5th Annual LDA Award Dinner

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, October 17- Our friends at the Liberty Democratic Association held their 5th Annual Award Dinner last Thursday, and they were up against some real tough competition that night. 

Not only were there many local community meetings, a Vice-Presidential debate, and Yankee playoff game that same night, but the LDA dinner was still a huge success. Elected officials in attendance included Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., New York City Comptroller John Liu, Bronx Democratic County Leader Assemblyman Carl E. Heastie 83 A.D., BDCC Chairman Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz 81A.D., Naomi Rivera currently of the 80 A.D., Luis Sepulveda of the new 87 A.D., State Senator Jeff Klein, Councilman Jimmy Vacca, Mr. Andrew Cohen (the new Vice-Chair of the Bronx Democratic County Committee and rumored candidate for the term limited 11th City Council seat), Bronx D.A. Robert Johnson and Public Advocate candidate Brooklyn Councilwoman Lettica James. You can go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to see photos of the LDA dinner including one of Bronx County Leader Heastie's wonderful three year old daughter Taylor who came with him.

Mr. Richard Torres President of the LDA said that the LDA had scheduled the dinner way in advance of the Vice-Presidential debate and Yankee playoff game. The six awards were handed out by various executive members of the LDA, and it was good to see former State Committeewoman Diane Cerino at the dinner to present one of the awards. Missing however was the winner of the 80th A.D. Democratic Primary Mr. Mark Gjonaj. Current 80th A.D. Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera gave a farewell speech to the audience, and I reminded her that she was still on the November ballot as the candidate of the Working Families Party. Even though the winner of the Democratic Primary goes on to win the general election in November, she replied that I was right and no one knows what might happen in politics. When I then asked Naomi Rivera if she would be running for her term limited brother Joel Rivera's 15th Council District seat next year, she replied by chastising the media and said that she would continue to be in the community working on womens issues and raising her son. However Naomi Rivera did not say no to running for her brother’s open seat next year.

We told you at the start of the “Pedro Espada inquisition” that he could be found guilty of tax evasion. Last week the former state senator pleaded guilty to charges of tax evasion. Pedro G. Espada the son of the former state senator was allowed to plead to lesser charges, while his father should know his fate on February 22nd. Pedro Espada Jr. now faces up to 7 years in jail and restitution of up to two million dollars he allegedly defrauded.

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 at100percentbronxnews@gmail.com or call 718-644-4199 Mr. Robert Press.

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Ibañez Homers Inch Yanks Closer to WS

(Photos by Gary Quintal)

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, October 11- Game 3 of the ALDS was a classic. The definition of the word for this story is taken from the 2012 book written by managerial great Tony La Russa, “The game has to have serious stakes. The competition between the two teams has to be both fierce and equal. The performances of individual players have to be of extremely high caliber. The outcome should be in jeopardy until the final moments. The action has to arrest your attention because of the brilliant, the surprising, or the unique nature of the performances or the personalities.”

The closeness in the competition between the Yanks and Orioles continued at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday night when the ALDS shifted from Baltimore to the Bronx. The two clubs split 18 contests during the regular 2012 season. The teams also split the first two games of the ALDS.

Wednesday night’s contest featured an old fashioned pitchers’ duel between Miguel Gonxzalez of Baltimore and Hiroki Kuroda of New York. The rookie hurler for the O’s pitched with confidence and poise for seven innings. Only five batters reached base, all with base hits. His control was outstanding. Seventy percent of his pitches were strikes. No Yankee batter drew a walk, but Gonzalez fanned eight. The only Yankee run off him came in the third frame. Russell Martin doubled and scored on a triple by Derek Jeter.

Although his first appearance in the majors was May 29, Wednesday was his third start at Yankee Stadium. He earned a win in each of his previous outings in the Bronx on July 30 and August 31. He pitched a total of 13.2 innings, surrendering four earned runs for an ERA of 2.63.

Before the game, O’s manager Buck Showalter said of the 28 year old, “The guy does so many things that give himself a chance to be successful…We’re real proud of him.”

Kuroda accomplished what would normally result in a win. He pitched 8.1 innings, a mark he reached only twice in 33 previous starts this season. He also only gave up five hits, but two were crucial, a first pitch solo homer by Ryan Flaherty in the third and a solo first pitch home run by Mario Machado in the fifth. The two rookies showed no fear of playing in the postseason in Yankee Stadium.

