No pelota these days...

Uploaded by mendyenbeisbol.

Storm Noel came out of nowhere this weekend, flooding the whole island. These pictures were taken at Estadio Quisqueya, which was turned into an aquatic baseball field.

Can baseball cost someone the presidency?

I guess if you're running for president, and your likely opponent in the general elections is a senator from your home state, it'd be kind of a bad idea to root for the state's most hated team.

Licey Tv vs Aguilas, Oct 23, 2007

Dominican League Arms: Made in Japan

Naganime. Photo: impactodeportivo.com.do

Dominican League teams are no exception in what looks to be the latest trend in baseball. Quite a few pitchers from the Land of the Rising Sun have seen action in the league so far: Estrellas Orientales' Yoshimi Kasuki and Shouji Nagamine (picture above); Gigantes del Cibao's Katsukiko Maekawa; Escogido's Susumo Kawai and Masato Kobyashi and Licey's Makoto Suzuki. Another arm from another country in the Far East is Escogido's Young-Sik Kang. Foreign "reinforcements" are a tradition in Winter ball, but only in the past few years Dominican League players bats have been tested on pitchers from so far away. Makers of Dominican favorite form of transportation: Honda and Yamaha motorcycles, Daihatsu cars and trucks, plus Anime cartoons like Dragonball Z.

2007-2008 Season-first week

The tiguere had a rough start this week, but ended up tied in first place when the dust settled.

The first week of the new season has gone by with a triple tie for first play among Licey, Aguilas and Estrellas. Escogido started this year in the wrong foot again, as the new-minted residents of the cellar. Aguilas and Licey keep their dominance as usual, with all their veteran superstars making a comeback (unless they become too big of a superstar, like Licey's Hanley Ramirez) so far the team to watch has been the Estrellas Orientales and their Abraham Nuñez who's leading the week in RBIs. Several Dominican Baseball Web sites are down, hopefully just for maintenance. Online information is scarce, but I'll try to blog at least once a week.

In other news, Tony Peña just interviewed to fill the position of skipper of the New York Yankees. He's the underdog against Mattingly and Giraldi, but his credentials are pretty solid, and could be the Yankees version of Ozzie Guillen (not like that's a good thing). Big Papi and Manny batted their way into the World Series. At this time of the year, the Winter League still plays second banana to what's happening in the cities of Boston and Denver.