Category Archives: New York Yankees

Vicente Padilla has some words for you, Mark Teixeira

Photo courtesy of OverTheMonster and Presswire

The Yankees/Red Sox rivalry has been notorious for many generations back. For the majority, the fussing and the hype has been kept on the field, or in the stands between the fans. Very rarely does the competition get in between the players’ personal lives. In fact, David Ortiz has notably always invited many current and previous Yankees to his golfing charity tournament, which he holds annually in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic benefiting his foundation the David Ortiz Children’s Fund. Although sometimes the fans forget that these guys are friends outside of their uniforms, the players never do.

However, Mark Teixeira and Red Sox reliever Vicente Padilla have added more fuel to their fire lately. During the time these two were teammates with the Texas Rangers from 2006-2007, Teixeira has expressed that he believed he was constantly getting hit by pitches from opposing teams as a retaliation to Padilla’s league-leading 26-hit-batters list.

On games the two rival teams have played within the past month, Padilla has taken it to the media to express his feelings for the Yankees first baseman. “I believe he does have a bit of a problem with Hispanic players, because it wasn’t just against me when we were teammates,” Padilla told Latino reporters for ESPN Deportes.

At the same game, Padilla continued with a quote to NESN.com stating, “The things Teixeira has done against the Latinos [on the Rangers] — he doesn’t open his mouth about. He once threatened me and said he was going to hit me with a bat, and that’s when we were playing on the same team.”

I have never seen Teixeira verbally or non-verbally express any sort of hatred towards Latino ball players. The Yankees are known for having a melting pot of cultures on the roster, from Alex Rodriguez to Ramiro Peña to Eduardo Nuñez, and when any one of the Latino players hits a homerun or does a nice field play, Teixeira is always seen congratulating them without any type of indifference shown. Who knows what anybody says or does behind closed doors, but all I’ve seen from him is team effort, skin color unaccounted for.

One of the things I despised, and lost respect for Padilla when he said it, was a comment in the sense that “Teixeira is better off playing a woman’s sport.” It was uncalled for, sexist, and just childish. Instead on concentrating so much on an opponent, he should be concerned with perfecting his craft.

“Completely erroneous,” is what Teixeira had to say about the racism accusations. “He doesn’t have a lot of friends in the game.”

The two teams face each other a couple of more times before the regular season ends, so we will see how this war of words concludes.

Posted in Boston Red Sox, Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees, Vicente Padilla | Comments Off on Vicente Padilla has some words for you, Mark Teixeira

Vicente Padilla has some words for you, Mark Teixeira

Photo courtesy of OverTheMonster and Presswire

The Yankees/Red Sox rivalry has been notorious for many generations back. For the majority, the fussing and the hype has been kept on the field, or in the stands between the fans. Very rarely does the competition get in between the players’ personal lives. In fact, David Ortiz has notably always invited many current and previous Yankees to his golfing charity tournament, which he holds annually in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic benefiting his foundation the David Ortiz Children’s Fund. Although sometimes the fans forget that these guys are friends outside of their uniforms, the players never do.

However, Mark Teixeira and Red Sox reliever Vicente Padilla have added more fuel to their fire lately. During the time these two were teammates with the Texas Rangers from 2006-2007, Teixeira has expressed that he believed he was constantly getting hit by pitches from opposing teams as a retaliation to Padilla’s league-leading 26-hit-batters list.

On games the two rival teams have played within the past month, Padilla has taken it to the media to express his feelings for the Yankees first baseman. “I believe he does have a bit of a problem with Hispanic players, because it wasn’t just against me when we were teammates,” Padilla told Latino reporters for ESPN Deportes.

At the same game, Padilla continued with a quote to NESN.com stating, “The things Teixeira has done against the Latinos [on the Rangers] — he doesn’t open his mouth about. He once threatened me and said he was going to hit me with a bat, and that’s when we were playing on the same team.”

I have never seen Teixeira verbally or non-verbally express any sort of hatred towards Latino ball players. The Yankees are known for having a melting pot of cultures on the roster, from Alex Rodriguez to Ramiro Peña to Eduardo Nuñez, and when any one of the Latino players hits a homerun or does a nice field play, Teixeira is always seen congratulating them without any type of indifference shown. Who knows what anybody says or does behind closed doors, but all I’ve seen from him is team effort, skin color unaccounted for.

