, or made fun of any Dominican Player who alters his age to have a better chance I invite you to spend an hour in their lives, it's wrong to make a false document, but that does not give you the right to make fun of them, Danny is now dominating his team in batting, now he's 18?

Saturday, June 5

From Juan to Pedro. Go see a Doctor!

Juan Marichal our only member in the hall of fame gave Pedro Martinez a public advice, go see a doctor, you are not fine.

Since the 2002 season Pedro is less efective, i know he's like a hero for us in the Dominican Republic, but we have to be realistic, he's not the same anymore, we can stand behind false theories anymore, is not the cold weather, he's not out of shape, he's hurt and is not telling, just because he'll be a free agent.

He's a very brave player, a player the Dodgers gave up because of his body and he turned out in one of the best pitchers in the game, but now he's hurt, something's wrong with his arm.

The fact is that dominican pitchers starts to slow down after 2,000 IP, except for Juan Marichal every pitcher from this country after 2,000 innings began the start of the end of his career.

In today's papers Marichal advice Pedro to see a doctor, I think he already saw one, or two or a dozen, but he won't tell what's wrong with him, not in the final year of his contract, that's why he was pushing for a contract extension before the start of the season, his fastball is 4 miles slower.

Pedro needs to make changes and he will a dominant pitcher again, but don't expect the old Pedro.

Thursday, June 3

El barrio de los peloteros

Translated to English is something like "The Baseball Players hood" turns out that some Dominican Players will join forces and donate 300 houses for the town of Jimani that suffer a devastation on may 24th, the players are Neifi Perez, Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Julio Lugo, Moises Alou, Aramis Ramirez, Armando Benitez, Luis Castillo among others.

Good for them, the proyect will be finished within a year.

Also the Red Sox Foundation is raising money to donate for the Jimani cause.