Dominican Republic could skip 2009 baseball classic

Santo Domingo.– The Dominican Republic won't participate in the 2009 World Baseball Classic unless the Latin American nation that is home to a plethora of Major League stars is considered as one of the venues.

"If we do not receive any of the phases, we will not play in the 2009 World Classic," Leonardo Matos Berrido, general director of the Dominican team, told the press. "We sent a formal request to the organizing committee of the World Classic last November, and they didn't even have the courtesy to respond in either way."

The committee that determines the makeup of the Dominican team called a press conference on Monday in Orlando to announce its decision and lodge its complaint.

Hector Pereyra, president of the Dominican Baseball Federation, said his country deserves the recognition because of its rich baseball history. Countless great players, including Pedro Martinez, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz, Albert Pujols and Vladimir Guerrero, were born and raised in the Dominican Republic, where they learned to play baseball on many of its barren sandlots.

"We believe that the Dominican Republic deserves this kind of opportunity, to present events of this magnitude," Pereyra said. "Over the past 30 years, our country has produced the largest number of foreign players in the Major Leagues."

I have covered 2 Caribbean World Series and the World Baseball Classic.

Here are the facts. The CWS was held at Estadio Cibao, which was renovated recently and looked very good. It is, in my opinion, better than the Estadio Roberto Clemente in Carolina last year; which has this almost aqua carpet for turf.

So the infrastructure is in place in even a second city like Santiago. The capital obviously has more hotels, and is a more logical choice to host an event.

Now lets be realistic. The DR cannot host the semifinals or finals. The WBC is a MLB initiative, and it's primary purpose is, not only to spread the popularity of baseball world wide, but to also make $, and a lot of it. If you have any doubt about that, take a look at the $237 jerseys, and $35 hats that were on
sale at the event.

The question that needs to be asked is- Are there enough Dominicans willing to pay up to $60 a ticket for the games?

If we base it on the turnout for the CWS this year, then I have to say the answer is "no." There were too many empty seats at Estadio CIbao, even for the Licey-Aguilas games, which usually pack the stadium for a Tuesday game in October between the rivals.

The tickets were supposedly all sold and not used. I don't buy that. Baseball crazed DR fans don't decide not to show up for Licey-Aguilas games, nevermind when they are set at teh CWS stage.

The tickets were priced way over what could be reasonably afforded in the country. I think MLB recognizes that DR may not be a suitable place to make $. The ticket prices are steep, and then we get into the merchandising issues which adds to the bottom line of the tournament.

La Sorpresa del Indio Quintana

AP- El retador puertorriqueño Carlos Quintana ganó la corona de la Organización Mundial de Boxeo el sábado, al vencer por decisión unánime al previamente invicto Paul Williams en el Pechanga Resort y Casino.

No hubo caídas a la lona en la pelea, la cual Quintana ganó con tarjetas de 115-113, 116-112 y 116-112.

Quintana mejoró su récord a 25-1 con 19 nocauts. Williams, de Aiken, S.C., dejó su marca en 33-1 con 24 KOs. Ambos peleadores pesaron 146 1/2 libras en el peesaje, pero Williams puso mucho más peso antes del combate.

Lo unico que puedo decir es WOW! Yo no le daba chance a Quitana contra un hombre mas grande como lo es Williams. Williams mide 6'1" y tiene un alcanse de 82" y pelea en 146 libras! El tiene el mismo alcanse que tiene Wladimir Klitschko, y Klitschko es un heaveyweight.

Despues que Williams derroto a Antonio Margarito, yo pensaba que no habia nadie en la division que le podia ganar. Su combinacion de rapidez, alcanse, altura, y actividad, lo hacen un boxeador muy dificil de conquistar. sus promotres decian que el es el boxeador mas evitado en el deporte. Pero el boricua Quintana silencio a todo el mundo, y le dio lo suyo a Williams.

Quintana empezo rapido y corto a Williams sobre sus ojos y nunca miro patras. Quintana sufrio su unica derrota contra Miguel Cotto en el 2006, cuando Cotto lo tumbo en el 5to asalto.

Para Quintana hay muchas opciones en la division mas electrica del deporte. Para Williams, quien estaba listo para pelear por millones, it's back to the drawing board. Williams peleo en 146 pero llego a la pelea en 164. Eso no es muy saludable, pero "El Punisher" insiste que seguira en 146.

