Mr. 4,000

Ichiro Suzuki Becomes the 4,000 Hit Man

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 22- Ichiro Suzuki reached a baseball milestone that has been accomplished by only two men in baseball history, Pete Rose and Ty Cobb.

Suzuki’s single to left field in the first inning of Wednesday night’s encounter between the Yankees and the Toronto Blue Jays was his 4,000th hit in professional baseball.
As was done more than a half-century ago when Roger Maris hit his 61st home run in a single season, some baseball observers will try to demean the outstanding and rare accomplishment by saying 1,278 of the 4,000 hits were achieved in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and should not be added to his Major League Baseball (MLB) totals.

Suzuki’s ability and his achievements on the baseball field in Japan and the United States should earn him enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown as soon as he is eligible.

Although Ichiro will not be 40 until October, his long baseball journey started as a young boy under the strict direction of his father. His decision to pursue professional baseball as his calling began before he reached his teenage years. He excelled in Little League baseball and on his high school team.

His statistics, thus far, in each nation and collectively in both are superlative and show his superiority as a player regardless of the competition.

His batting average as a member of the Orix Blue Wave for nine seasons was .355. From his first full season, 1994, through his last year in Japanese pro ball, 2000, Ichiro, in all seven seasons, was a NPB All-Star, a Pacific League (PL) batting champion, a winner of the Best Nine Award, and a Golden Glove recipient. He was also the PL MVP in the first three of those magnificentseasons.

Neither the cultural change nor the level of the play in the major leagues prevented the first position player from Japan from excelling in MLB as he had in Japan. In his first year with the Seattle Mariners (2001), he was elected Rookie-of-the-Year and MVP of the American League.

In each of his first 10 seasons in MLB, Ichiro was a Gold Glove winner and a member of the A.L. All-Star Team.

His extreme versatility on the baseball field has been displayed by watching him every day and by the numerous and varied awards he earned, batting champion, stolen base leader, Silver Slugger Award winner and, of course, 17 consecutive years, in both nations, of the Gold(en) Glove as recognition of his defensive superiority as an outfielder.

Ichiro in a post-game press conference expressed the importance to him of being an all-around expert ballplayer, “As an amateur, I thought you had to be good in everything to be a professional. Then I found out that wasn’t true. I’ve always taken pride in all the things that happen in baseball. I work very hard. I want to be able to do all the things at a high level.”

Not only has Ichiro excelled in Japan and the United States, but he led the National Team from Japan to the Gold Medal in the first two sessions of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), 2006 and 2009.

After Ichiro reached first base on Wednesday, all the Yankees players left their dugout and came onto the field to congratulate their great teammate on his rare accomplishment. The fans in the stands rose to cheer him. His countryman, Munenori Kawasaki, the Toronto third baseman was also applauding while standing at his infield position.

Ichiro, who always conducts himself as a serious professional, was more impressed by the supportive reaction of others than his own achievement, “I thought this number was just special to me. I wasn’t expecting what happened today, so much joy and happiness from them [teammates and fans]. I was really overwhelmed. The game was stopped for me. I was so happy and overjoyed with how they supported me. When I look back on this, what makes it important is that my teammates came out.”
Now that he has 2,722 hits in the majors, Ichiro was asked if his goal was to reach 3,000 hits. His response exhibits his professional mindset, “I can’t have that as a goal. What happens today determines what happens tomorrow.”

The consummate professional intends to prepare to do his best every day. One who is fortunate to watch him once or on a regular basis is seeing one of the all-time best players who brings credit upon the sport.

Without A-Rod Drama Yanks Look Like They Have a Shot

Yankees keep rolling with win over Blue Jays

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 22- There was no Alex Rodriguez drama at Yankee Stadium Wednesday night. He had the night off and requested a ceasefire with his attorney regarding impending lawsuits against the Yankees. Instead the attention was the 4,000 career hit for Ichiro Suzuki, and the Yankees ninth win in their last 11-games as they took the third of four games over Toronto 4-2.