One of the things I despised, and lost respect for Padilla when he said it, was a comment in the sense that “Teixeira is better off playing a woman’s sport.” It was uncalled for, sexist, and just childish. Instead on concentrating so much on an opponent, he should be concerned with perfecting his craft.

“Completely erroneous,” is what Teixeira had to say about the racism accusations. “He doesn’t have a lot of friends in the game.”

The two teams face each other a couple of more times before the regular season ends, so we will see how this war of words concludes.

Posted in Boston Red Sox, Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees, Vicente Padilla | Comments Off on Vicente Padilla has some words for you, Mark Teixeira

Is Robinson Cano the new Roberto Alomar?

Photo courtesy of The New York Post

I’ve been a fan of Robinson Cano, on and off the field, before the 2010 season, which was the year he began to creep up on everybody’s “best player” radar. Who can forget when he was benched by Joe Girardi in 2008 for “playing lazily and not with enough passion”? Four years later, this Dominican-born second baseman has nothing to prove to anybody anymore–he lets his stats do the talking. His impressive offense and defense has begged the question: Is he the new Roberto Alomar?

Alomar, considered by most as the best second baseman of all time, left the game after 17 seasons with a career .300 batting average, 2,724 hits–best for 51st all time (210 of them which were home runs), ranks #41 in the MLB all-time stolen bases list with 474, 10 Gold Gloves which is the most all-time for a second baseman, four Silver Slugger Awards, two World Series rings, and was a twelve-time All-Star.

My dad, being a longtime baseball lover and having watched his career blossom from the beginning in 1988, says of the Hall of Famer, “He was a complete player. He perfected not only the position of being a second baseman, but as a Major League player overall. He deserved being inducted in to the Hall of Fame at such a young age.” Alomar was inducted in his second year of being on the ballot with a 90% vote, becoming the 26th player in history within the 90-percentile in the Baseball Writer’s Association of America election. The 523 votes that got him there is currently the third highest total, ever.

Cano, in his eighth season in pinstripes, has a career batting average of .309, 1,374 hits with 165 of them being home runs, one Gold Glove, three Silver Slugger’s, won his first World Series ring in 2009, and is a four-time All-Star. There is no doubt that the numbers are very similar, despite the difference of total years played in the big leagues between the two Latino ballers.

When asked about his performance as an MVP candidate in 2011, the Yankees’ second baseman said, “I got asked, ‘If you have to vote for one of you guys, who would you vote for?’ ‘I would vote for myself,’ that’s what I said. The numbers are there. …It’s like if you ask my mom, ‘Who is the prettiest man in the world?’ She’s going to say me.” He knows it and we know it as well.

Cano has been tossed around in the media lately as a power hitter. The numbers don’t lie, and his lucky power number is currently .502. Slugging percentage, popularized now more than in many years prior, is used to measure the power of a hitter. Robinson Cano ranks #90 in the Slugging Average All Time Leaders on Baseball Almanac. He’s in good company too, with players like Darryl Strawberry, Jim Rice, and Paul Konerko close by at #82, #91, and #92, respectively. Roberto Alomar retired with a slugging percentage of .443.

Robinson Cano has made a name for himself in the sport of baseball. He’s become the most reliable hitter on the Yankee line-up, and puts on a show with his glove every day out on the field. He’s aware of all of the comparisons being made to the reigning Roberto Alomar, and who knows what the 29-year-old has in store for the rest of his career. All I know is that this is the Cano Show and we’re just his audience.

“I can see myself in him. He has all the tools to be a great player. He can be one of the best second basemen of this era. He hits for average and power, plays defense, can turn the double play, he is one of the best right now,” is what Roberto Alomar told the New York Post about Robinson Cano in 2010.

From one Robbie to the next, looks like the torch is being handed down by Alomar himself.

Posted in New York Yankees, Roberto Alomar, Robinson Cano | Comments Off on Is Robinson Cano the new Roberto Alomar?

Is Robinson Cano the new Roberto Alomar?

Photo courtesy of The New York Post

I’ve been a fan of Robinson Cano, on and off the field, before the 2010 season, which was the year he began to creep up on everybody’s “best player” radar. Who can forget when he was benched by Joe Girardi in 2008 for “playing lazily and not with enough passion”? Four years later, this Dominican-born second baseman has nothing to prove to anybody anymore–he lets his stats do the talking. His impressive offense and defense has begged the question: Is he the new Roberto Alomar?

