Highbridge News: Posada Nailed It About PED Users

Highbridge News: Posada Nailed It About PED Users: Posada Nailed It About PED Users By Rich Mancuso BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 14- Agree or disagree that Jorge Posada is using an oppor...

Posada Nailed It About PED Users

Posada Nailed It About PED Users

By Rich Mancuso

BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 14- Agree or disagree that Jorge Posada is using an opportunity to promote his book “The Journey Home: My Life In Pinstripes” regarding his stance on those who used PED’s to cheat when playing the game of baseball. Agree about this, Posada in Yankees pinstripes played the game clean and has the right to speak about how he may have been cheated out of an MVP award in 2003.

He took it to another level, one that this writer and others have claimed: Those who had to cheat and did not play the game clean should not be granted induction into the Hall of Fame. 

And it goes beyond baseball. Tom Brady is now the culprit for deflated footballs and an NFL scandal that has reached epic proportions. And two sports, boxing and horse racing have never seemed to recover from corruption and those who cheat to get ahead.  

The year is 2015. Money and greed have ruined sports with television contracts and major sponsorships that provide an incentive to not play the game fair. Back then, when cheating was evident, the desire to cheat and get ahead was a hit or a miss with the financial gain not as significant as it is now.    

The year, 2003, Yankees’ teammate Alex Rodriguez got the MVP award and Posada was third in the voting by members of the Baseball Writers of America and Carlos Delgado finished second. We all know the history, and the implications about the A-Rod denials, year long suspension and eventual admission of guilt.

However, we must agree, as Posada said Wednesday: “Yeah” to a question about resenting players who did not play the game clean. Posada would know because there has never been evidence, nor has his name been implicated as one of the many who did not play the game clean.

And it seems the game of baseball will always have to confront the issue that Posada has addressed. The history of this Performing Enhancing Drug issue will always surface when Rodriguez hits another home run, when the names of Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and others who were implicated see their time for possible enshrinement into the Hall.

The vote of members who get the privilege to decide who gets enshrined should be the final answer, however that will always be a debate. The debate continues because the owners supposedly had knowledge of illegal supplements being used that prevented the game from being played on an even field.

Yet, they let the situation continue because baseball needed to put fans in the stands after a bitter labor dispute with the players and owners. Home runs going out of the ballpark at a record pace brought the fans back to the ballpark, and bitterness of a labor war were quickly put to bed.

In the process Jorge Posada, who played the game fair, and who wore the most prestigious uniform in baseball, competed with a teammate. It was competition wearing the same uniform, sitting  in the same dugout and in a sanctuary of the same clubhouse.

The Posada book tour, and his comments are years of frustration of being the quiet New York Yankee who went about his business and helped contribute to four world championships in the Bronx. 

Agree or disagree, this is an issue a little too late to be venting about. But better late than never because the validity of his comments are true. Had Posada went the route of A-Rod, Bonds or the others, perhaps his name would be in their category.

Of course he is not in that category because Jorge Posada was one of the few who played the game fair. And his day will come when the Yankees put his Number 20 into retirement at a ceremony in the Bronx on August 22.

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

#Yankees #JorgePosada #ARod #PEDs #Bronxnews

Highbridge News: Workers Flunk Repair

Highbridge News: Workers Flunk Repair: Workers Flunk Repair 1 Month After it was Taken Down, Construction Scaffold Returns Overnight at P.S. 86 By David Greene BRONX...

Workers Flunk Repair

Workers Flunk Repair

1 Month After it was Taken Down, Construction Scaffold Returns Overnight at P.S. 86

By David Greene

BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 13- A dozen burly construction workers arrived just before twilight, hours after the last child had left P.S. 86 in Kingsbridge Heights. Workers began putting up the steel and wood sidewalk-shed in the front of the school-- a month after the same workers had dismantled it.

Many of the parents of the 1,600-plus kindergarten and elementary school children who attend the Reservoir Avenue school, dubbed "The Kingsbridge Heights School," and residents of the block were surprised to see what is called a construction scaffold or sidewalk-shed, back in front of the school on the morning of May 1.

One resident recalled, "Yeah, they took it down and it went away and then it came back. It's crazy."

According to Jason Fink at the Department of Education (DOE), "This is an exterior modernization project. Some of the decorative terracotta that was part of the project had to be replaced by the manufacturer, so the contractor is going back to install the replacements."

Fink added that the contractor Vardaris Tech, Inc., was doing the work on the $4.5 million project.

