Archive for the ‘Baseball News’ Category

• Disastrous romance for Barry Bonds

  Date: 2011.03.24 | Category: Baseball News, Sports News | Response: 0

  Statements from his former mistress unveil what many suspected: the use of steroids throughout his career.

  Home run king Barry Bonds could be dethroned soon and not precisely by another player with better numbers than him, but by a judge. The former baseball player is going through trial at the federal courthouse in San Francisco for allegedly lying about steroid use under oath, back on December 4, 2003.

  Bonds is facing charges for perjury and obstructing justice in the BALCO investigation almost eight years ago.

  But what does his former mistress Kimberly Bell has to do with all this? Well, that she is one of the witnesses that will testify on the trail, and what she has to say about Bonds isn’t going to be nice.

  The prosecution already offered a glimpse of the conversations held between Bonds and Bell, which leave the home run king in a very adverse situation, since his behavior towards her was abusive.

  On the 14-page transcript form these conversations the use of the words “slut” and “bitch” among other explicit language is constant.

   This transcript will serve as evidence for the Federal prosecutors to demonstrate Bonds’ abusive and hostile manners towards others, and in some cases even threatening, which they claim to be a result of steroid use, since theses substance increases rage in users.

  But not only the prosecutors have submitted transcripts, as the government did it too through 11 voice mails that they hope to be helpful for the Court.

  The issue is that Bonds’ attorneys don’t feel that those recordings should be heard, for the use of profanity between angry couples is something very common.

  Either way, Bonds isn’t going to escape from facing Bell’s declarations, where she is expected to describe the jury how bad their relationship was, as well as the physical changes she noticed in him.
  Their relationship took place from 1994 to 2003, but Bell didn’t become as famous for it as she did four years later when she decided to pose for Playboy magazine.  It was in this magazine that she gave the first details about her 9-year relationship with the home run legend.
  The 46-year-old former San Francisco Giants player’s trial is expected to last in between two to four weeks, but this is not sure as the defense is working on arguments to make it even longer.

  In case there are still fans who believe that Bonds didn’t consume steroids during his single-season home run record it is hard to imagine that they will continue having that same feeling, although it is true that there is no verdict yet.

  Despite some of his teammates like Armando Rios or Marvin Benard confessing that they took illegal substances, none of them can assure that Bonds did it too. The evidence must be found somewhere else, which is the reason why the prosecutors have decided to call his former mistress to testify.

  Whether or not he walks away clean from this one, Bonds will now not only be remembered for his single-season 73 home run record, but also for this scandal that many thought to be over in 2003, but that still has another page awaiting to be written.

• Cabrera was definitely out of his mind

  Date: 2011.03.11 | Category: Baseball News, Sports News | Response: 0

  Tigers first baseman threatened the cops to shoot at him when arrested on suspicion of drunken driving.

  Although Miguel Cabrera’s arrest on suspicion of drunken driving took place back in February 16^th in Florida, and it should no longer be new to you, the trial that he has been going through has unveiled some statements to refloat this news back into the headlines.

  The police report shows something for which Cabrera shouldn’t feel very proud of, as he threatened a restaurant manager, the cops, and even bragged about who he was. The threats to the authorities took place when he was pulled off the road and was about to be handcuffed, as he challenged the police officers to “shoot me. Kill me.”

  And things didn’t just stop there, as he thought that his status as a professional MLB player was going to get him out of this one, just by saying “”do you know who I am? I’m Miguel Cabrera. I play for the Detroit Tigers. You don’t know my family.” Of course nothing that came out of his mouth was going to stop the cops from doing their job, and Cabrera was just making a fool of himself.

  Before this entire situation took place, Cabrera had already written an introduction for his story at Cowboys Bar-B-Q & Steak Co. When he was asked to leave the place by the manager, he began with his first threats of the night by saying “I know all of you, and I will kill all of you and blow this place up.”

  And he didn’t just stop there, as he even told the costumers in the restaurant that he “had a gun in his bag for us,” according to one witness who works as wildlife officer, and happened to be there too.

  Cabrera already pleaded not guilty of these two misdemeanors for drunken driving and resisting to the arrest, as well as apologizing for the incident. But after these new threats have come to light it looks like more than that is going to be needed to pay for what he did.

• MLB – Lincecum on fire

  Date: 2010.10.09 | Category: Baseball News, Sports News | Response: 0

  The Atlanta Braves found no response for Tim Lincecum pitching on Thursday night, when they were defeated 1-0 in Game 1 of the National League Division Series by the New York Giants. The Freak had one of those games that just won’t be easily forgotten: a two-hitter and striking out 14 in 2 hours, 26 minutes.

