Free Community Barbecue

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 20- On this Saturday August 25th from 1 – 6 p.m. The Committee of 100 Democrats will be hosting our 8th Annual Free Community Barbecue. This year our Free Community Barbecue will take place on East 204th Street between the Grand Concourse and Mosholu Parkway. We will be honoring Congressman Eliot Engel for his distinguished record as an elected official, and Community Board #7 District Manager Fernando Tirado for his outstanding work in the local community. There will be food, lots of different entertainment, and of course speeches by your elected officials or those who may want their jobs.

I thought I could be able to get away from politics for an evening of of exciting Salsa music from an old friend Mr. Willie Colon, but while the concert was a smash hit as usual I could not get away from politics. I was sitting with my good friend and 78th A.D. State Committeeman Richardo “Ricky” Martinez but we were sitting a few rows behind Mr. Martinez's September Primary opponent Assemblyman Jose Rivera. Ricky and I were a part of the Willie Colon for Congress campaign while Rivera was with Willie Colon’s opponent.

Enough politics, as the concert was fantastic, and Willie Colon interjected old stories (even one about the Congressional campaign), and a few jokes during the evening. The highlight of the night however for Mr. Martinez and I was that after the show we were able to go backstage to see our old friend Willie Colon. There were also a couple of other friends from the campaign backstage, and you can go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to see my complete review of the sold out Willie Colon concert at the Lehman College Center for the Performing Arts last Saturday August 18th.

Back to politics, you can go to my blog archive section (under links) for the link to the Board of Elections site where there is a daily update of just who the candidates are for what office or party position in the upcoming September Primary which will tale place on Thursday September 13th this year. We check the site daily as the one or two of the names can change as there are still a few court cases that may have been appealed. In the 77th A.D. there is now only one challenger to incumbent Vanessa Gibson, and in the 80th A.D. Mr. Adam Bermudez was not listed for one day.

Speaking of the 80th A.D. another old friend Ms. Candice Giove now a Crackerjack reporter with the New York Post had a front page story “Sugar Mama” about another Boy Toy of 80th Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera and a non for profit organization that I have a separate article on elsewhere in this paper.

Lastly, as of our deadline WPIX T.V. Channel 11 and Antenna T.V. Channel 114 were still off the air from the Cablevision line up of channels Cablevision is substituting another channel it carries on Channel 11, and has a message (on the other channel) asking viewers to call the Tribune Corporation to get the channels back. We only wonder since it seems Cablevision is seeking more money from the Tribune Corporation will their viewers get a refund (even if it is only pennies) for the time the channels are not being carried. By the way, how come we can not choose from any cable provider (not just satellite or Fios) like we can for telephone or internet service?

If you have any comments about this column or would like to have an event listed or covered in this column or on my blog you can e-mail us at 100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.

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This Sox! Boston Strikes Back

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 19- The Red Sox evened the weekend series at Yankee Stadium by taking Game #2 on Saturday afternoon, 4-1. Home runs were, of course, hit by each team and again determined the outcome of the contest.

Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-out, two-run homer in the first inning to put the first two runs on the scoreboard. After the conclusion of the game, Boston skipper Bobby Valentine remarked, “He’s been hitting the ball to the warning track here. I think he put a little more pump in his swing.” 

The two runs batted in raised his Major League leading total to 39 since the All-Star break. Gonzalez, with two hits in three official at bats and an intentional walk, continued his torrid offensive production during the second half of the 2012 season.

Gonzalez began the game 2^nd in batting average, 4^th in slugging percentage, and 7^th in on base percentage in the American League since July 13. The first baseman has hit safely in 26 of his last 33 games.

A new Yankee killer on the Sox, Pedro Ciriaco, went 4 for 4 in the game. His only previous four hit game came on July 7, his first game on the Red Sox, and was also against the Yankees. The shortstop is batting .517 (15 for 29) in seven games against the Yankees. His “cousins” have helped him raise his batting average this year to .343.

Of the 26-year old who has only played 31 games in the big leagues before joining the Red Sox in July, valentine stated, “It amazes me that with that kind of talent, he hasn’t been utilized before.”

Nick Swisher has become the Yankees biggest offensive weapon against Boston. He went 3 for 4 which raised his batting average against the Red Sox to .480 (16 for 33) this year.

Dustin Pedroia’s double in the eighth increased his consecutive game hitting streak to 13. On the other hand, Derek Jeter’s 13- game hitting streak ended as he went 0 fo3 at the plate.

The only Yankee run in the game was scored in the fourth on Curtis Granderson’s 32^nd homer of the season.

Pitching was really the focus of the game as starters Jon Lester and David Phelps hooked up in a pitching duel. Lester gave up five hits and one run in seven innings to earn the win. Valentine said of the starter, “Another fine performance by a good looking pitcher, confident, aggressive.” Lester is 5-1 in his last six starts in Yankee Stadium.

Boston reliever Craig Breslow got Robinson Cano to hit into a double play to end the eight. Breslow and catcher Ryan Lavarnway ate the first big league battery of Yale graduates.

Former Yankees, Alfredo Aceves pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 25^th save of the season.

Hiroki Kuroda (11-8) and Josh Beckett (5-10) will start the rubber game on Sunday night.

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Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Stormin’ Yanks Bash Sox

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Stormin’ Yanks Bash Sox: (Photo by Gary Quintal) By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, August 18- All but one run for each club was scored via a home run on ...