Licey Se Robo El Monumento! Ultima Noticias!

Esto es un email que me mando un primo mio. Muy chistoso...

Licey Campeon y Equipo de Estrella

Foto cortesía de espndeportes.com

A la final, como siempre, el pitcheo fue la gran diferencia.
Los Tigres del Licey derrotaron a sus rivales Las Águilas Cibaeñas 8-2 para ganarse su decimo titulo de Serie del Caribe. Ramón Ortiz lanzo cinco entradas limpias en la victoria, para asegurar el titulo en frente de la fanaticada Aguilucha.

Ortiz fue seleccionado como el jugador más valioso del torneo después de lanzar 11.2 entradas blancas, para los campeones, quienes terminaron con una marca de 5-1. Las Águilas terminaron en 3-3, los Yaquis de Obregón (México) 2-4, y los Tigres de Aragua (Venezuela) acabaron 2-4 también.

Uniéndose a Ortiz en el equipo Todo Estrellas del torneo estaban Matthew Tupman (C, Licey), Mendy López (1B, Cibao), Rafael Furcal (2B, Cibao); Tony Peña Jr. (SS, Cibao); Luis Maza (3B, Aragua), Nelson Cruz (OF, Licey); Selwyn Langaigne (OF, Obregón) y Albino Contreras (OF, Obregón);Roberto Saucedo (DH, Obregón); Arnaldo Muñoz (PZ, Licey) y el manager del Licey, Héctor de la Cruz.

Como siempre, fue una serie llena de emoción y de entusiasmo de los fanáticos de cada país. El año que viene la serie será en Mexicali, la capital del estado Baja California, justamente en la frontera californiana de Estados Unidos y México.

Todavía no se sabe si Puerto Rico montara una liga este inverno, aunque las indicaciones dicen que si. Sin embargo, este servidor ve a este prestigioso torneo en crisis. Hay muchos problemas que se tienen que resolver. La semana que viene les traigo un artículo sobre la crisis en que se encuentra la querida Serie del Caribe.

Observaciones de La Serie del Caribe

Despues de asistir la Serie del Caribe en Santiago, Republica Dominicana, estas son algunas de mi observaciones del play.



Los mexicanos saben como divertirse. Con sus disfraces, matracas, y cantos, es una fanaticada que es bienvenida donde sea. Hable con un empleado de la cerveza Presidente en el Estadio Cibao y me dijo “Los mexicanos han acabado con toda la cerveza del país.” Mexicali 2009 va ser muy divertido!
Es una lastima que Puerto Rico no pudo participar en esta edición de la serie, pero habían muchos fanáticos y periodistas boricua representando su nacionalidad. La Confederación de Beisbol del Caribe involucro a Puerto Rico en todas las celebraciones y hasta tocaron el himno nacional de Puerto Rico durante las celebraciones del primer día.



El boricua Armando Ríos, quien jugo con el equipo mexicano, me dijo que se sintió muy emocionado escuchando el himno puertorriqueño “La Borinqueña” con “México” en su pecho. Me confeso que por poco le salió una lagrima pensando en que su país no estaba jugando en la serie.

Los Aguiluchos nunca se quedan atrás. Después de perder el primer partido en contra el Licey, escuche algunos fanáticos diciendo “felicidades boricua!” Eso fue un chiste dirigido al Licey, quienes solo entraron a la serie por la falta de un equipo boricua.



El Licey y Las Águilas llegaron a los finales de la serie. Imagínense si Puerto Rico hubiera jugado y las Águilas se hubieran reforzado con los peloteros del Licey. Ay ay ay!

Algunos datos del amigo Enrique Rojas de ESPN Deportes:

Primero con 100

Las Aguilas dominicana se convirtieron en el primer equipo que alcanza la cifra redonda de 100 partidos en la Serie del Caribe. Los cibaeños no solamente han accionado en 17 ediciones, sino que además debieron jugar un partido extra en 1987, 1993 y 2003.


Tigres mansos
Los Tigres de Aragua han ganado cuatro de las últimas cinco temporadas de la pelota invernal de Venezuela, pero con su derrota del sábado ante Licey, desmejoró su marca a 15-22 de por vida en la Serie del Caribe.
Aragua ha perdido cinco de sus últimos siete partidos desde el año pasado.