Alomar, considered by most as the best second baseman of all time, left the game after 17 seasons with a career .300 batting average, 2,724 hits–best for 51st all time (210 of them which were home runs), ranks #41 in the MLB all-time stolen bases list with 474, 10 Gold Gloves which is the most all-time for a second baseman, four Silver Slugger Awards, two World Series rings, and was a twelve-time All-Star.

My dad, being a longtime baseball lover and having watched his career blossom from the beginning in 1988, says of the Hall of Famer, “He was a complete player. He perfected not only the position of being a second baseman, but as a Major League player overall. He deserved being inducted in to the Hall of Fame at such a young age.” Alomar was inducted in his second year of being on the ballot with a 90% vote, becoming the 26th player in history within the 90-percentile in the Baseball Writer’s Association of America election. The 523 votes that got him there is currently the third highest total, ever.

Cano, in his eighth season in pinstripes, has a career batting average of .309, 1,374 hits with 165 of them being home runs, one Gold Glove, three Silver Slugger’s, won his first World Series ring in 2009, and is a four-time All-Star. There is no doubt that the numbers are very similar, despite the difference of total years played in the big leagues between the two Latino ballers.

When asked about his performance as an MVP candidate in 2011, the Yankees’ second baseman said, “I got asked, ‘If you have to vote for one of you guys, who would you vote for?’ ‘I would vote for myself,’ that’s what I said. The numbers are there. …It’s like if you ask my mom, ‘Who is the prettiest man in the world?’ She’s going to say me.” He knows it and we know it as well.

Cano has been tossed around in the media lately as a power hitter. The numbers don’t lie, and his lucky power number is currently .502. Slugging percentage, popularized now more than in many years prior, is used to measure the power of a hitter. Robinson Cano ranks #90 in the Slugging Average All Time Leaders on Baseball Almanac. He’s in good company too, with players like Darryl Strawberry, Jim Rice, and Paul Konerko close by at #82, #91, and #92, respectively. Roberto Alomar retired with a slugging percentage of .443.

Robinson Cano has made a name for himself in the sport of baseball. He’s become the most reliable hitter on the Yankee line-up, and puts on a show with his glove every day out on the field. He’s aware of all of the comparisons being made to the reigning Roberto Alomar, and who knows what the 29-year-old has in store for the rest of his career. All I know is that this is the Cano Show and we’re just his audience.

“I can see myself in him. He has all the tools to be a great player. He can be one of the best second basemen of this era. He hits for average and power, plays defense, can turn the double play, he is one of the best right now,” is what Roberto Alomar told the New York Post about Robinson Cano in 2010.

From one Robbie to the next, looks like the torch is being handed down by Alomar himself.

Posted in New York Yankees, Roberto Alomar, Robinson Cano | Comments Off on Is Robinson Cano the new Roberto Alomar?

Welcome To The Clubhouse, Ichiro Suzuki

Ichiro Suzuki has been doing damage to the Yankees team for a long period of his eleven-year career as a MLB player. Having an individual record of a .329 batting average against the Yankees pitching staff (let’s not forget he bats .323 against the team’s ace CC Sabathia) doesn’t change the fact that the Mariners as a whole have never had a repetition of their 2001 season of 116 wins. But like the old saying goes, “if you can’t beat them, why not join them.”

In a last minute trade on Monday, the veteran outfielder, who by the way has 10 Gold Gloves, 3 Silver Slugger’s, and was the MVP and Rookie of the Year in 2001, just to name some of his accomplishments, was traded to the New York Yankees in exchange for two minor league pitchers from the pinstripe camp.

Sure, his ’12 season has not been in typical Ichiro form; he’s batting just .261. But being that I’ve always been a fan of his in the opponent uniform, I’m glad to see he’s in a NY uniform now. A lot of the media always say that even the best players from other teams might not be able to handle the New York spotlight, but I say we give the Japanese megastar a chance. With a career .322 average, there’s no doubt that there’s improvement for his 2012 season, especially when you have Kevin Long as your hitting coach.

Age is also another factor some fans are looking at. I mean let’s face it, he’s not the youngest guy in the league. The fact of the matter is that the Yankees have an aging roster, but let’s not forget that this aging roster has names that are future Hall of Famers, including Ichiro Suzuki who has for a long time been in the talks of being inducted.

He went 1-for-4 in his debut game on July 23rd as a Yankee and it’s too early to tell how he’ll adjust under the bright lights New York City offers, but maybe this is the year where he finally wins a World Series ring.

Posted in Ichiro Suzuki, New York Yankees | Comments Off on Welcome To The Clubhouse, Ichiro Suzuki