Sunday, 23 February 2025
Wednesday, 31 July 2024
OLYMPIC SOCCER: EGYPT BEATS SPAIN 2-1, BOTH ADVANCE TO MEN'S KNOCKOUT STAGE
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| Egypt's defender #04 Ahmed Eid runs with the ball in the men's group C football match between Uzbekistan and Egypt during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the La Beaujoire Stadium in Nantes on July 27, 2024. AFP |
Ibrahim Adel had a brace, scoring a goal in each half, to fuel Egypt’s 2-1 win against Spain and a first-place finish in Group C. Both teams will advance to the quarterfinals.
Samu Omorodion scored in the 90th minute for Spain, which began the day with a spot in the knockout round already clinched. Spain enters the knockout stage as the Group C runner-up.
Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan are both eliminated from the Paris Olympics after their 1-1 draw. – Safid Deen
Tuesday, 16 July 2024
HERNÁNDEZ OUTLUGS WITT TO BECOME THE 1ST DODGER TO WIN HE DERBY CROWN
ARLINGTON, Texas -- When the final swing of the 2024 Home Run Derby launched a ball into the night at Globe Life Field, Bobby Witt Jr. narrowed his eyes and Teoscar Hernández held his breath. An otherwise-unremarkable Derby was suddenly careening toward a dramatic ending -- one that would come down to a matter of feet.
The ball off Witt's bat ultimately caromed off the base of the center-field fence, prompting a sigh of disappointment from him and a triumphant thrust of Hernandez's arms into the air. In the Derby finals, Hernández defeated Witt by the narrowest of margins: 14 home runs to 13, just as he'd survived a swing-off to win by one homer in the semifinals.
The 31-year-old Hernández, a widely beloved teammate and consistent power source over the last decade, became the first Los Angeles Dodgers player to win the Derby. He took him a $1 million prize, a medallion that said DERBY CHAMP and the pride of standing in against perhaps baseball's best young star and more than matching him swing for swing.
"It doesn't matter who I'm going against. I'm going to bet on myself," said Hernández, who entered the Derby with the sixth-longest odds of the eight-man field. "People maybe underestimate me. You can see it at the end when Witt was hitting all those homers. Everybody was shooting for him. But I'm (as) talented as all those guys over there. They might be younger, but same talent."
Witt, the Kansas City Royals shortstop who grew up 20 minutes from Globe Life Field, won the High School Home Run Derby at the All-Star Game in Washington, D.C, six years ago and looked primed to do the same again Monday. The event's new format seemed to benefit players with youth and athleticism: They could see a maximum of 40 pitches over three minutes, then could hit as many home runs as possible before missing three in a bonus round. In the final, the time was reduced to two minutes and the pitches 27.
Participating in his first Derby, Hernandez became the seventh player from the Dominican Republic to win the event. He had gotten hot in the middle of his final round and built a strong advantage on Witt, who struggled to start his round.
By the end, Witt hit 11 home runs, and he earned an extra out in bonus time by hitting a ball over 425 feet.
"I was nervous," Hernández said.
The nerves were understandable, particularly on the last swing. With his brother-in-law James Russell -- a former Chicago Cubs reliever -- throwing to him, Witt hammered a ball toward center field.
Though it's generally a dead zone for home run contests, Witt struck it well enough to convince many of the 38,578 in attendance that Witt had tied Hernandez.
"I thought I had a chance when I hit it," Witt said, "but I saw it was just a little bit too high."
Hernández celebrated with his former teammate and the 2023 Derby champion, Vladimir Guerrero, who was wearing Hernández's jersey from their days with the Toronto Blue Jays. It's where Hernández developed into the sort of power threat the Dodgers coveted this winter and signed to a one-year free agent contract to join Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman in Los Angeles' powerful lineup.
Hernández will start in center field for the National League on Tuesday and was invited as part of a field that lacked the star power of Derbies in the past decade won by the likes of Aaron Judge, Bryce Harper and Juan Soto. Hernandez barely advanced to the semifinals, finishing behind Philadelphia third baseman Alec Bohm, Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez and Witt in the first round. Two-time Derby champion Pete Alonso bowed out, hitting only 12 home runs, as did Atlanta's Marcell Ozuna, Baltimore's Gunnar Henderson and hometown favorite Adolis Garcia of the Texas Rangers, who finished one home run behind Hernandez's 19.
In the semifinals, Hernández and Bohm tied with 14 home runs over their allotted 40 pitches and bonus time. Hernandez would benefit from the pinpoint pitching of Dodgers coach Dino Ebel, a veteran of multiple past Home Run Derby contests, in the three-swing winner-takes-all overtime.
Hernández homered on his second and third cuts. Bohm hit one out to left field on the second pitch but his third swing landed softly in the outfield grass.
"I do this every day," Ebel said. "That's my job. I always joke around with the players: My job is to get lit up in batting practice. I just got to know where they like it."
Awaiting him was Witt, who has long admired Hernandez and his abilities as a well-rounded hitter who happens to possess game-changing power, too.
"I knew every time he playing he's got crazy juice to all parts of field," Witt said. "So, it was cool to see him do that."
