Felix Sanchez to throw first pitch at Dodger Stadium

Apparently the Dodgers are pretty confidence they'll make the playoffs (God I hope they make it!) that they've invited Gold Medalist Felix Sanchez to a ceremony in Dodger Stadium and to throw the first pitch in the post season.

This according to a radio report here in Santo Domingo in "La Voz del Fanatico"

Less then 48 seconds to Glory, our first Gold Medal in the Olympics... 

Gold fever, Felix Sanchez runs for the Gold

Today in Athens Felix Sanchez is looking to give the Dominican Republic it first Olympic Gold Medal when he runs in the 400m hurdler today at 3:30pm (Eastern time), hopefully will our first gold and second medal overall, in Los Angeles in 1984 we got a bronze in Boxing.

Some people will take credit from this medal because Felix was born in NY and was developed in UCLA, well, they got a point. But he's wearing REPUBLICA DOMINICANA in his uniform, he does not speak a very clear Spanish, but to me he's more Dominican than Alex Rodriguez, if the world cup of baseball took place, I'm sure A-Rod will play for the US.

The success that Felix Sanchez is having assures me that we have the talent, but we lack of proper preparation for our athletes, take MLB as an example, a team take a kid and they convert him into a MLB Star.

When Olympic athletes from any other country are training for the Olympics full time, our guys are struggling to receive money for proper nutritional needs, it's hard to go to a training session with an empty stomach.


Good luck Felix, 8 millions Dominicans will be watching you today!!!

Good friday, a day to remember

August 20th was a day to remember for Dominican Players who are making noice again and are leading several offensive categories.


Dodgers 3 Braves 2

Adrian Beltre hit two homeruns, one in the 9th inning against Jhon Smoltz (I guess Gagne is not the only one giving runs), and later in the 11th hit another one to win the game, those two were his 37th and 38 of the year. El mambo de Lima pithched well again giving up 1 run in 7 innings.

Anaheim 5 Yankees 0

Ramon Ortizm the same Ramon who struggle early pitch like the man the Angels wanted to see all year, 4 hits and 0 runs in 8 innings not bad for a pitcher they were willing to trade away for cash. Good for Ramon, he and Anaheim needed that win.

Boston 10 Wisox 1

Oh Manny, grand slam, he was in slump, if he gets hot look out, he's a hitting machine, great night for him and the Red Sox, specially that the dumb empire lost his game against the Angels, I hope my good friend Sarah is happy with last night victory.

Cubs 9 Astros 2, Slumping Sammy hits another one

Apparently what Sammy needed was to bat in the number five spot, I hope he gets hot and they catch San Francisco in the Wild Card, Moises Alou hit one two...

Adrian spoke, and it was loud...

Apparently there's too kind of loud talkers in the new Dodgers dogout, one is Jose Lima who talks loud, too loud for my taste, the other is Adrian Beltre who's now talking very loud but with his bat.

Early in the season he was complaining about his demotion in the batting order, at that time I wrote Adrian, shut up and play at the time that he had no right as Rob agreed too.

As for today Beltre is leading MLB with 38 Hr, not bad for a guy who is playing hurt, so from now on Adrian you can talk whatever you want...

Dominican Republic defeats the USA

Today in Athens the Dominican Republic made history by defeating the US Voleyball team
3-2 in the 2004 Olympic games.

For us, a third world country is a huge victory to defeat the United States of America, it's our first time in the Olympic games for the Voleyball team.

This victory means a lot for us, the hard work is paying now.

For the media in the US is just a setback for the American team, not a success for the Dominican Republic, well, get used to that, we're getting better every day in many sports, take baseball as an example...

GO Dominican Republic...


Update:
I know it's hard for the US team to loose from a little country, but to booed the Dominican team after the end of the game, that's too low!!!

The trade and Guillermo Mota age

Everybody had talked about how the Dodgers loose by trading the best setup man in Guillermo Mota, but had anyone wondered if Guillermo is really 31?

Not to offend any of my fellow Dominicans, but I believed that counting out Moises Alou and a few no Dominican Player is really the age they show in the Books. Just do a little exercise and watch a picture of Jose Mesa and tell if he really looks 36? i don't think so.