Suddenly the Yankees are in the thick of the American League wild card race, and have inched closer to the Al east division leaders Boston and Tampa Bay. The win put New York four games away from the second wild card spot.

For the second time this season, the Yankees defeated 2012 NL CY Young Award winner R.A. Dickey, who won the award when he pitched for the cross-town NY Mets. Dickey tossed a complete game, 8.0 innings, gave up four runs, six hits and recorded nine strikeouts.

The big blow off Dickey was a two-run home run off the bat of Alfonso Soriano. With one on and two out, Soriano reached for a Dickey knuckleball that landed in the left field stands. It broke a 0-for-17 snap for Soriano and was the 29th long ball given up by Dickey.

The Yankees have now hit a home run 25 times in their last 22 games dating back to July 28th, this after being held homerless in nine straight games from July 19-27.

“Our club is focused on winning,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi. His team has secured their fourth straight series win, with the finale of the four-game series with he Blue Jays Thursday afternoon.

“I lacked a good knuckleball and Soriano hit one,” said Dickey, 9-12, who threw his 11th career complete game and second this season. He dropped to 3-3 with a 3.44 ERA in 12 career games, six starts against New York.

Commented Soriano, “I just tried to swing one and finally got one to hit,” about hitting the tough knuckleball.

Dickey admitted that this has been a season of struggle, something he never expected coming off the Cy Young Award season. The Mets traded him in the off season to Toronto in a package that also sent catcher Josh Thole to the Blue Jays.

Thole hit his first home run of the season in the fourth inning, his first since last April 29th when the Mets played Colorado.

“Dickey was throwing great, four hits going into that last inning and really just that one big shot,” said Toronto manager John Gibbons about the home run ball Dickey surrendered to Soriano. It was the ninth home run for Soriano as a Yankee since coming over in a trade from the Chicago Cubs on July 26th.

The win was costly for the Yankees as Jayson Nix, starting at third for Rodriguez, was hit by a pitch in the second inning and was removed for a pinch runner. Nix underwent x-rays which revealed a fractured right hand. It was another serious blow for a team that has overcome the adversity of the injured this season.

Nix will be disabled and undetermined how long he will be inactive. It is his second time on the DL this season and 19th player in 24 stints for the Yankees to go down with an injury this season.

“Feel bad about Nix,” said Girardi. “In the absence of “Jeets” (Derek Jeter) and “Nuney” (Eduardo Nunez) going down, he’s a guy who makes good decisions and makes things right.”

As for Ichiro, it was a night of celebration. The 4,000th hit, combined 2,722 in the Major Leagues and 1,278 in Japan, was a single to left off Dickey in the first inning. Ichiro was congratulated by his Yankees teammates who came out of the dugout and greeted him by the first base line.

“They did not have to stop the game for me,” said the mild mannered Ichiro who had a separate press conference of about an hour with a contingent of media from Japan, downstairs in the Yankees press conference room area.

Dickey said about the historic hit to Ichiro, “You never want to be a guy to give up a milestone. That being said what an achievement. It could not have happened to a better player.”

“It’s special to him, to his family to his country,” said Girardi about the hit. And for the Yankees, more special because Ichiro has become a part of this resurgence and winning formula that has his Yankees aiming for a spot to play in October.

Comment Rich Mancuso: ring786@aol.com facebook.com/Rich Mancuso

Despite A-Rod Circus Yankees seem like a Playoff Team

A-Bum Strikes Out 5 Times, Grounds into Double Play,
Yanks Still Win

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 21- Maybe it took the return of Alex Rodriguez in order for the New York Yankees to make their season more interesting. With or without the A-Rod controversy, manager Joe Giaradi had said it would take 35 wins after the all-star break for his team to be eligible for October baseball.

No matter how one feels about the player known as A-Fraud, Rodriguez enhances the Yankees lineup. Robinson Cano can vouch for that. In the first game of the Tuesday day-night twin-bill sweep over the Blue Jays, Cano went 4-for4 and hit his 200th career home run.