In the pre-game press conference, Joe Girardi commented on the native of Japan, “I feel good about him on the mound because I’ve seen what he’s done all year for us.”

The Yanks tied the contest at two with one out in the ninth. Girardi removed the designated hitter, Alex Rodriguez, for pinch hitter Raúl Ibañez. The New York native parked the baseball in the right field seats to electrify the sell-out crowd of 50,497.

After the game, Girardi explained the decision that reporters called a genius move, “It’s a tough move. I just had a gut feeling about a left-hander who’s a low ball hitter. Raúl came up with some clutch hits; he’s been doing it all year. Sometimes you have to do what your gut tells you.”

The game ended in a most spectacular fashion as Ibañez led off the 12th with a walk-off home run. The unbelievable event prompted Yankee starter Kuroda to say, “It seemed like it was something out of cartoon.”

Ibañez whose wife gave birth earlier in the month remarked humbly, “I’m a very blessed man. I have a healthy baby boy; my wife is healthy.” Of the two home runs, he explained, “I was just trying to get a good pitch. I was not trying to do too much. Fortunately, it worked out.”

In game 4, Phil Hughes will start for New York against lefthander Joe Saunders, who was announced as the starter by Showalter in a post-game press conference. If the Yanks win on Thursday they will advance to the ALCS.

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Bring on the Rings?

At the end the Yankees seem to have it all together as they await the next step

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, October 5- The Texas Rangers or the Baltimore Orioles are awaiting the New York Yankees Sunday night as the new wild card format this season has the lower seed teams hosting the higher seed in the divisional series. But, the Yankees don’t care where they go, or who they play.

Momentum has become a major player the last month or weeks of the baseball season. The Yankees have that right now, so similar to what the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals had in 2010, and last year. Their late season surges continued right to a World Series championship.

And, as every baseball or sports fan knows, a New York Yankees season is not complete, or a success, unless they bring a World Series trophy back to the Bronx. They finished with the best record in the American League, decided when they clinched their second straight division title Wednesday night with a sweep over the Boston Red Sox.

Home field advantage for the first two rounds of the post season goes to the Yankees with a 95-67 finish, second best in baseball to the Washington Nationals. Though sweeping the lowly Boston Red Sox to finish off, and scoring 14-runs in their final game, don’t make that a barometer that they will dominate from here on in.

This was the Red Sox. Not the Rangers, Athletics, Tigers, or the Orioles where pitching, with perhaps the exception of the Rangers collapse, won them games this time of year. The Yankees inconsistency of their pitching staff could be their obstacle as to getting a 28^th championship.

“Now the real season starts,” commented Derek Jeter, the Yankees captain who knows something about the meaning of October baseball with five World Series rings.

So, with a September that was one to remember, the Yankees had to fight to the end with Baltimore. The 27-time world champions are confident. Yes, momentum is on their side as the pitching and hitting have come together, as well as a healthy compliment of players off the disabled list.

The season of adversity, one key pitcher or starting player hindered by injuries hurt the Yankees as they struggled and surrendered a 10-game AL east divisional lead to the Orioles.

“This year we had to fight, scratch and claw,” said Nick Swisher who had his struggles and finished with a strong September.

The Yankees at one time or another this season, and Girardi utilized what he could from the roster, saw different players at third, first, in the outfield, at DH, and on the mound.

The losses of pitchers CC Sabathia, Andy Pettitte, Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Brett Gardner, and other role players, for a short or extended period of time had an impact but they overcame the adversity.

That also included losing all-time saves leader Mariano Rivera, with a freak season ending injury in the outfield shagging fly balls prior to a game at Kaufman Stadium in Kansas City. Rafael Sorinao stepped in the closer role, and overall with 42 saves but had the tendency to throw the home run ball in the late going.

Gardner is back and could be on the post season roster, but getting on base and speed came when the Yankees acquired the able Ichiro Suzuki in the second half. Robinson Cano struggled, and the final three weeks the all-star second baseman had the highest hitting percentage in baseball.

The last seven years, New York has won the World Series once, so the obvious dynasty in baseball is a thing of the past with parity an obvious part of the game. However, as was the case with the Giants and Cardinals, pitching wins games this time of year.