Récords de Polonia

En la primera entrada del partido entre Obregón (México) y Aguilas (Dominicana), el jardinero quisqueyano Luis Polonia amplió tres de sus muchos récords en la Serie del Caribe. Series jugadas (14), juegos (75) y carreras anotadas (48).
Polonia también pegó un sencillo en la segunda entrada para llegar a 90, récord de la serie. Además es el líder de dobles (17).


Rey de los jonrones

Con sus dos cuadrangulares del sábado, el dominicano Miguel Tejada estableció un nuevo récord de Series del Caribe, con 13 bambinazos, quebrando el empate que tenía con 11 con el venezolano Antonio Armas.
El bateador designado de las Aguilas también alcanzó las 41 carreras impulsadas, cuatro menos que la marca general, que pertenece a su compatriota y compañero en las Aguilas, Tony Batista.

Brady Minus the Boot

From Page 6.com:

Don’t worry Patriots fans, what appeared to be a foot injury on Tom Brady early in the day yesterday was luckily not as serious as it seemed.
Yesterday afternoon PageSix.com was first to report Tom was wearing a cast on his right foot and limping home with girlfriend Gisele Bundchen. Later that night, however, the quarterback and his Victoria’s Secret angel arrived at New York hotspot Butter and the cast was nowhere to be seen.

The football star appeared to be in no pain as he sat on the top of the seats of the front booth with Gisele’s ex Leonardo DiCaprio, actors Lukas Haas and James DeBello, and a group of pretty girls.


That would be James DeBello of Dorm Daze 2, of course.

At this rate we fully expect our next Brady update to come from Perez Hilton rather than ESPN. Then again, maybe the thing simply didn't match his evening wear. Belichick would love that excuse.

Ok, so can we just drop the Brady being injured thing? If he was able to party without the boot last night, you better believe he'll be more than ready to play in two weeks. Now can we please get more pictures of Gisele and the "group of pretty girls" they were partyign with?

Brady Injured?

This is in today's New York Post. As you can see by the coverof the tabloid paper, the New York media isn't wasting time on hyping the Super Bowl up. Do you think the Green Bay papers would come up with this stuff?

By CHUCK BENNETT, MIKE PUMA and MELISSA JANE KRONFELD

A day after the Pats' win over the San Diego Chargers propelled them to the Super Bowl against the Giants, Brady sported an orthopedic, open-foot brace on his right leg as he struggled with luggage and the box of white flowers.

Brady was later spotted wearing the boot and hobbling out of the East Village nightspot Butter, with Gisele, early this morning.

The booty - known as a cam walker - is a good sign for the Big Blue faithful, according to Hospital for Special Surgery foot and ankle expert Dr. Rock Positano.

"When they put you in a cam walker, that usually means you're hurting," Positano told The Post, after viewing stills and video of the gimpy quarterback. "He's sustained some kind of trauma that requires immobilization. This is not just a simple strain or a sprain."

Positano was betting that Brady had suffered trauma to his metatarsals - bones toward the front of the foot - or the Achilles' tendon, located near the heel.

"Achilles' injuries are very difficult to treat," he said. "You don't come back from an Achilles' injury in a week. The fact that he's in a cam walker should make Giants fans very optimistic, and should certainly make Michael Strahan, or any defenseman who sees that, salivate."

Dr. Rock Positano???? Is this a real doctor? After doing some research, I found out that he actually is a real life doctor. Anyway, I'm glad he cleared up that the injury is in either the front or the back of the foot. That about covers it huh?


And for those of you freaking out, or Giant fans that are just way too giddy about this, don't pay much mind to it. If it were something serious Brady wouldn't have been in Butter till the "early morning."

Football is a tough sport people, and when you play a physical game like Sunday, you are bound to get nicked up a bit. Brady has two weeks to recover, and we have to two weeks of NYC tabloid journalism at it's best to look forward to until they get bcak to killing Isiah on a daily basis.

Roy Jones Defeats Felix Trinidad

As most of you know now, Roy Jones Jr. (52-4, 38KO) defeated Felix "Tito" Trinidad (42-3 35KO), by unanimous decision, at historic Madison Square Garden this past Saturday.