In the night game, another win in walk-off fashion, the Yankees sixth of the season, Cano went 2-for-4 and has hit safely in 14 of his last 15 games. In that span, he is hitting .456 with eight runs, five doubles, two home runs and 11 runs batted in.

Yes, like him or not, A-Rod does make a difference despite striking out five times and hitting into a double-play in the second game Tuesday night.

“You can see it’s a different lineup when you have Alfonso, Curtis, you have Alex,” commented Cano about the return of A-Rod, Curtis Granderson and the addition of Alfonso Soriano.

Despite all the controversy with A-Rod, and the fireworks from Friday night up in Boston, Girardi never gave up. He always said when his team came back to full strength they would get back in it.

Again, Alex Rodriguez has not been a distraction. Despite the lawsuits, an appeal process of a 211-game suspension, and the hierarchy not talking to their troubled player, the Yankees say A-Rod has been a vital addition and now every game is a run to keep playing in October.

“We’re a different team offensively,” Girardi said after the Yankees won their eighth game in their last 10 overall. Two more with Toronto on this brief home stand and then the battle continues with three down in Tampa Bay, a team in a battle with the Red Sox for the AL east division lead.

With Robinson Cano hitting his 200th career home run and right hander Ivan Nova allowing four runs in 6.1 innings, New York came home to the Bronx and defeated Toronto 8-4, in the first game of a day-night doubleheader.

Not like they were in April, May, June, and some of July, they overcame a four-run deficit for the first time this season. Right hander Phil Hughes (4-12) took the mound for the second game. He had better command with the changeup, the fastball had location, and he did not allow a home run at Yankee Stadium since June 19th.

And, Hughes also said, the offense helped. Alex Rodriguez is not a distraction. “He makes us a better team,” said Hughes about his controversial teammate.

Earlier as Nova (7-4) and the Yankees took the field for the first game, Major League Baseball announced Joe Girardi had been fined an undisclosed amount for his actions Friday night at Fenway Park. Later it was reported the fine was $5,000.

Girardi was ejected from that game in the second inning after arguing with plate umpire Brian O’Nora after Boston pitcher Ryan Dempster threw three pitches at Rodriguez, the last of the three that hit him and made things appear worse for A-Rod and the Yankees.

Dempster was also fined and suspended five games for his actions. Girardi wants this to end, and the frustration is unfolding. Because Girardi is only concerned about one thing, that is winning ballgames and the Yankees seem to be doing that more the past few weeks.

“I don’t really have any comment,” said Girardi about the suspension of Dempster. “Think I made my feelings pretty clear then,” he said. Girardi seemed annoyed about the questions being asked about Dempster, feeling he offered enough about the situation that happened Friday night.

Though Girardi said, a suspension for intentionally throwing at a position player does not always make sense as it related to five games, because Dempster will probably not miss a turn in the rotation.

As for winning another game, he said, “Win the game that is at hand. The guys went out and did that today and came from behind and got some big hits and that’s what we have to concentrate on.”

Ichiro Suzuki went 2-for-5 with a double in the third inning and a single in the seventh. He is one hit shy of career ht 4,000, 1,278 of those hits came as a player in Japan. That was supposed to be another storyline, but A-Rod was the center of attention.

Suzuki did not start the second game. He pinch ran in the ninth for Mark Reynolds who walked. He advanced on a bunt, stole third and came home with the winning run on the first walk-off RBI hit from Jayson Nix.

In the end, winning ballgames is what it all about. A-Rod was not available for the media all day. He never is when not contributing, but has to have his forum when the timing is right.

With 37 games remaining, the Yankees are getting the timely hit, and overall, good starting pitching. The bullpen has been better and the home run trot is getting better for more than one.

“It’s fun in here again,” commented catcher Austin Romine who tied his career high, 3-for-3 in the second game. He too, has been a part of this resurgence that has the Yankees back in the wild card hunt and closing in for that second spot.

But they have to keep winning, and taking series in this stretch run for October. “That’s baseball, anything can happen. It’s not over till it’s over,” said Romine.

We heard that before, of course from the Yankees of years past and there was no A-Rod controversy then.

