Cesar Valverde's New York Yankees fan blog

After a long hiatus, it’s great to be back blogging about the greatest sports franchise on the planet. Since my last blog entry, the New York Yankees have won the World Series (coincidentally on this blogger’s birthday last year. SWEET!) and got some good quality talent during the offseason, namely Curtis Granderson from the Tigers, Nick Johnson from the Marlins, and Javier Vasquez from the Braves, among others. They’ve gotten off to an awesome start, winning every series this year so far except this past weekend when they lost 2 out 3 in Anaheim against the Angels. Bringing up Javi Vasquez leads me to discuss Robinson Cano because the Yanks gave up his seemingly inseparable buddy Melky Cabrera to get him. The 2 were like brothers. They lived together. They visited each other’s family. They supported each other, helping each other during slumps. Their antics at times were the life of the clubhouse and highlight reels. But now that is over. Robinson is now on his own outside his comfort zone minus Melky. Manager Joe Girardi took a gamble and put Cano to bat behind Alex Rodriguez in the #5 spot and, boy, did it pay dividends. “You want to take care of your veterans, but all we’ve got is veterans. I consider Robbie a veteran player, “ Girardi said in an interview during spring training. In 18 games so far this season, he’s already had 1 multi-homer game & is hitting .368 with an on base percentage of .416.  He has 5 HRs, 14 RBIs and is going into tonight’s game hitting safely in 8 out of his last 10 games. He’s been clutch since the beginning of the season. He’s had to. The #5 spot last year was occupied by Mr. Clutch himself, Hideki Matsui, who is now with the LA Angels of Anaheim. Those are some heavy shoes to fill especially considering Godzilla was the World Series MVP last year. With more focus and less distractions, Yankee fans, expect another career year from Robinson Cano this season. I admit he’s nowhere near as clutch as Matsui, but he’s do a pretty job so far.

Continue reading "Cano’s a go to stay at the #5 spot"

Baseball families have made history in pinstripes. The Boones are in their 3rd generation playing baseball. Aaron Boone, whose brother Bret, father Bob, and grandfather Ray all had 10+ year careers in the majors, cemented his name in Yankee history. Jose Molina, whose brother Yadier plays for the Colorado Rockies and other brother Bengie plays for San Francisco Giants, also cemented his name in Yankee history. Now that the Yankees have acquired Jerry Hairston, Jr., whose brother Scott is playing for the Oakland Athletics, and father Jerry, Sr., uncle Johnny, and grandfather Sam also had MLB baseball careers. Now Jerry Jr. has a chance to continue this trend of success for baseball families playing for the Bronx Bombers. Before we get into the Hairstons, let’s take a look at what the Boones and the Molinas have accomplished in pinstripes.

Continue reading "Move over Boones. Move over Molinas. Get ready for the Hairstons!"

You may be wondering how Joba Chamberlain came off the All-Star Break with 2 consecutive victories: 1 against the Tigers and 1 against the A's. Before the break, it just seemed to be no-decision after no-decision. He holds the Major League Record for most No-D's in a season.

Reports say that Joba went home to Oklahoma during the All-Star Break. He didn't even think about baseball. He just spent quality time with his family. He only had a couple of throwing sessions and that's it! Nothing complicated. No pressure. No nothing. Just basic throwing. No Joba rules to worry about.

As a family man with 2 kids, I can relate with how Chamberlain can come back and have success on the mound his first 2 starts back . Joba was grinding it out in the first half. He was working hard with coaches trying to figure things out. This is a lot like a student grinding it out with his schoolwork; grinding it out with his schoolwork, getting pressure from his teachers to do better, getting pressure to keep their GPA up, but oh, when the semester is over, they go home, hang out with family and friend, and just breathe. When the new semester starts, they're fresh minded and ready to go.

Continue reading "How Joba Got His Groove Back"

Moses spent 40 years in the desert before shepherding Israel through the desert enroute to the Promised Land. Michael Jackson grew up in a musical family and became the King of Pop over a span of 50 years. Don Zimmer tops them both. We're talking 61 years in the game and he's still going. Homeboy loves baseball. He was Joe Torre's bench coach when he managed the Yankees to 4 World Series championships. He had left Yankee management over a dispute with the boss George Steinbrenner after the 2003 season. Check out this interview with Kimberly Jones from the YES Network.

Continue reading "Much love for Don Zimmer at Yankee Stadium"

He’s got 4 World Series rings: 1 with the Mets and 3 with the Yankees. His career was tainted with drug abuse. He’s Darryl Strawberry. He was a special guest on the show “Centerstage” with Michael Kaye on the Yes Network. He was a class act. Whatever questions Michael Kaye had about the negative things that happened in his life, he took full responsibility for it: drugs and tax evasion. You name it! Whatever he did wrong he took full responsibility for it, unlike Roger Clemens, who’s given denial after denial that he did steroids.