Tito couldn't hang with the bigger, and faster Jones, who let Trinidad dictate the pace early, before taking over with combinations of flurries in the later rounds. Jones knocked Tito down in the 7th and 10th rounds, on the way to his third straight victory.

The win puts the 39-year-old Jones in position to face the winner of the Joe Calzaghe-Bernard Hopkins fight in April. Tito, who was fighting at 170 pounds, the highest weight he has ever fought at, may retire again or go down to 160 where he is best suited to fight.

Does Roy have the magic back? Is e re-motivated in the sport? Does he have a few more big fights left in him? The victory over a clearly over the hill Trinidad doesn't answer many questions, but this bout was one of the more exciting Jones fights I've seen in a while.

Tito needs to retire for a third and final time. I sat behind him in the Caribbean World Series last year in Puerto Rico. The prescription strength on his glasses is very strong, and I don't know how he sees in the ring without them. Hopefully he knows when enough is enough, but as with most boxers, few know when to call it quits.

Golfweek Editor "Replaced"

Golfweek magazine replaced the editor responsible for illustrating the current cover with a noose and apologized Friday for its depiction of a Golf Channel anchor's use of "lynch" in a comment about Tiger Woods.

"We apologize for creating this graphic cover that received extreme negative reaction from consumers, subscribers and advertisers across the country," Turnstile Publishing Co. president William P. Kupper Jr. said. "We were trying to convey the controversial issues with a strong and provocative graphic image. It is now obvious that the overall reaction to our cover deeply offended many people. For that, we are deeply apologetic."

Turnstile is the parent company of Golfweek.

The company said Dave Seanor, the vice president and editor of Golfweek, has been replaced immediately by Jeff Babineau.

A copy of the Jan. 19 cover was removed from the magazine's web site Friday morning.

Kelly Tilghman, in her second year as anchor of PGA Tour coverage on Golf Channel, was suspended for two weeks because of comments she made during the second round of the Mercedes-Benz Championship, when she and analyst Nick Faldo were discussing young challengers to Woods.

Faldo suggested that "to take Tiger on, maybe they should just gang up [on him] for a while."

"Lynch him in a back alley," Tilghman said, laughing.

Seanor said in an interview Thursday night that he took responsibility for the cover, which showed a noose against a purple sky and the title, "Caught in a Noose." The sub-title said, "Tilghman slips up, and Golf Channel can't wriggle free."

Ok, when it was determined that Kelly Tilghman used poor judgment in her choice of words, I thought we had seen the last of any racially charged, motivated, or themed comments, jokes, or portrayals, but the Golfweek editor takes the cake.

Were you not awake during the past couple of weeks? What about the past couple of centuries, where the noose has been a symbol of hatred towards African-Americans? I don't doubt that Seaonor is an intelligent man, but where was the common sense when making this decision? Where were his assistants, or friends? Did he ask anyone fo their opinion?

I'm not sure if "replace" means fired, but I'm sure Al and Jesse are fired up about this one.

In case you missed the original comments on the Golf Channel, here is the video clip.

Serie del Caribe!

Muy pronto viene la Serie del Caribe. ESPN Deportes tendra las tranmisiones de los juegos del 2 al 7 de febrero desde Santiago, Republica Dominicana.

De acuerdo al convenio, ESPN Deportes ofrecerá cobertura exclusiva en español de la Serie del Caribe 2008 comenzando con el juego inaugural entre República Dominicana y Venezuela el 2 de febrero a las 3 p.m., hora del Este de los Estados Unidos.

La Serie del Caribe se jugará en Santiago como sede principal por primera vez en la historia de estos eventos que comenzaron su segunda etapa en 1970 y se han presentado en el país siete veces (1972, 1976, 1980, 1988, 1996, 2000, 2004), pero solo una vez en el Estadio Cibao (1976) cuando se efectuaron dos partidos como parte del programa de 12 encuentros.

“La Serie del Caribe es el pináculo de la temporada invernal de béisbol y es considerada, sin duda, uno de los eventos más populares de ese deporte en nuestra audiencia principal”, expresó Lino García, gerente general de ESPN Deportes. “Al añadir esta propiedad a nuestra lista de programación invernal de béisbol, que ya incluye todas las ligas activas en la confederación, cerramos con sello de oro nuestra temporada de béisbol invernal”.