Comment Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com/ Facebook.com/Rich Mancuso

Yanks Win Day/Night Doubleheader over Blue Jays

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 21- In the day portion of the day/night doubleheader with the Blue Jays on Tuesday, New York overcame a 4-0 deficit by scoring eight unanswered runs to win, 8-4. The hero was second sacker Robinson Cano who hit safely in all four at bats, driving in four runs.

Ichiro Suzuki raised his professional career hit total to, 3,999 with two hits in the opener.

The night contest was much more of a pitching duel, but ended in a similar fashion as the first game, with the Yankees coming from behind to achieve the victory.

Neither starter, Phil Hughes nor Mark Buehrle, has been highly successful at Yankee Stadium this season. In two starts in the Bronx this year, Buehrle has yielded 10 runs in only 11 frames. The career mark of the veteran hurler is 183-139, but against the Yanks he is 1-10 with an ERA of 6.28 in 16 starts. His team has defeated the Yanks only once in those 16 starts.

Hughes is 1-9 at home with an ERA of 6.03. Of the 23 home runs he has surrendered, 17 were hit at Yankee Stadium.

Both pitched into the seventh and neither even remotely resembled the ineffective pitcher he was earlier in the season in the Bronx.

Buehrle gave up two runs and six hits in 6.2 innings. He departed after Jayson Nix blasted a solo home run on the first pitch he saw in the seventh. The homer raised the batting average of Nix against the veteran left-hander to .426.

Hughes faced one batter in the seventh and left the game having yielded two runs and seven hits, but none of the hits were four baggers. Yankee skipper Joe Girardi was pleased with the starter’s performance, “His fastball was down better today. I thought he stayed off the barrel of the bat today. We need him to continue making progress.”

Although he did not get the win, his team did. Thus, Hughes was happy, “It all starts with the fastball. It’s something to build off.”

The game was tied at 2-2 entering the bottom of the ninth. Mark Reynolds in his fourth game in Yankee pinstripes led off the inning by drawing a walk. Suzuki pinch ran for Reynolds. Eduardo Nuñez sacrificed Suzuki to second. The veteran great then stole third. The Yanks obtained their sixth walk-off win of the 2013 campaign as Nix singled in the winning run.

Of that successful rally, Girardi commented, “It was a good effort by all those guys.”
The Yanks have won 8 of their last 10 contests in a quest to qualify for the 2013 post-season.

The starters on Wednesday night are scheduled to be R.A. Dickey (9-11) for Toronto and Adam Warren (1-2) who will be making his second start in the majors, his first in 2013.

Yanks Win Day/Night Doubleheader over Blue Jays

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 21- In the day portion of the day/night doubleheader with the Blue Jays on Tuesday, New York overcame a 4-0 deficit by scoring eight unanswered runs to win, 8-4. The hero was second sacker Robinson Cano who hit safely in all four at bats, driving in four runs.

Ichiro Suzuki raised his professional career hit total to, 3,999 with two hits in the opener.

The night contest was much more of a pitching duel, but ended in a similar fashion as the first game, with the Yankees coming from behind to achieve the victory.

Neither starter, Phil Hughes nor Mark Buehrle, has been highly successful at Yankee Stadium this season. In two starts in the Bronx this year, Buehrle has yielded 10 runs in only 11 frames. The career mark of the veteran hurler is 183-139, but against the Yanks he is 1-10 with an ERA of 6.28 in 16 starts. His team has defeated the Yanks only once in those 16 starts.

Hughes is 1-9 at home with an ERA of 6.03. Of the 23 home runs he has surrendered, 17 were hit at Yankee Stadium.

Both pitched into the seventh and neither even remotely resembled the ineffective pitcher he was earlier in the season in the Bronx.

Buehrle gave up two runs and six hits in 6.2 innings. He departed after Jayson Nix blasted a solo home run on the first pitch he saw in the seventh. The homer raised the batting average of Nix against the veteran left-hander to .426.