“To have the best record and not know where you’re going is strange,” says Yankees manager Joe Girardi. They probably would prefer the Orioles. They split the 18-games between them and scored more runs. The Rangers, though struggling, know how to handle this time of year.

And when it comes to the Yankees and Rangers in October, Girardi is aware that Texas has come up short the last two years in failing to win the World Series, but the Yankees have never done well at the ballpark in Arlington in October baseball games.

The tentative starting rotation in the best- of- five opening round will be Sabathia, Hiroki Kuroda, Pettitte, and Phil Hughes. It looks good, though Hughes has been ineffective in his last three starts and gives up the home run ball. Hughes getting the ball in a game three or four could be detrimental.

“The fact we struggled, we overcame the adversity, I am proud we are at this point,” says Girardi. Driving in the timely run has been the inconsistency and striking out to much, and Curtis Granderson had a team high in strike outs when he was not hitting the home run ball.

Just about every position player is liable to hit the ball out of the park. The Yankees finished 2012 with a club record in round trippers. But we saw something the past few weeks that started to develop.

The Yankees played small ball with the bunt, steal, and that produced some run production that helped them win some close games on the road. They finished four games over .500 away from the Bronx.

The team works out at Yankee Stadium early Friday evening and will watch the wild card game between the Orioles and Rangers. From the Bronx they will have the bags packed and ready to begin the next journey.

The new season begin Sunday evening. The quest with momentum is to bring championship number 28 to the Bronx in a few weeks.

E-Mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com/ Facebook.com/Keep it in the Ring

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Bedford Park News: Life Isn't Always Fair According to Mayor Bloomber...

Bedford Park News: Life Isn't Always Fair According to Mayor Bloomber...: 100 PERCENT By Robert Press BRONX, NEW YORK, October 5- The specialized high school admission process based on only one te...

Life Isn't Always Fair According to Mayor Bloomberg

100 PERCENT

By Robert Press

BRONX, NEW YORK, October 5- The specialized high school admission process based on only one test given to all students has come under fire from advocacy groups who have filed a federal complaint. They claim the admission process is racially biased since minority student parents do not have the resources that non minority student parents have, thus giving those non minority students an advantage in taking the one test that is used to determine who is admitted to the specialized high schools.

In answer to the complaint Mayor Bloomberg said “admission to those schools is based strictly on merit, and it is one of the Bright Lights in our school system.” “The students with the highest scores are admitted without prejudice to ethnicity.” Bloomberg later told one reporter “Life Isn't Always Fair.” Go to my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com to read Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.'s reaction and comment to what Mayor Bloomberg said.

At the last Community Board #7 meeting there was a second attempt to oust District Manager Fernando Tirado. As was the case in the first vote there were not enough votes to accomplish this task. We spoke to Mr. Tirado who will have the last laugh as he has submitted his notice to Community Board #7 that he has found a better job that he will enjoy without the tension of the politics on the Community Board.

It was Mr. Greg Faulkner who ascended to the position of Chairman of CB 7 when the previous long-term chair (and still CB 7 member) was asked by then Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion to withdraw from the election for chair during unsubstantiated rumors of wrong doing. Long time CB 7 District Manager Rita Kessler was then replaced with CB 7 Board Member Fernando Tirado. With the election of Fernando Cabrera to the City Council Faulkner became his chief of staff. Several sources have said current CB 7 chair Paul Foster in his attempts to oust Tirado may be taking his marching orders from Faulkner, and we will have to see who replaces Tirado as District Manager. One possibility we are told could be former CB7 Housing Chair, and Executive Director of the Bronx Democratic County Committee organization Ms. Ischia Bravo. Bravo complained about Tirado while she was briefly on CB 7 before her quick departure from the board.

In the “Lets Have Another Laugh” department - City Councilman Charles Barron is now exploring a possible run for Public Advocate when current PA Bill de Blasio announces his run for mayor next year. Barron fresh off a defeat in a Brooklyn congressional primary will be term limited out of the council in 2013, and word is that his wife Inez Barron will run for his council seat. This will allow Charles Barron after he looses his bid for public advocate to run for his wife's vacant seat should she be elected to his council seat.

The 2nd annual Bronx Little League championship game was played at Yankee Stadium. The Little League Raiders beat the Little League Bronx Bombers 6 – 1, and you can go to my blog to see pictures of the players as they ventured on to the same field and sat in same dugout as their favorite New York Yankee players.

