The Minnesota Target Field, new home of Kendry Morales, will host on July 15 the All Star game of the Major League Baseball (MLB). One edition that will not be any other, it will not be that cold dish that serves to slow the dry season and have a look at the stats and see how things are going, a meeting of luminaries who come to share with fellow countrymen and make a few jokes . Nope, this year's edition of the All Star 85, for various reasons, will be different. First of all, the primary reason to assert such a claim is that in this clash, in the two days of brash talent, Derek Jeter, one of the best shortstops in the history of major league, will participate in his last game of this type. But if they have something to make Cubans happy, is not that the face of the Big Apple will say goodbye to the grounds, but because several Cubans have a chance to be aprt of the selection, since the performance of 4 of them has earned them to be ahead in the voting for the All Star game Yasiel Puig, of the Los Angeles...

Fernando Signorini is a wise man. He is a football connoisseur. He can make anyone understand whatever is right under their nose. He is a gray-haired and ovoid guy, who understands football and explains it in simple termsas no one else can, without any masks, when people still (naively) think that there is only a winner and a loser at the end of each match. He has devoted his life to distributing players’ physical strengths and gathering them before every match for an exquisite talk. Maradona listened to him during the world cupsof 1986 (when they became world champions), 1990 and 1994. Lionel Messi also paid attention to his instructions in the matches against Argentina in South Africa. “One gram of brain tissue weights more than 80 kilograms of muscle” states Signorini, with exceptional discernment. His intellectual acuteness led him in 2006 to write the unique eulogy that defended the incredible head-butt Zidane gave Materazzi  in the final of the world cup and made him take tens of books with him to create a library at the space of the Argentinean selection in South Africa. He is a philosopher in football that has get bored of his passion and is...

Higinio Vélez Carrión, National Director of Baseball (DNB), at a press conference, traced the path by which the Cuban baseball will transit in the coming months and reported the international tournaments the national team will participate in for the remainder of the year. He also claimed that players may be contracted in other foreign leagues other than Major League Baseball (MLB), as well as indicating they are working on some modifications for the upcoming National Series. Thus, it was learned that Alfonso Urquiola, manager of last season champion Pinar del Rio, is the man who takes over the reins of the Cuba team that will face from July 23 through the 28 a US college team that will visit the country as part of the friendly match between the USA Baseball organization and the Cuban National Federation. According to Velez the match is agreed for five games and the players who will be called to join the team basically respond to future prospects with the aim of developing figures facing the macro-cycle for the IV World Baseball Classic 2017 as well as being in line with the age of their rivals. Therefore, those who make the final list should not...

The first month of the American Major Leagues said goodbye and the longest applause have been for a couple of Cubans. One from the mound and the other with the bat, one making his opponents look bad with convoluted pitches dodging bats and other hitting huge homers way beyond the farthest fences. They, Cuban José Fernández and José D. Abreu, have been declared players of April in the MLB. Abreu doesn’t get tired of making headlines in the Majors and continues his impressive and overwhelming pace, shattering records and statistics, numbers that earned him to be recognized as the player and rookie of the month in the American League, being the only player of the Chicago White Sox team that earns those awards from the distant 2003. Thus, the Cienfuegos-born player joins another compatriot, Yasiel Puig of the Los Angeles Dodgers as the only players in the history of Major leagues to win both the award for best player and the best rookie in the month of his debut. In April Abreu hit for a 270 average, with 10 home runs, 8 doubles and a triple, with 32 RBIs in just 29 games. Statistics in this moment have thus varied...

The Cuba Domadores are already in the final of the IV World Series of Boxing after categorically defeating the Russian Boxing Team by a 5-0 sweep in the second semifinal match. It was an unobjectionable win over the powerful squad (8 wins and two defeats in the aggregate) that opens the door for the Cubans to discuss the coveted throne in its first appearance in the tournament. The buzz of the audience in the Havana’s Sports City was too much again for the Russians that came ready to undertake the feat of reversing the 2-3 of the first semifinal, but ultimately left upset when they were crashed in the 5 fights of the night. On the WSB, in their two visits to Havana out of 10 combats, they couldn’t win one. Despite Domadores previous favoritism before the match, a reverse of the situation was always latent, but everyone knew beforehand the hosts were qualitatively superior. For the disciples of Rolando Acebal , the toughest combats were the opening match (52 kg) and the closing one ( + 91 kg) , the rest with only the announcement of its contenders the winner were known. Youngster Leodan Núñez opened the match for...