“La Serie del Caribe 2008 celebrará su 50a edición en la República Dominicana”, indicó Juan Francisco Puello, comisionado de la Confederación de Béisbol Profesional del Caribe. “Nos enorgullecemos de unir fuerzas con un líder de los temas deportivos como ESPN Deportes para hacer llegar esta celebración a los fanáticos en los Estados Unidos”.

Desde 1949, en la Serie del Caribe, un torneo de 12 juegos entre los mejores equipos de México, República Dominicana, Puerto Rico y Venezuela, en el que cada equipo tiene que competir contra todos los demás, una de estas naciones se ha llevado la corona de campeón. El torneo a su vez les ha servido de plataforma de exhibición a los mejores campeonatos de la Liga Invernal de Béisbol. Entre los jugadores de las Grandes Ligas que han participado en la Liga Invernal se encuentran leyendas tales como Roberto Clemente, Fernando Valenzuela, David Concepción y Juan Marichal. Y los jugadores actuales que han desarrollado sus habilidades en la Liga incluyen Johan Santana, Carlos Beltrán, Robinson Cano y Miguel Cabrera entre otros.

Esta temporada la Liga Puertorriqueña se ausenta temporalmente de la Liga Invernal, así que la República Dominicana se verá representada por dos equipos en el torneo. Se espera que Puerto Rico entre otra vez en el torneo el año que viene.

Esta temporada ESPN Deportes televisó más de 50 juegos de ligas invernales desde la República Dominicana, México y Venezuela.

Campeonato hasta la fecha: República Dominicana (1970 a hoy en día) – 15 Campeonatos
Puerto Rico (1949 a hoy en día) – 14 Campeonatos
Cuba (1949 a 1960) – 7 Campeonatos
Venezuela (1949 a hoy en día) – 6 Campeonatos
México (1971 a hoy en día) – 5 Campeonatos
Panamá (1949 a 1960) – 1 Campeonato

SERIE DEL CARIBE 2008 EN ESPN DEPORTES

Fecha Horario (ET) Países

Sábado 2 de feb. 3 p.m. Rep. Dominicana. Vs. Venezuela
7 p.m. México vs. Rep. Dominicana

Domingo 3 de feb. 3 p.m. Rep. Dominicana vs. México
7 p.m. Rep. Dominicana vs. Venezuela

Lunes 4 de feb. 3 p.m. Venezuela vs. México
7 p.m. Rep. Dominicana vs. Rep. Dominicana

Martes 5 de feb. 3 p.m. Venezuela vs. Rep. Dominicana
7 p.m. Rep. Dominicana vs. México

Miércoles 6 de feb. 3 p.m. México vs. Rep. Dominicana
7 p.m. Venezuela vs. Rep. Dominicana

Jueves 7 de feb. 3 p.m. México vs. Venezuela
7 p.m. Rep. Dominicana vs. Rep. Dominicana

Pacman Jones in Trouble Again

OK, so I went to Miami for a little while, then the Holidays, too much food, drinks, and dominoes (the game, not the pizza), but I'm back! So lets get to it.

Adam "Pacman" Jones is in the news again. Pacman allegeldy punched a woman at a strip club.

"I was sitting in the office and he lunged at me numerous times in an effort to do grave bodily harm," Jackson wrote in the warrant application filed Jan. 7. "Veronica Jones, an owner, went into the hall to deal with a member of his entourage. I followed to gawk. He was in the hall, surprisingly reached over or around a security guard and sucker punched me in my left eye."

Jackson told police the next day she was at the club because she was handling a divorce case that involved Adam Jones. No one could be reached Tuesday afternoon at the club's listed phone number.

"Mr. Jones, according to Ms. Jackson, was at the Body Tap Club and she and Mr. Jones got into an argument at the club and Mr. Jones struck Ms. Jackson in the left eye, causing a bruise around her left eye," according to the police report.


Pacman has been arrested six times since 2005. Read that again! Six times in just over two years. Is that even possible? Pacman is serving a year suspension from the NFL after his involvement in a strip club shooting. Sooooo, I guess it is apparent that someone has a strip club addiction.

I don't know about you, but if I'm serving a year suspension from a game that could pay me millions, I think I can find a way to get the strippers to visit me without having to go out. How stupid do you have to be to keep ending up in these situations?

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the end of Pacman. Good job pal, you just blew millions in the name of "making it rain."