Hughes faced one batter in the seventh and left the game having yielded two runs and seven hits, but none of the hits were four baggers. Yankee skipper Joe Girardi was pleased with the starter’s performance, “His fastball was down better today. I thought he stayed off the barrel of the bat today. We need him to continue making progress.”

Although he did not get the win, his team did. Thus, Hughes was happy, “It all starts with the fastball. It’s something to build off.”

The game was tied at 2-2 entering the bottom of the ninth. Mark Reynolds in his fourth game in Yankee pinstripes led off the inning by drawing a walk. Suzuki pinch ran for Reynolds. Eduardo Nuñez sacrificed Suzuki to second. The veteran great then stole third. The Yanks obtained their sixth walk-off win of the 2013 campaign as Nix singled in the winning run.

Of that successful rally, Girardi commented, “It was a good effort by all those guys.”
The Yanks have won 8 of their last 10 contests in a quest to qualify for the 2013 post-season.

The starters on Wednesday night are scheduled to be R.A. Dickey (9-11) for Toronto and Adam Warren (1-2) who will be making his second start in the majors, his first in 2013.

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Quinn, deBlasio in Bronx Snub

Bronx News (Bxnews.net): Quinn, deBlasio in Bronx Snub: No show for Bronx voters in mayor’s forum By Michael Horowitz BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 20 - Six mayoral candidates in this year's e...

Quinn, deBlasio in Bronx Snub

No show for Bronx voters in mayor’s forum

By Michael Horowitz

BRONX, NEW YORK, AUGUST 20- Six mayoral candidates in this year's election, speaking out to a capacity crowd during a Monday-night forum in Co-op City, stressed their opposition to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's key initiatives, including his stop-and-frisk policy, programs stressing tax breaks for Manhattan-based businesses, and policies that have widened the gap between the rich and the poor in the city.

The Riverbay Corporation, the Co-op City Democratic Club, and Transportation Forward (A Co-op City group fighting for bus-service improvements) sponsored the Monday-night forum, which barred questions from the audience of more than 1,000 shareholders.

One of the most notable aspects of the forum, in which questions were submitted in advance, was the failure of the two frontrunners in the Democratic Party Primary, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and New York City Public Advocate William de Blasio, to show up.

The six candidates in the mayoral contest who showed up for the Co-op City forum --- City Comptroller John Liu, former Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion, former City Comptroller William Thompson, former City Councilman Sal Albanese, former Rep. Anthony Weiner, and Brooklyn minister Erick Salgado --- used the occasion to attack Bloomberg's policies in a community that is widely perceived as antagonistic to the three-term mayor.
Speaking to a standing-room-only crowd that came as a surprise to many observers, Comptroller Liu and Salgado said that they would scrap Mayor Bloomberg's stop-and frisk policy because it racially profiles black and Latino New Yorkers, while Weiner, Thompson, Carrion, and Albanese indicated that they would change the policy so that it no longer profiled minority New Yorkers as the city's criminal element. On the issue of transportation, the candidates agreed that bus service in Co-op City should be restored to the way it was three years ago, while Carrion, Thompson, and Liu expressed support for a MetroNorth rail link for the Co-op City community.
The six candidates agreed that transportation improvements in the area near the Bay Plaza shopping center should have been planned in conjunction with the expansion of the shopping center. They agreed that the Bloomberg Administration, in typical fashion, failed to adequately address the issue of road improvements that should have accompanied plans for the shopping center's major expansion, which is expected by the spring of next year.

The six candidates also agreed that City Hall hasn't done nearly enough to support youth programs in communities, like Co-op City. They suggested that one way to spur such programs would be to keep Truman High School open in the evenings so that such programs could be
started there. On the issue of Co-op City's collection of its own garbage, five of the six candidates said that they would not support giving the Riverbay Corporation a monetary benefit as a payment for doing a job that the city's Sanitation Department would otherwise have to do.
Disagreeing Rev. Salgado said that he would support giving Co-op City a real-estate-tax deduction as a consideration for the money that is needed to fund the Riverbay Corporation's garbage-collection initiative.