Since arriving in Los Angeles, Yasiel Puig has done nothing but to steal front pages of newspapers. His antics in and out of the grounds of the Major League Baseball (MLB) have launched him to stardom and with his short 23 years, the Dodgers right field is already a highly suggestive proposal for Hollywood to show him on its screens. Filmmaker Brett Ratner and his RatPac Entertainment company will be responsible illustrate perhaps the most eloquent and attractive scenes (until this moment) the life of baseball player born in Palmira, Cienfuegos. According to the online edition of The Hollywood Reporter, the film project will be based on the text of Jesse Katz published in Los Angeles Magazine: "Escape from Cuba: Yasiel Puig 's Untold Journey to the Dodgers." Brett Ratner and his company had to buy the rights of the article in order to develop the work, but still they do not have any script. In the team is also included Beau Flynn, who worked with Ratner on the latest “Hercules “to be released in the U.S. on July 25. Basically, the article from where the script will be based on recounts the many attempts of Puig to leave Cuba....

The Cuba Domadores have taken a major step towards reaching the grand final of the World Series Boxing to beating in the first semifinal match the Russian Boxing Team 3 x 2. This result seems laudable after continuous variations on the roster of the team and places the Cubans at the doors of accessing the dispute for the throne. The visit to Moscow Arena was not pleasant; since the Cubans had felt the Russian power in the qualifiers, now in the semifinals, things could be worse. The Russians went with the entire arsenal they had and in order to get an advantage, even if minimal, to win them some peace before the trip to the uncomfortable ring of the Havana’s Sports City. But despite the uncertainty of any of the names submitted by the Cubans in the Russian capital, the story of this fight continued proving that the best roster is the Domadores. Cubans tipped the balance from the start with an excellent presentation of Yosvani Veitía (49 kg) , who prescribed a class of good boxing to hi rival Belik Galanov. A fight that started evenly, with many exchanges where both fighters beat and received, rushed and receded, sounding...

The Piratas de Campeche released in their social networks a brief statement which discloses the Pinar del Rio Jorge Fuentes will not continue being the team’s manager. The sacking is not the product of an inefficient work or bad results, not even for an alleged disagreement with the direction of the franchise with his decisions on the field, it seems, the dismissal is related to a sex abuse scandal involving a player that has been uncovered in the last hours. According to local daily Expreso de Campeche, Fuentes has been removed from office for lack of control and discipline over the Piratas . “The events took place last Saturday night in Aguascalientes, after the game between the Piratas and Rieleros where the affected girl spoke on the phone with one of the Piratas named Abel , and they arranged to meet afterwards . " The version that has been leaked to the press notes that “the minor arrived at the rendezvous, but was met by two other players. One of them, brown hair and beard, was sitting on the bed, while the one that opened the door had a beard and black hair, and the girl asked him for the...

The slugger Alfredo Despaigne will wear the Piratas de Campeche jersey of the Mexican League baseball again. The franchise that took him a year ago for the second time signed an agreement with the Cuban Baseball Federation ( FCB ) for receiving the Granma outfielder who caused such a good impression on his debut last year in this tournament. In the previous season Despaigne recorded excellent numbers at the dish to playing for this team, a performance that earned him the afterwards that managers of the organization have been in contact with the FCB to take him back to Mexico. During his tenure in the league last term, Alfredo matched one of the more aged records of this baseball, mark which by the way had been imposed by another legendary Cuban Martin Dihigo, and later tied by a Mexican, when he went 6-6 in a game . Overall, the cleanup hitter for Cuba’s national team participated in 33 games, hit 45 hits, an average of 338, with 8 homers and 24 RBIS According to the Cuban News Agency (ACN), Alfredo Despaigne had traveled to Mexico last week and it was not until a few hours that the slugger had his...

Alberto Juantorena has been relieved from his position as Vice president of the National Institute of Sports, Physical Education and Recreation (INDER by its acronym in Spanish). However, that’s not the shocking news, not even the end of the cycle as leader of the twice Olympic champion in Montreal 76 after 28 years in this position. The shocking news is that this information was released after more than four months; it took place exactly last December 17. It was a journalist from the weekly journal Sierra Maestra who ran into Juantorena in a park in the eastern province of Santiago de Cuba while doing some exercise and clarified the whole thing up and confirmed the widespread secret between speculations. “I was released from my position, it was a natural release, I was not born to lead for a lifetime”. A lot has been said lately about Alberto and his dismissal as national leader, people unleash their imagination and as there is no one to confirm or refute rumors, we just get the categorical echo of the deathly silence from institutions, in this case INDER’s, and as a result hundreds of forced comments arise in the popular imaginary. During the interview,...