Darryl is an overcomer, then and now! He mentioned how he grew up in South Central L.A: in the hood. His dad used to abuse him and his brothers. Straw said his dad used to…uh you’re gonna have to watch the show. Don’t want to spoil it for you. Eventually, his mom had enough and divorced his dad. Throughout the show, he mentions that because he didn’t have a father figure in his life, he had to figure out things on his own. Straw even admitted to believing what his dad used to tell him: “You’re good for nothing and you’ll never amount anything.” His father was wrong. His upbringing in just one of the things that he overcame.

Continue reading "Straw Humble on Yes Network's "Centerstage""

Wrestling fans, in the past you've seen snakes from Jake "The Snake" Roberts, parrots from Koko B. Ware, bulldogs from Davey Boy Smith and the Dynamite Kid. Victoria is back in wrestling as "Tara" in TNA and she's striking fear in the hearts of the TNA Knockouts. Check it out (if you're afraid of spiders, don't click play):

I love it! When Tara was in the WWE, she was such a dominant force. She didn't need a gimmick. She just pretty much dominated through every match with her strength and intensity, leading her to hold the WWE Women's Championship numerous times. Her finishing move the Widow's Peak is one of the most feared finishers in women's wrestling. Just check out how this move gained her her first TNA Knockout title:

Continue reading "TNA's Tara (formerly WWE's Victoria) bringing arachnophobia to the opposition"

A NY Daily News reporter has penned Cody Ransom as A-Rod's understudy. This player is no stranger to injuries. I checked out his bio on MLB.com. He survived a car crash that killed 2 of his teammates while in college. He is a family man with a 5 year old daughter. He been spending the last 7 seasons going up and down from the Majors to the Minors with the San Francisco Giants, Houston Astros, and New York Yankees. Just what exactly is an understudy? Random House dictionary defines it as "a performer who learns the role of another in order to serve as a replacement if necessary." Scary, isn't it? To be the understudy to a player with a tainted history. Some might say, "Uh-oh! A-Rod's gonna teach him how to use steroids." Others might say, "Uh-oh, he's hanging o

Continue reading "Yankees backup infielder Cody Ransom: A-Rod's Understudy?"

It was a series where Alex Rodriguez got closer to Rafael Palmeiro on the all-time home run list. Mariano Rivera continued to pile up saves. Joba Chamberlain continued to pile up no decisions. The mark set by Andy Pettitte and Mo continued to increase. Ken Griffey Jr continued to approach Willie Mays in career HRs. Ichiro Suzuki continued to get hit after hit. Could he be on his way to a 9th consecutive 200+ hit season? Let's break this all down.

A-Rod's been getting a day's rest every week and will continue to do so until the All Star Break. It's been paying off for the Yankees with home runs in Games 1 and 2: 2 days, 2 homers. You go, Alex, rest up that big bad hip! A lot of people will say, "Oh, he's juicing up again." Others will say, "Oh, he's been hanging out with Kate Hudson." I say leave him alone. He's a grown boy. Unfortunately, baseball's steroid policy has become like rules in pro wrestling. It's legal as long as the ref doesn't see it. I guess in baseball terms, it would be that they can take whatever they want as long as they don't test negative. As long as he continues to test negative and keeps hitting home runs, I'm a happy camper.

Continue reading "Mariners-Yankees: A Series of Milestones Approached & Standards Set"

It's starting to look like Joe Torre is running away with a 14th consecutive trip to the playoffs as a manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. They've been straight up dominating the opposition in the NL West. Some might say, "Oh, the NL West has the worst teams in baseball. It's the easiest division." Regardless, the Dodgers are where they're at 79 games into the season. All this and they're doing it without Manny Ramirez. They're hasn't been a superstar in the lineup. Everybody on the team is pitching in. Over the past 14 years, Torres had a knack of making things happen with the players given to him yet still make the playoffs.This team is starting to remind me of Torre’s 1998 Yankees. How’s does this Dodger team compare? Let’s take a look.

These are the 1998 Standings for that record-setting Yankee championship team 79 games into the season:

Continue reading "Are Joe Torre's Dodgers looking like Torre's 1998 Yankees?"

There's a new face on the New York pro baseball scene. His name is Francisco. Sorry Mets fans, I'm not talking about K-Rod, who granted has been perfect this year in saves opportunities except for that 1 save opportunity that slipped away when a route pop fly by second baseman Luis Castillo was dropped. A.J. Burnett might as well have snuck behind him during his interview on SNY and stuffed a whipped cream pie in his face.

Anyway, I'm talking about Yankees rookie catcher Francisco Cervelli. In Wednesday night's victory against the Atlanta Braves, his home run brought revival to the Yankees offense. Check out the drama here: Joe Girardi gets kicked out of the game for arguing that call on a play at first base. (Replays show that Brett Gardner was safe) Next up is Frankie Cervelli.

Continue reading "Frankie serves up some spark for New York...(no, not K-Rod)"