Stormin’ Yanks Bash Sox

(Photo by Gary Quintal)

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 18- All but one run for each club was scored via a home run on Friday night at Yankee Stadium. The five homers clouted by the Bronx Bombers allowed them to edge the Boston Red Sox, 6-4.

The five long balls of the Yankees raised their total this season to a Major League high of 186. The Yanks, on a good run, have homered in 33 of their last 37 games. They are currently on pace to equal if not surpass their single season mark of 244, achieved in 2009.

Nick Swisher hit the first Yankee homer of the contest with one out in the first. He connected for another solo homer from the other side of the plate with one out in the seventh. This was the 12^th game in Swisher’s career that he accomplished this feat. He is only behind teammate Mark Teixeira, who has homered from both sides of the plate in 13 games.

The very hot Swisher has scored and driven in at least one run in each of his last six games. The streak is the longest by a Yankee since August 30-September 4, 2008 when Alex Rodriguez did the same.

Manager Joe Girardi said of Swisher, “He’s been extremely impressive. He’s done a great job there [batting in the second spot].”

Curtis Granderson (31) and Russell Martin (13) hit back-to-back homers in the second inning.

Derek Jeter led off the fifth with his 250^th homer, surpassing Graig Nettles on the Yankees. The homer was his 10^th of the 2012 season, which gave the Yankees a Major League leading total of 10 players (Robinson Cano, Eric Chavez, Curtis Granderson, Raúl Ibañez, Derek Jeter, Andruw Jones, Russell Martin, Alex Rodriguez, Nick Swisher, and Mark Teixeira) with homers in double digits. The hit also increased Jeter’s consecutive game hitting streak to 13.

Girardi praised the iconic Yankee hero, “He’s [Jeter] an amazing player. How many 38 year olds play 15 games in a row.”

Red Sox starter Franklin Morales gave up four of the home runs in 5.1 innings. In his only other start against the Yanks this year Morales also yielded four homers. Interestingly, in six other starts in 2012, Morales surrendered only one home run.

The Red Sox scored all their four tallies in the third inning. Although none of the four runs were charged to Yankees starter Phil Hughes his throwing error caused them to be scored. Mike Aviles singled to begin the inning. Hughes fielded an easy grounder by Scott Podsednik into center on what appeared to be an easy double play. With one run in and two on base Dustin Pedroia awarded himself three runs batted in with a homer into the left field seats as a present for his 29^th birthday. This was the third game in which Pedroia celebrated his birthday with a home run.

Hughes gave up only two other hits in his seven inning stint. The win ended his two game losing streak.  Girardi was pleased by his performance, “He got ground balls; he didn’t walk people; he got us through seven innings. It was great except for his throw to second.

David Phelps (3-3) and Jon Lester (6-10) will start the second game of the weekend series to be played on Saturday at 4 p.m.

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Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Yankee Pitching Can’t Slow Ranger Bats

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Yankee Pitching Can’t Slow Ranger Bats: (Photos by Ken Carozza) By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, August 17- The Texas Rangers ended their eight-game los...

Yankee Pitching Can’t Slow Ranger Bats

(Photos by Ken Carozza)

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, August 17- The Texas Rangers ended their eight-game losing streak at Yankee Stadium on Thursday afternoon with a 10-6 victory over the Yankees. Despite the Texas win, the Rangers trail the Yanks by 1.5 games for the best record in the American League.

After holding the Rangers to a  lowly batting average of .199 (37 for 186) in their games during the 2012 season, the Rangers exploded for 16 hits and 10 runs on Thursday afternoon. After the conclusion of Wednesday night’s contest, Texas Rangers skipper Ron Washington accurately prognosticated the immediate future for his team’s batters, “What I see is that the past three days the Yankees pitchers have shut us down…We’ll bounce back tomorrow. Maybe we need the challenge of facing [Ivan] Nova tomorrow…Maybe tomorrow we’ll bust out.”

Texas busted out from the top of the lineup to the bottom and from the first inning to the ninth. All but one batter, first baseman Mitch Moreland, hit successfully, and Moreland walked twice. Twenty-two Rangers reached base successfully.

The hits were effective as the Rangers were successful in 6 of 15 chances with runners in scoring position. Adrian Beltre and David Murphy each drove in three runs with three hits. Craig Gentry also had three runs batted in, two on a single and one on a ground out. Elvis Andrus AND Geovany Soto each got two hits and drove in one run.

Both starting pitchers, Ivan Nova and Derek Holland, had very similar statistics; each pitched 5.2 innings and gave up four earned runs; neither was involved in the decision.

The Yanks concentrated their offense in one inning, the sixth. Five batters hit successfully and five runs were scored. In the other eight frames, the Yanks were limited to five hits and one run.

Two future Hall of Fame members, Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki, had multi-hit games. Jeter’s single in the sixth drove Suzuki across the plate and increased Jeter’s hitting streak to 12 games. His single in the next inning raised his career total to 3,247, five from tying Napoleon Lajoie for 12^th place in career hits. Suzuki got singles in each of his three official at bats, raising his batting average as a Yankee to above .300 (24 for 77).

On Friday night the Boston Red Sox come to the Bronx for a three game series. Phil Hughes (11-10) will start for the Yanks and Franklyn Morales (3-3) will start for Boston.

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Bronx News (Bxnews.net): WELCOME TO THE BRONX!

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): WELCOME TO THE BRONX!: Mugging Victim Says Investigators Made Her Feel Like She Was ‘Asking for It’ By David Greene BRONX, NEW YORK, August 16- A day...