Only a few years ago MLB had stablished controls to avoid false documentation, but can you imagine an scandal on Miguel Tejada's age? or Sammy Sosa?.

Back to the trade I think the deal will pay off this year and in the future for the Dodgers, I really liked LoDuca, but baseball is not an one man game.

My LoDuca Bubble Head

Dodgers Stadium was my first visited baseball stadium in the US, it was my Honeymoon and I drove from San Francisco to LA just to attend a Dodger game.

I went to the gift shop to look for some Dodgers stuff, 2002 was the season we all began to knew Paul LoDuca, so instead of buying a Shawn Green bubble head or a Eric Gagne T-shirt I bought a LoDuca Bubble head, he was the player I admired in that roster, the little guy that gave everything for his team, the one who got hit very bad and stayed in the game, that was the kind of player the Dodgers needed, I still have the bubble head in my house, today rumors are sending Paul to an other team, no matter team LoDuca is headed he will stay in my Family Room.

Welcome to the Jungle

This is not about Eric Gagne when entering the game for another save, this is about the current situation of my country.

In the national Zoo a man tells a little black kid who is in a field trip to the zoo.

Hey kid, where is your father? He should be here with the monkeys (The kid is poor and Black), so the kid answers "you know what, you should be a comedian", this was a dialogue between our President Hipolito Mejia and a Little kid.

That was only one of his sarcastic and racist remarks, for four years Mr. Mejia had given us bad jokes after bad jokes, we got tired of his jokes so in May 16 we voted him out of the presidency.

His government is due next August 16, but of course they are not doing nothing for the country except stealing everything they can, give pensions to people that never attended work, anyway the country is in the middle of a energy crisis, the hospitals are not working at nights, they are not doing any surgeries, and the Health Minister is saying that there's nothing wrong with our public hospitals.

Thanks god that me or my Family does not need to attend a public hospital.

So please Mr. Mejia, stop the stupids jokes, everytime you open your mouth is to say something really stupid.

Once again forgive me for posting this in a blog that is supposed to post news about baseball, but I had to get this out of my mind.

 

Dodgers prospects maybe will play in the Dominican Winter League

The Escogido Lions will have as an special assistant Mr. Rene Francisco who is Director of International Baseball Operations, that means that any available prospect or minor leaguer will play here with Escogido, that's good because they'll play in Santo Domingo.
 
Last year a couple of Dodgers minor leaguers played with Estrellas, none was productive.
 
Let's see if the Dodgers are willing to send prospects to play here or to the Arizona instructional league, in 1988 the last World series won by the Dodgers was the year the LA team broke relations with Licey, since that both Dodgers and Escogido are into loosing seasons, will this be the year of Dodgers and Escogido? Let's see...

Jason over Juan, Random Thoughts

When Dodgers GM Paul DePodesta traded for Jason Werth many people questioned the move, now Werth in the 19 games he had started is batting 365, 6hr and 17 rbi, but the most important thing is the intesity he shows in the field, in yesterday game he robbed Alex Cintron a double by charging the ball and making a strong throw, he's the kind the player the Dodgers needs not a Mediocre player with an superstar attituded like Juan Encarnación, some times the DL can benefit a team, I say give Jason the opportunity to play every day and bench Encarnación, every time Werth is in the game he gives a 100%, not like Juan.
 
A whole different season for the Dodgers
 
Last season the Dodgers went thru a season that no one wants to remember, this year this far it looks different, I know is early and the Dodgers swept the worst team in the NL but let's look at some issues that are a whole different from last season.
 

1. In Fridays game we won after a terrific outing by Randy Johnson, yes the Dodgers made the runs after he left the game, but last year could be a 3-2 result in favor of the Diamondbacks, but Shawn Green hit a grand slam that no one exprected.
2. In Saturday game Guillermo Mota blew up a lead, last year was a guaranteed loss, but thios year was a HR by the bench in the name of Robin Ventura. Remember last year bench?
3. In Sunday's game the Dodgers had a career game by Cesar Izturis and Jason Werth, Cesar hit a 3 run HR, last year in the same situation he likely would have hitted a groudball or something similar.