Pinar del Río’s team got rid of the deepest concerns and of the favoritism of its rival by taking three consecutive steps to crash in the finals of the 53rd Baseball National Series and securing a historical win over Industriales, the blue team, the team of the Cuban capital. The blue team (now mourning at home) thought that with the initial advantage they would get first to the field but they only got halfway. Pinar del Rio, the green team (now enjoying their victory) was hanging by the ropes and managed to get out of the fire. Industriales took them for granted, but they still had a silver bullet left. Never before they had been able to revert a 1-3 against them, every time they found themselves in an unfavorable situation they hadn’t been able to overcome it, but history is there to be changed. Now, they have added anew page to the document that grants them eternal guardianship in play offs over the blue team. The conqueror of the last crown for Pinar del Rio (three years ago), Alfonso I fromVueltabajo, called the shots as only he can do it and led his team to the victory. Urquiola always...

When everyone thought they wouldn’t recover from their two initial defeats in the Latinoamericano Stadium to be able to clinch a spot in the finals, Pinar del Rio has taken a second air, and overcame the suffocating air of the Industriales headquarters. Summarizing: they fulfilled their goal to snatch a victory from the capital’s team in their own turf to get back home and try to do the manly sweeping on the grounds of the “San Luis" stadium in the remaining two games. In a Latino crowded to the upper decks, the Blues could not go for the killing. Again Cienfuegos Noelvis Entenza was the starter, and for the second time in these semifinals, he had a horrendous opening. He asked the team management the ball, attempting to vindicate himself, but since he climbed to the mound his nerves were a total chaos and his pitches were getting to the plate too slowly Entenza, who is part of the team as reinforcement, couldn’t go any further than the first inning, just as in his last outing. Now he accumulates only one third pitched in the playoffs. In that inning, Pinar del Rio attacked mercilessly leaving the audience watching dumbstruck how...

The Hard Rock Café and Casino Hollywood in Miami will have to wait a few more days to in their ring the Cuba Domadores in the quarter-final stage of the IV World Series. The expected match between the Cubans and the USA Knockouts, originally scheduled for Friday, has been postponed to April 11, as declared by the American organizers and the Cuban Boxing Federation (BPF). Although the exact reasons for the decision are not known, only that FCB has released an official note which clarifies that the measure "responds to a decision of the management of this event." The Cuban squad was readying the latest strategies in his headquarters at the National School of Boxing "Holvein Quesada" before making the trip to the US "when we were informed by that entity on the suspension and urged to stop waiting for a communication with the details, "reads the statement issued a few hours ago. OnCuba tried to obtain a statement from the FCB over the phone but their managerial position was not to grant any assessment in this regard, due to the versions circulating in various media to the topic in a biased way. In its official statement reiterated "the will...

In the qualifying stage of the 53 National Series there are only 6 games left and no one can predict exactly what the two crossings will be in the play offs . Matanzas is the only one who has managed to clinch the berth to ensure a comfortable spot in the postseason; behind it, four teams are fighting for three spots : Pinar del Río , Industriales , Holguin and Villa Clara , because Artemisa, Isla de la Juventud and Santiago of Cuba are already out of combat. The 52 wins the team coached by Victor Mesa achieved so far will let them relax this week, even though they may be smoothing some strategies to be implemented in the semifinals. The current leaders of the tournament have ousted one by one each opponent; have imposed their style as a seal on the diamond to make it to the top of the standings. At the end, when bats are heavier and fatigue intensifies, the Crocodiles managed to escape the peloton struggling to get a ticket to the next phase and have attacked the first post alone. In the second seat we find Pinar del Rio led by Alfonso Urquiola, two games...