Plenty of others concurred. On a night without any long home runs -- Ozuna hit the farthest at 473 feet -- or rounds with big totals, the end kept everyone on edge.
And it set up the potential return of Guerrero next year, provided his friend -- the new champion -- looks for a repeat.
"If Teoscar does it," Guerrero told ESPN's Alden Gonzalez, "I'm in."
- Jeff Passan, ESPN
Saturday, 27 April 2024
MLB PRESENCE IN MEXICO GOES BEYOND JUST HOSTING ANOTHER REGULAR SEASON
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| AP Photo |
MEXICO CITY (AP) — When the Houston Astros take on the Colorado Rockies this weekend, it will be the seventh regular-season series played in Mexico. Major League Baseball's presence in the country, however, goes far beyond that.
Mexico became one of only six countries in the world with an MLB office in 2016. For Rodrigo Fernandez, the head of the organization south of the border, the regular-season series may be the biggest event, but it's far from the only one held in the country.
Among those, the MLB office runs a program called First Pitch to promote the game among kids. Another is the MLB Cup, a nation-wide tournament for 11 and 12 year olds that recently finished its fifth championship.
“For us (the series) is the cherry on top of the cake because we have many activities through the year,” Fernandez told The Associated Press. “The MLB Cup is broadcasted by ESPN and is the biggest tournament of its kind in Mexico. Those kids are Mexico’s future.”
The MLB office in Mexico, alongside the Mexican baseball federation, held the tournament with 28 teams. The finals were played in Mexico City.
“We want to send the message to kids that we are interested in them playing baseball. Many of them will probably end up being signed by the Mexican Baseball League, but also, they are going to play for the national team in their age group,” Fernandez said.
Fernandez has been the only director of the office since its creation in 2016. Before taking over, he worked as general manager of operations for World Wrestling Entertainment for Mexico and Latin America.
Besides Mexico, Major League Baseball has offices in London, Tokyo, Beijing and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The office is inside a luxury tower adjacent to the upscale Artz Pedregal shopping mall in the southern part of the city.
Even though Fernandez's position remains the same, some of the goals from MLB in Mexico have changed. In 2016, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said he wanted to see if Mexico could be a potential site for expansion. But a year ago, Manfred said he’s “never been close to the idea of Mexico as an expansion opportunity.”
“Commissioner Manfred has a commitment and very high interest in Mexico, however there are several factors that have made us change our strategies and now solidifying the local leagues is the main step for us,” Fernandez said.
The MLB office in Mexico already works closely with the Mexican baseball federation and they are trying to forge a closer relationship with the Mexican Baseball League, led by league president Horacio de la Vega.
Since de la Vega took over in 2021, the league has seen increased attendance at stadiums, the games are broadcast on national TV and on streaming services. That has helped grow the sport’s popularity among a new generation of fans.
“I think (fan attendance) has increased, before there were a lot of old people in the park,” 63-year-old fan Carlos Hernandez said before a game between the Diablos Rojos and Tigres in Mexico City. “And now there are more fans, especially young ones.”
According to Othon Diaz, the Diablos Rojos president, nine years ago 53% of the team’s fans were 55 years or older and now 74% of them are under 45. Also, they averaged 3,000 fans per game and now it’s up to 11,000.
For some of those hard-core fans, having an MLB regular-season series is nice, but only for those who can afford it.
Fernandez said tickets for the Astros-Rockies series sold out in an hour and now the asking price on the resale market goes from $70 up to $580.
“It’s a good show, but the ticket prices are a little bit high. With the cheapest one you could come (to see the Diablos Rojos) for half of a season,” said Hernandez, who went to see the Diablos with his wife and two sons.
Mexico first hosted MLB games in August 1996, when the San Diego Padres faced the New York Mets in Monterrey. The Padres faced the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2018. And in 2019, the Cincinnati Reds played the St. Louis Cardinals, and the Houston Astros faced the Los Angeles Angels.
Mexico City was due to host a series between the Padres and the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2020, but it was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, the Padres played against the San Francisco Giants.
According to Fernandez, there are plans to bring regular-season games to Mexico every year through 2026, though not necessarily at the same venue. Meanwhile, the work continues to help spread the popularity of baseball in the country.
-CARLOS RODRÍGUEZ
Thursday, 24 August 2023
PAULINO BECOMES FIRST DOMINICAN WOMAN TO WIN WORLD TITLE
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| Reuters |
Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic won World Championship gold in the women’s 400m on Wednesday, finally claiming top spot on the podium after silvers at last year’s worlds and Tokyo Olympics and doing it in record style.
The race was wide open in the absence of injured American Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the 400m hurdles world record holder and fastest in the world this year over the flat, and with Olympic and defending world champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo going out in the heats four months after having a baby.
Paulino, second-fastest in the world this year, knew she would never get a better chance to become the first Dominican female world champion and did not waste it.
Saturday, 2 July 2022
Wednesday, 21 August 2019
EX-MLB STARS LUIS CASTILLO & OCTAVIO DOTEL LINKED TO ALLEGED DOMINICAN DRUG LORD
