Bronx News (Bxnews.net): LGBT Awards

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): LGBT Awards: Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. presented the second annual John F. Wade Memorial Award to Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Reta...

LGBT Awards

Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. presented the second annual John F. Wade Memorial Award to Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale & Department Store Union (RWDSU), at the third annual Bronx LGBTQ & Allies Award Ceremony.

The award is given in memory of John F. Wade, a former staff member for Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer, well-respected New York City political activist and leader in the LGBT community who passed away in 2011. The award honors an individual who exemplifies the spirit, commitment and dedication that Mr. Wade brought to his advocacy, to politics and government, and to the City of New York.

Borough President Diaz and Mr. Appelbaum are pictured here with Appolonia Cruz (far left) and Tyra Allure Ross (far right), both of whom served as Mistresses of Ceremonies at the event.

Pettitte and Yankees gets a loss against Tampa Bay in series opener

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 21- Andy Pettitte over the years has had success against the Tampa Bay Rays but Thursday night the New York Yankees left handed veteran struggled and admitted it was a disappointing outing. Tampa used the long ball and a quality start from Matt Moore and took advantage of an ineffective Pettitte.

Tampa Bay banged out 14-hits and got three home runs, two from Evan Longoria taking the first of a four-game series from the Yankees, 8-3.

“I felt good but the evaluation of it obviously is another disappointing outing,” he said, as the Yankees lost their second straight game and went 3-4 against the Rays this season.

He struggled with his command and with the fastball

“When you can’t get the first couple of hitters top of the lineup obviously the guys down there have power,” said Pettitte about the Rays heart of their batting order. Seven of their hits went for extra bases including a solo home run from Longoria off Pettitte in the sixth inning that cleared the right center field fence.

Later in the game, Longoria did further damage to the Yankees when his second home run of the night, a solo, opened up a 6-3 Tampa Bay lead in a three-run eighth inning.

The second home run by Longoria gave him a team leading 16th, his third multi-home run career game against the Yankees. Longoria, 2-for-3, recorded his 500th career RBI with a third inning sacrifice fly off Pettitte.

“He’s a wonderful young player and he keeps getting better assuming the leadership role within the group,” said Rays manage Joe Maddon about the 27-year- old Longoria.

Longoria was more elated about getting to Pettitte and the Rays getting the first win of the series. He is the lone player in their lineup who has started every game this season and took over the team lead also in runs batted in.

“Kind of good to put the woes of Andy Pettitte behind me,” commented Longoria.

Pettitte (5-5) would last 6/2-3 innings, on five runs and nine hits. He struck out six, walked one, threw a wild pitch and gave up a lead -off home run to Longoria in the sixth that gave Tampa Bay a 4-0 lead. His ERA is at 4.20 and he lost his second straight start.

New York once again struggled at the plate and played small ball in a three-run, sixth inning. Reid Brignac led off the inning with a single, Brett Gardner and Jayson Nix walked With a struggling Robinson Cano at the plate the Yankees got their first run of the night when Tampa Bay starterMatt Moore threw a wild pitch that scored Brignac .

Cano then hit a long sacrifice fly to center that scored Gardner for the first run of the inning.

“Inning could have got out of hand,” said Moore. “Fortunate the way it turned out.” Moore (9-3) snapped his three-game losing streak and held the Yankees to three-runs, four hits in 6.1 innings. He has held the Yankees to three runs or less in five of his seven starts against them.

The Rays got a run back in the seventh. After Pettitte got the first two outs in the inning, Desmond Jennings doubled to left and Sean Rodriguez drove him home with another double to deep left center.

Pettitte was finished for the night. Joba Chamberlain relieved him and got Longoria to end the ending swinging for a third strike.

Right now the Yankees are struggling and have been out-hit 36-17 over the first three games of the homestand against the Dodgers and Rays. Girardi is hoping for better results when right hander David Phelps (4-4) gets the ball for game two of the series Friday night.

“These are the guys who got us 12-games over,” commented Girardi about a Yankee team that is now 39-33. “Right now we are struggling and we need to get on a roll.”

Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Taste of Little Italy

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Taste of Little Italy: (Angelo Tuccincardi of Teitel Brothers Grocery showcases a tempting array of Italian antipasti delicacies for James Beard Foundation memb...

Taste of Little Italy

(Angelo Tuccincardi of Teitel Brothers Grocery showcases a tempting array of Italian antipasti delicacies for James Beard Foundation members at a tasting table hosted by the “Real Little Italy in the Bronx” at a JBF Greens event in Manhattan.)

Photo by: Katherine Lauricella

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 20- The chef and co-owner of GERBASI RISTORANTE, Maurizio Gerbasi, and the Sales Director of TEITEL BROTHERS GROCERY, Angelo Tuccinardi, representing two of Arthur Avenue’s favorite businesses, brought a taste of Bronx Little Italy to a reception in Manhattan on June 12, as part of the JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION’s event entitled A MOVEABLE FEAST. The event targeted the James Beard Foundation Greens, a group of under-40 members of the venerable culinary institution.

The sold-out event featured The Real Little Italy in the Bronx menu along with four others and was held in a brand new luxury high-rise building in the fashionable Chelsea area of Manhattan.  Teitel Brothers Grocery, the oldest purveyor in the Bronx Little Italy Belmont neighborhood, presented a mouth-watering array of antipasti including imported salumi and cheeses. Chef Gerbasi served two traditional Italian favorites, stuffed shells and eggplant rolatine, with fresh homemade cheeses and marina sauce.

