Baseball is back

President Obama threw out the first pitch in the Nationals game donning a White Sox cap, never hiding his allegiance to the city of Chicago.

The Dodgers finally earned a victory over the rejuvenated Pirates. The squad from the 'Burgh is a young and talented squad who handed the Dodgers two straight defeats. Garrett Jones who spent 11 years in the minors hit two home runs on Opening Day and hit another in his second game.

Albert Pujols continues to show why they call him La Maquina, he too had two home runs on Opening Day.

Nelson Cruz who is healthy also had a home run on Opening Day vs Toronto.

Serie del Caribe hero Nelson Figueroa was released by the Mets, but immediately picked up by the Phillies.

In International Baseball, Industriales won the championship in Cuba.

Yuniesky Maya awaits his OFAC paperwork that will make him eligible to play for MLB.

Congratulations to Tony Castro IBAF 3rd VP

Castro begins his 4-year term today as he was named 3rd Vice President of IBAF. I want to extend my congratulations as I know that he will work hard in the advancement of baseball in his home country and around the world.

I'm back!

One would think that I was suspended right along with Manny since I had been silent since his suspension was announced. Manny is less than a month away from being back in action and is currently fifth in voting for NL outfielders.

Big Papi is slowly coming out of his slump and I predict that he will be back to his normal production before season's end.

Nelson Cruz has been the producer that all Dominican league fans knew he would be. Check out his webpage at nelsoncruzbaseball.com

La Habana won the Cuban League this year for the first time in their history with the help of Yulieski Gonzalez (2009 and 2006 WBC), Jonder Martinez (2006 WBC), Miguel Lahera (2009 WBC) and Yadier Pedroso (2006 WBC) who was also the ERA champion.

Bday shout out to Yulieski Gourriel who turns a quarter century today. He batted .399 this season losing to Michel Enriquez .401.

My book will be due out this month and a link to purchase will be available here.

Manny suspended 50 games

Manny Ramirez has accepted his suspension for PEDs and it begins tonight. The Dodgers are undefeated at home with a 13-0 record and Manny's absence will surely affect the team as he is scheduled to return on July 3rd in a period where he will lose over 7M in salary.

Ramirez is claiming that a medication that he took is to blame for this outcome. As much as they get paid and most have 2-3 handlers, this could have been avoided if what he is claiming is true. It is very easy to pick up the phone and make a call to confirm if what they are planning to take contains a banned substance. These players owe it to the fans and the game to take all the precautions possible.

It all began with ARod lying to the fans and then later having to retract his statements and apologize. Unfortunately I believe that Manny isn't the only one who will be suspended this year, but he is the biggest name thus far.

As a lifetime baseball fan, I am disheartened by this news and as an educator I am angry that athletes are not taking their role model responsibilities seriously. Children look up to these athletes and having to explain an adult's decision to take PEDs will be hard to do. I just hope that some "natural" players rise from the ashes of the inferno that baseball has become to save America's pastime.

Runblings around MLB

Angels' Nick Adenhart passed away in a hit and run accident. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family...

Rangers' Nelson Cruz belts two 400+ ft home runs in victory against Indians...

Rangers' Elvis Andrus hits first home run of career...

Brewers' Gallardo takes the Unit deep...

Manny doing his thang with the Dodgers...

Happy belated bday to Frederich Cepeda

Frederich Cepeda celebrated his birthday on the 8th of April as his Sancti Spiritus team was on a 10 game winning streak.

Check out outofpark.com

My new book will be out soon and you can take a sneak peek at outofpark.com