The 18th Annual TOUR DE BRONX will take place on Sunday October 14th, and will cover all 61 neighborhoods in the Bronx. There will be a 25 mile and a 40 mile bike route choice for the largest Free Cycling event in New York State. Bronx Borough President was on hand at Montifiore Hospital (one of the sponsors of the bike tour) this past Monday to unveil the route.

I would love to cover the Tour De Bronx, but I will be attending COMIC-CON 2012 at the Javits Center that runs from Thursday October 11th through Sunday October 14th . You can check my blog at www.100percentbronx.blogspot.com for daily updates on who and what will be appearing at COMIC-CON 2012 at the Javits Center.

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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It Never Gets Old!

Yanks Clinch AL East

Once Again Head into Playoffs

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, October 4- With one out in the bottom of the seventh inning, the giant scoreboard in Yankee Stadium displayed the final score of the 4-1 victory of the Rays over the Orioles. The Baltimore loss gave the A.L. East crown to the New York Yankees. The crowd of 47, 393 erupted in cheers, the standing ovation was followed by the chant of “Let’s Go Yankees”.

The excitement was augmented at 10:34 when Freddy Garcia struck out Ivan de Jesus to end a game in which the Yankees crushed the Boston Red Sox, 14-2 in their final game of the 2012 regular season.

Robinson Cano continued his extra torrid hitting during the final contest of the season. He went 4 for 4 with a walk in five trips to the plate. Cano drove in six runs to lead his team to victory, two on his 32^rd homer of the season on the first pitch he saw in the third, two more on the first pitch to him in the fifth, and an added two on a single in the sixth. The multi-hit game was the ninth straight for the second sacker. During those games, Cano hit safely 24 times in 39 at bats for a phenomenal .615 batting average. 

C.C. Sabathia said of Cano’s recent hitting, “Unbelievable, when he’s riding, he’s the best hitter in baseball.”

The Yankees leading home run hitter also belted two four baggers in the game. In his first trip to the plate in the third, Curtis Granderson hit the first pitch into the right field stands to score three runs. His 43^rd homer of the year came on a full-count pitch to lead-off the five run seventh. Although Grandy set a Yankees strike out record with 195, he led the club in runs batted in with 106. The honest and articulate outfielder said of being called a home run hitter, “Not at all, I just got lucky.” He also remarked, “There’s always room for improvement, no matter what your season was.”

The four home runs gave the Yanks 245 for a franchise record, breaking their previous single season high of 244. The club set a major league mark by hitting homers in 131 games during one season.

Cano and Granderson were not the only contributors to the pennant win. Yankees captain Derek Jeter’s single in the sixth raised to 34 the number of consecutive games in which he has reached base. The Yankee skipper praised his captain, “He’s exceeded everyone’s expectations. It’s truly remarkable. It’s one of the greatest seasons I’ve ever seen.”

Starter Hiroki Kuroda also did his part in the Yankees win. He earned his 16^th win of the season by hurling seven innings in which he yielded seven hits and two runs.

The Yanks will begin the ALDS on the road in either Maryland or Texas on Sunday facing the winner of the Wild Card playoff on Friday night between the Orioles and the Rangers. The Yankee brass must now decide on the composition of their postseason roster and starting rotation. They will have home field advantage in all American League games as they finished the season with the best won/loss mark in the league. This was the ninth time since 1998 that New York has had the best record in the A.L.

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Shooting Caught on Tape

By Dan Gesslein

BRONX, NEW YORK, October 1- A Williamsbridge shooting was caught on tape and cops are asking for the public’s help in trying to hunt down the gunman.

At around 5 a.m. on September 30, a 35-year-old male was shot multiple times in front of 3515 Rochambeu Avenue. A grainy surveillance video shows the gunman pointing his weapon low and firing several times. 

The victim was taken to St. Barnabas Hospital where he is listed in stable condition. 

Police did not release a description of the shooter nor a possible motive for the attack. 

Anyone with information is urged to call CRIMESTOPPERS at (80) 577-TIPS. The public can also submit tips by logging onto the Crime Stoppers website at WWW.NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.COM or by texting their tips to 274637 (CRIMES) then enter TIP577.

All calls are strictly confidential.

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