  The last time that a pitcher had a record of 12-strikeout or more happened in 2000 American League Championship series between the New York Yankees and Seattle Mariners, when Roger Clemens’ had 15. This game was his playoff debut -after a three full major league season wait- and he made the best out of it completing a 1-0 shutout victory, something that didn’t occur since 1986 in a postseason debut. On July 15 he also completed a six-hit shutout against the New York Mets this season. 

  The Freak was very happy with his performance, and he just felt as if “things were in place”, he said about this game where “all the pitches were working”. He played with a lot of intensity and consistency, as in the 9^th inning he was still pitching 91 mph on the radar. With 26-years-old we can definitely expect more from this guy who has been leading the NL in strikeouts for three seasons -2008, 2009, 2010- in a row.

• Liar Liar

  Date: 2010.09.17 | Category: Baseball News, Sports News | Response: 0

  I am pretty sure most of you remember that movie from Jim Carrey called “Liar Liar”, where a lawyer briefly suffered from a condition that wouldn’t let him lie. Watching the game between Yankees and Rays made me think about it when Derek Jeter fooled the umpire Lance Barksdale, who thought that the Yankees’ player had been hit by Chad Qualls pitch. It would have been very funny to look at Jeter’s face -when Tampa Bay’s manager Joe Maddon was arguing about the call- if he couldn’t have been able to tell a lie at that moment.

  Instead of being honest and confess that the ball had hit his bat and not his hand, Jeter preferred to quietly walk to first base following the call made by Qualls. Jeter tried to justify his dishonest act stating that “my job is to get on base”. Sounds like a pretty cheap explanation for a professional MLB player who is not only a public figure, but an example to the youth.

  But his explanation didn’t stop there, he went further by complaining about those times where he had been really hit and there was no call. “It goes both ways”, he said trying to put an end to the controversy.

  As ironic as it might be, Jeter was right stating that it goes both ways, because that is exactly what happened. His cheap trick to win the game wasn’t effective, and justice was done when Dan Johnson’s hit the homerun that gave Tampa Bay the 4-3 win.

• The Price is… Right? – Ramirez moves to Chicago

  Date: 2010.08.30 | Category: Baseball News, Sports News | Response: 0

  In 2008, he descended upon the city of Los Angeles to rejuvenate a city, a team – himself. Or…not. That year, Manny Ramirez may have joined the Los Angeles Dodgers a savior; this Monday, however, the apparent baseball legend is being booted from the team after an uninspiring season and an even worse final game. The augurs for Ramirez’s new team, the Chicago White Sox, are ambiguous.

  Ramirez has been more or less on the bench for the last four of the Dodgers’ games, not counting two showings as a pinch hitter. And in his last game with the LA team, in typical fashion, Ramirez found himself ejected from the game after he bad-mouthed the umpire who declared a borderline pitch a strike. The Dodgers lost the game, which pushed the team back to fifth place for the NL wildcard berth.

  2010 just hasn’t been a good year for Ramirez. A slew of injuries left him out of 62 games this season and with only 12 at-bats since July 17th, 11 of which occurred after his return from the disabled list. Of those, he landed 2 hits.

  But the injuries also serve to highlight Ramirez’s importance; the Dodgers, likely due to Manny’s absence, went 27-34 with their batter gone. They now find themselves at 67-64 and with little hope for the rest of the season.

  The thing is, even at his most petulant, his most egotistical, Ramirez can hit. In 2008, he hit an astounding .396, making 17 home runs in 53 games and had 53 RBIs. He brought the Dodgers to a place they hadn’t been in 20 years: a second series in the postseason, after sweeping the Chicago Cubs in 3 games. Ramirez reinvigorated the city, and public pressure led to a 2-year, $45 million deal that the Dodgers will still be paying off in the years to come.

  Even this year, the 38-year-old has managed to hit .311 with 40 RBIs.

  The White Sox, who are definitely playoff contenders, are hoping for a bit of Manny’s magic. Only 4.5 games behind the Minnesota Twins and with 32 games left, the team is willing to dish out the last $4 million or so in the player’s salary for the year. Ramirez will join the team at the outset of a crucial 10-game road trip, which begins on Monday with a three-game series against Cleveland. It will next face Boston in another three games.

  Andruw Jones, outfielder for the White Sox, acknowledged Ramirez’s skill. “He’s one of the best right-handed hitters out there, and I don’t have a lot to say except whatever team he’s on, he’s going to help them. He’s a big bat and he knows how to play the game.”

  When he plays, he plays – Ramirez has the potential to be great. The problem is that he’s also difficult to control and has proven to his teams, time and again, that greatness comes with a price. Only time will tell whether the White Sox think him worth the cost.