The goal of the night was to educate the group about the food scene in the neighborhood, position the Real Little Italy in the Bronx as an important culinary destination, and encourage visitors to make a day of it in the Bronx combining a visit to other nearby attractions -- Bronx Zoo, the Botanical Gardens and Yankee Stadium -- along with a trip to world-famous Arthur Avenue.

The authentic Italian culture found in the vibrant community of the Real Little Italy in the Bronx and Arthur Avenue sustains a thriving business district that includes world-class restaurants and high-quality shops and specialty stores carrying superb handmade local and imported items.  For more information go to www.BronxLittleItaly.com or www.Facebook.com/BronxLittleItaly.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Donnie and the Dodgers Return to Bronx

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Donnie and the Dodgers Return to Bronx: Yanks Split Doubleheader By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 20- Prior to 1958, the rivalry between the three teams in MLB that repres...

Donnie and the Dodgers Return to Bronx

Yanks Split Doubleheader

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, JUNE 20- Prior to 1958, the rivalry between the three teams in MLB that represented New York City, the Dodgers of Brooklyn, Giants of Manhattan and Yankees of the Bronx, was extremely intense, far more than the current one between the Yankees and Mets.

In the 1950’s, the major argument between the partisans of each club centered on the question of which of the three teams had the best centerfielder in baseball, Mickey Mantle of the Yanks, Willie Mays of the Giants or Duke Snider of the Dodgers. Not surprisingly, each of the three was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame after his career concluded.

To the disgust and anger of the fans of the other 13 teams then in the majors, in one 1- year period, 1949-1958, at least one of the three NYC teams reached the World Series each of those years. Between 1947 and 1956, the Yankees and the Dodgers competed for the World Series title six times, 1947, 1949, 1952, 1953, 1955 and 1956. The two teams met a record 11 times in World Series competition.

The level of interest in the rivalry was such that on May 7, 1959, the largest crowd in MLB history, 93,103, attended an exhibition between them in Los Angeles to honor Roy Campanella.

Much has changed over those many years. There is currently a distance of 3,000 miles between the home ballparks of the two teams. The last World Series during which the two competed against one another took place in 1981. Both teams are now struggling in their respective division races.

The long awaited first visit of the Dodgers to Yankee Stadium for a regular season contest was postponed for one day as Tuesday’s scheduled game was cancelled by rain.

The first of the two games on Wednesday began shortly after 1 p.m. Dodger skipper Don Mattingly, an icon during his 14 fabulous seasons in Yankee pinstripes, received a very warm reception each time his likeness was shown on the giant screen in the outfield or he walked out of the dugout. The familiar chant of “Donnie Baseball” was heard during both games. In a post-game press conference, Mattingly expressed his feelings, “It was kind of cool. I like the roll call. They never had it when I played.”

Several players from Asia made, not surprisingly, extremely impressive performances. Yankees starter Hiroki Kuroda from Japan pitched 6.2 innings while yielding only two runs, both scored in Kuroda’s final inning on the mound. The three runs scored by the Yanks before he departed were the most since his last win on May 17.

Hyun-Jin Ryu from Korea, an MLB rookie, who was signed by the Dodgers on December 12, 2012, only surrendered five hits and two walks in six frames, but the three runs he gave up earned his third loss in 2013.

The first Yankees runs were scored in the third. Thomas Neal and Ichiro Suzuki singled and were driven in on a double by Lyle Overbay. The winning run was produced on a lead-off homer by Ichiro in the sixth. Ichiro’s third base hit was a single in the seventh that accounted for the final two runs in a 6-4 victory. 

Ichiro’s fourth multi-hit game in the last six led Yankee manager Joe Girardi to exclaim, “He’s been playing extraordinary.”

Note on the young and the old- Dodger phenom Yasiel Puig, a major leaguer for two weeks and two days, showed the potential for future greatness and the folly of youthful exuberance. The 22 year old Cuban singled in his first at bat, but was thrown out at second trying to stretch. In the seventh, Puig doubled. His two hits in five at bats dropped his batting average to an astounding .472. Mariano Rivera, Puig’s senior by 21 years, recorded his 25^th save of the campaign by retiring all three batters he faced in the ninth. 

The final out was a strikeout of Puig, who that evening said, “I feel so happy to play against the best. He [Rivera] beat me.”

Chris Capuano, removed earlier in the day from the disabled list, started the night game for the visitors. Although the 34 year-old’s last MLB start was three weeks earlier, he gave up only three singles, two in the infield. He did not walk a batter but fanned four to earn the win. 

Mattingly remarked, “[I’m] not surprised that he pitched good but how long.”

Phil Hughes also pitched six, but his outing was far different than his Dodger counterpart. Five of the first six batters in the game singled. Hughes gave up two runs in the first, one in the third and two in the fifth.

Puig, the Cuban sensation, showed his energy and ability in game two of the day. He beat out a bunt in the first; was hit by a pitch and then stole second in the fifth. He hit an opposite field homer off reliever Adam Warren in the seventh. The youngster scored all three times he reached base. His experienced manager commented, “He has a kind of unique set of tools.”

The Tampa Rays begin a four game set on Thursday in the Bronx. Veteran Andy Pettitte (5-4) will face Matt Moore (8-3) of the Rays.