If not for the sign that betrays its presence, the "Holvein Rodríguez Quesada” National School of Boxing, would go unnoticed. Those who transit at full speed down the road from the town of Chico, in Wajay, and don’t look up on time would never know that they went through next to the headquarters of the Cuba Domadores. The facade looks like the picture of a car assembly plant or grocery store, a building that decorates the lonely place. Well away from the city noise, crouched in a peripheral area outside of Havana, in this stronghold every day each of the strategies and methods that Cuban fighters deployed at the World Series of Boxing are thought and carried out. Arriving at school at 10:30 am, it's late. At that time they have completed the first training session of the day. All boxers here (first, second and third figures to each division) jump out of bed at 6 am to break the day with exercises for about two hours. Then comes a break in which each fighter can go and take a bath, sweat still on a concrete bench or in their rooms or leave the vicinity of the residence, because in...

Tomorrow the World Indoor Athletics will begin and the performance of Cuba could easily be forecast already. To Sopot , Poland, the Cuban squad will go with a small delegation, only 6 athletes, and from that figure we can already assume that the aspirations of this group are rather slim . The leaders of the team that will intervene on Polish soil are the pole vaulter Yarisley Silva and triple jumper Pedro Pablo Pichardo. Undoubtedly, they are only real hopes of medals for Cuba. Silva does not reach the event at her full potential, she goes without having recorded good jumps this season, so far she has only been able to fly over 4.46 meters, a result achieved a few weeks ago in the Birmingham athletics meeting, in England. Still the Pinar del Rio athlete, despite the closeness of the competition has failed to crystallize her usual grip of 4.30 meters due to lack of rigid poles in training. However, Silva’s list of achievements is a plus that always influences events of this nature and that might favor her this time. She was already bronze medalist in the last championship of the world in Moscow and runner-up in the London...

Nobody in the world has jumped indoors higher, with the power of his own body, than Cuban Javier Sotomayor. Today, exactly 25 years ago, he performed that feat, that memorable moment that has been embedded in the annals of world history of athletics. The Budapest 1989 Indoor World Championship was underway. The athlete born in Limonar, Matanzas, had a lukewarm start in his jump sequence and nothing presaged what would happen next. In its first attempt he passed 2, 25 meters, in the second he stretched to 2, 31. On his third he made a foul over 2, 35 meters and then everything indicated it would be an ordinary day in terms of results. After the unprecedented missed, he placed again in the bottom of the track, concentrated and also talked to himself aloud, crossed the synthetic track and easily flew over the bar. In the next round, the bar was at 2.37, a height respected for other athletes back then. Until then he had just passed it, and was already indoors world champion since his closest pursuers , German and Swedish Dietmar Moegenburg and Patrick Sjoeberg, respectively, had finished at 2.35 . In the first attempt, with absolute cleanliness,...

The MLB beginning is closer each time. All franchises remain immersed in their spring training campaigns to grease their machines and make them running well before the first cry of "play ball" in North American stadiums. In this preseason maelstrom, which includes training matches, several Cubans have returned to the field after winter holidays, others kept on tenterhooks the scouts who move their last pieces in MLB transfer market . The following is a brief current scanning of some Cubans who are training for next season : José Fernández: Last season Rookie of the Year has started to loosen his right arm. He was third in the voting for the Cy Young Award with a win-loss balance of 12-6 and ERA of 2.19. Therefore, he won’t want to rest on his laurels, and has started early strengthening his throwing hand. After completing a dream season in his major league debut, Fernandez now faces the challenge of having again a good performance. There are those who assert that for young pearls that triumph in his first season the true test is always the second course. The Cuban has surely heard those comments and that is why he is revving up not...

Wilfredo Leon and Yohandry Diaz have made the news again. They have left the island to land in a place as far as Rzeszow in southeastern Poland. After silence following the split from the national team, they have decided to leave behind all to start their careers as professional volleyball players. They have come to Poland accompanied by their representative Andrzej Grzyb, sporting director of the Asseco Resovia Rzeszów, looking for a club that sponsors and haul them back to the public arena. This week they have attended several meetings to discuss options in the contracts received by Grzyb. According to local press, it seems that Leon and Yohandry are currently anchored in Rzeszow Asseco Resovia, since their agent is one of the principals of that entity. Days ago they attended a game of the European Champions League between that Polish team and Jastrzębski Węgiel. "Both Leon and Diaz have permission for two years. They could be in any club. Our desire is to be in the best teams in the world " Andrzej Grzyb told Radio Rzeszow. That is a request that will not be at all a chimera. Who wouldn’t want to have Wilfredo Leon in its starting...