The upcoming trades for the Dodgers

So far the Jason's trades have worked for the Dodgers, so when the GM says that he's talking to several team and is waiting for the right deal I believe him if we consider the results of the Jason's deals, of course the Milton Bradley is not what we expected but he's young and will get better, is not like the Dodgers gave Franklin Gutierrez for this year version of Jeremy Burnitz.

So my expectations on this year trade deadline are high, I think this year the Dodgers will get an impact player.

So the Dodgers have a bright future, at least I see it that way.

 

The Mondesi dilema continues

Mario Guerrero who warned the Anaheim Angels not to pay Raul Mondesi because of the lawsuit the he won against Mondesi.
 
This according to Diario Libre in this Saturday edition, let's see if the Angels will do the same the Pirates did and Raul reaction if they retain his salary.
  
 

Dominican winter league update

Here's a little update on the next winter league here.
 
Miguel Tejada said will no play with Aguilas. Too bad and good in the other hand, the fans will miss him, but the other teams will not.
 
The league reduce to 5 imported players, well, that's too bad, in recent years we only get rejects or prospects that are to way low to play in this league.
 
Escogido Lions changed owners, the owner for the last ten or more years handed the team to Mr. Julio Hazim, that's not bad except that Mr. Hazim owns the company that do comercialization for the tournament, he said he resign and handed the company to his son, yeah right!
 

The season will began october 22...

Dominican players Conquered the All Star show

I've been distant from blogging since last week, lots of work and trying to sell our apartment has held me from posting, but great things are happening for Dominicans.

First 11 Dominicans were in the All Star game (I'm counting out A-Rod) and the most voted player was Alfonso Soriano.

The Home run derby was won by Miguel Tejada, who broke a record of 15 HR in a round held by another Dominican Albert Pujols.

The MVP was Alfonso Soriano.

7 out of 9 of the AL runs were produced by Dominicans, Manny Ramirez (2), David Ortiz (2) and Alfonso Soriano (3).

3 out of 4 of the NL runs were also produced by fellow Dominicans Sammy Sosa (1) and Albert Pujols (2).

In the pitching department no Dominican Player was involved in the game.


In other news Dominican Republic defeat Puerto Rico and won the Gold medal in CentroBasket, a tournament of the Caribbean and Central America, so we beat them in Baseball in the Caribbean Series and in their Best Sport too.

Beating Puerto Rico is better than sweeping the Giants!

It's over. let's move on...

Gagne race to inmortality is over, today a blown save to the same team that started, in one point there will not be any more distractions for Gagne, let's start over again, after all, he's human.

American or Dominican League?

If you take a look at the offensive stats in the American League you may think that you are looking at a Winter League stat sheet, only that David Ortiz and Miguel Tejada play here at the Dominican Winter League.

Every day more Dominicans are into the leaders of the American League, here's a look:

AL Avg

Ivan Rodriguez TEX 381
Melvin Mora BAL 357
Vladimir Guerrero ANA 344
Manny Ramirez BOS 333

AL HR

David Ortiz BOS 21 (Tied with H.Blalock TEX)
Manny Ramirez BOS 20 (Tied with Paul Konerko CHI)
Vladimir Guerrero ANA 19

AL RBI

David Ortiz BOS 75
Vladimir Guerrero ANA 68
Miguel Tejada BAL 65
Manny Ramirez BOS 59

Hasta Cuando?!

Hasta cuando will be Nomo in the rotation, or even in the team, Hasta cuando will Green in the Line up? Hasta cuando the Dodgers will be loosing against the Giants?

When Dodgers manager Jim Tracy will be a man and admit thet Nomo can't be in the rotation? when he'll realized that Green should not be playing every day, he needs to be go to the Bench, Play Werth at 1B, Olmedo, or even the Strikeout king.

Dodgers fans deserve better, specially those in LA who are paying to see the Dodgers play, those who pay MLB.COM or DirecTV to watch them on TV, I deserve better, we all deserve better, stop playing with us, we suffer to much last year waiting for the help that never came, stop the bleeding or the patient will die.

Get rid of Nomo, Bench Green until he learns how to hit again...

Hasta cuando Coño!!!

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!!!

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.

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