Additional details were revealed when Anjaykumar Shaw of the DOE's School Construction Authority (SCA) stated, "At the time everything was fine and everything was done, but ultimately whatever winter conditions we went through, they went up there and found out what had happened."

Shaw elaborated on the problem, explaining, "Bolsters are the decorative pieces there (in the front of the building) and that bolster had some cracks in it."

Unable to provide an exact timeline, Shaw recalled, "We just realized after the winter, I would say... I don't know exactly, but in the last three or four weeks we came to know there was a problem."

Asked why the scaffolding came down in the first place, Shaw replied, "Oh, because work at the time seemed complete."

A follow up call to Shaw was re-directed to Nicole Halloway, the Bronx Community Relations Manager and the Project Support Manager for the School Construction Authority, who could not provide additional details, stating, "Because the building in question is a DOE facility, we cannot answer questions pertaining to that, only the DOE can."

Several parents stated they were very happy with the school, one believed it to be the largest public school in the borough.

One teacher called it an "A-plus" school and added, "Teacher morale here is great."

However, one parent who claimed her daughter was recommended powerful drugs for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) fumed,  "They told me I had to be sympathetic to the fact that the teacher had 37 students."

Referring to P.S. 86, that parent added, "I feel like every time I hear a teacher, there telling a parent their child has ADHD."

In a follow-up e-mail, Fink stated there would be no additional cost to the SCA, and added the completion date is not yet known.

Calls to P.S. 86 Principal Fiona Tyson and contractor Vardaris Tech were not immediately returned.   

#Schools #Construction #Education #Bronxnews

Highbridge News: Yanks Tickled Pink

Highbridge News: Yanks Tickled Pink: Yanks Tickled Pink Pineda Fans 16, Remains Undefeated in 2015  By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 11- Sunday’s starting p...

Yanks Tickled Pink

Yanks Tickled Pink

Pineda Fans 16, Remains Undefeated in 2015 

By Howard Goldin

BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 11- Sunday’s starting pitcher for the Yankees, Michael Pineda, zeroed in on the strike zone throughout his outstanding pitching performance. The Dominican native fanned 16 batters, a career high in seven innings. It is only the seventh time since 1900 that a pitcher has struck out that many in as few as seven innings.

He struck out each of the Oriole batters he faced except J. J. Hardy. It was the second highest total of strikeouts in a single game for the Yankees. He tied the mark set by perfect game pitchers, David Wells and David Cone, and has been bested only by Ron Guidry, who fanned 18 in 9 innings on June 11, 1978.

The 26 year old has exhibited an amazing control of his pitches. On Sunday, he struck out 16 without issuing a walk. The last time a major league pitcher accomplished that feat was on August 19, 2007, when Johan Santana struck out 17 without walking a batter.

The total for his seven starts in 2015 are 54 strikeouts and three walks for an American League high k/bb ratio of 18.00, second only to Bartolo Colon in the majors.

He is one of only five active major league pitchers who have multiple appearances with at least seven strikeouts and zero walks.

Pineda’s catcher on Sunday, Brian McCann, was impressed, but not surprised by the pitcher’s performance, “He had all three pitches working. When you can throw three pitches for strikes whenever you want that allows the pitcher to attack the hitters. He doesn’t walk any guys. He pounds the zone. His stuff is electric every time he takes the ball.”

Yankee skipper Joe Girardi, a former catcher, described what he saw, “Location, outstanding mix of pitches, deception. A lot of things have to go right to get 16 strikeouts in 21 outs. Oh God, he was really good!”

Girardi explained why he removed Pineda from the contest after seven frames, “The time of the year, how young he is, how important he is to the team, and the pitch count (111).”

The result of Pineda’s work was another Yankee victory and the team’s continued presence in first place in the American League East. Pineda remained undefeated, 5‐0, in his seven starts this season. He is also undefeated in six contests with the Baltimore Orioles, who lost 6‐2, with a mark of 3‐0.

Pineda, naturally a happy person, was overjoyed, “Today was the best game. The weather was like the weather in the Dominican. It’s Mother’s Day.” The devout player’s reaction in general, “Thank you God.”

#Yankees #MichaelPineda #MothersDay #Bronxnews

Highbridge News: Yankees Dynamic Duo

Highbridge News: Yankees Dynamic Duo: Yankees Dynamic Duo Ellsbury, Gardner Score By Howard Goldin BRONX, NEW YORK, MAY 9- For an organization to be successful, th...