Three games, three losses. That has been the performance of Villa Clara in the Caribbean Series. The Cuban champion honestly has not found the way to break the shell of the rest of the region’s kings. The Villa Clara Azucareros has just succumbed in its latest match against the Licey Tigers from the Dominican Republic. Impotence has prevailed on Cuban players, who have been clearly surpassed in all the game aspects during the three games, seeing themselves with no chance on the field when facing their rival’s impetuosity . This time, the Licey Tigers did not have any trouble to beat 9-2 Ramón More’s pupils. Villa Clara´s starter was the lefty Yasmani Hernández Romero, who since the beginning showed lack of control and a total absence in command of his pitches plus an easy-to-hit fastball; he could not exceed a third of inning. The Dominicans took advantage of this and managed to score runs in the four first innings to put the game clearly in their favor very early. It is worth noting their timely offense led by Ronny Paulino, Francisco Peguero and Hector Gomez. Cuban bats remained unproductive and were completely neutralized by American John Leicester, who left Villa...

Dayron Robles returns to the ring. He will reappear this week under the colors of the AS Monaco club, first in Bordeaux and then in Dusseldorf, initial meetings of European athletic season that opens its gates in indoor stadiums for the World Championship next March in Poland. This event the Cuban cannot attend. The Cuban Athletics Federation has maintained its position of not accepting Robles within the ranks of the national team. Despite recent statements by the sprinter, although he has returned after his untimely departure, the situation remains the same and Robles soon will have to enjoy on TV the 60 meter hurdles event in the world championship. His goal now is to compete, reenter the elite. That’s what he has in mind, plans to participate in 4 stops of the indoor winter season. Now in Bordeaux we will see if the training sessions outside the Pan American Stadium in Havana have been profitable, he and his coach Santiago Antunez are enthusiastic, well motivated to return to the tracks. His second presentation, in Dusseldorf, is scheduled for January 30, a scenario that should bring him back fond memories. In the German circuit in 2008 he stopped the clocks at...

Odrisamer Despaigne and Antonio Romero are on the doorstep of becoming major league players. Both pitchers are already willing to join the sprint training next February and aim at signing with any franchise in the MLB before the upcoming season begins. Despaigne, 26-year- old, just become a free agent , a status that allows him to direct negotiations with the teams in Major Legue Baseball ( MLB) . In the northern press there are comments on the unceasing interest of various teams such as the Phillies, Yankees, Giants, Mariners and Mets. The former number one Industrial pitching staff until last season caught the attention of scouts once he left the national team of Cuba in Europe when he was part of the squad that participated in the inter -port tournament of the Dutch city of Rotterdam. Jaime Torres, the player's agent, told the Miami Herald that “everything is ready and teams know that Odrisamer is able to sign. MLB teams have started to look at the boy and this interest has continued to grow. In Mexico he has been shown to scouts. '' Odrisamer played eight seasons in the National Series obtaining 51 wins with 39 losses, working for 3.65...

The National Series is at boiling point and the struggle in the table is constantly on the rise. Day after day, there is no team that can sleep quitely and the tournament has become a constant struggle to chase the team on the lead. Following the transfer of the eight teams for the start of the midweek matches, Pinar del Rio and Matanzas (32-19) set the pace in the compact leading group just a game apart from its nearest rival, Villa Clara (31-20). The latter has managed to maintain its position after the first round of the championship. Meanwhile Industriales have descended to the fourth place (30-21), despite starting the second round at the top, but have lost two subseries in a row Trailing the team from the capital and barely 2 games behind are Holguin, Isla de la Juventud and Artemisa (28-23) all tied in the fifth position and are threatening the leaders. While it seemed that the reinforcements would be a balm for the Santiago de Cuba squad (24-27) managed by former player Luis Danilo Larduet, this new phase of the tournament has been a disaster, without a single victory and have plummeted to the basement, from where...

The second stage of Cuban National Baseball Series will start in a few hours; a more suggestive phase since each of the 8 remaining teams could choose 5 reinforcements to fight for the four tickets to reach postseason. As quality is higher, fans can enjoy more dynamic and offensive games. It will be very difficult for a squad to take advantage from the others, the difference between first place, Industriales, and those in bottom of the table, Artemisa, is only of six points. 42 games remain and there is opportunity for all, although it is almost utopian to think that there will be sudden movements at the top of the standings. The leaders must be the same, perhaps with some circumstantial change. Industriales, Matanzas and Villa Clara must be on top without underestimate Pinar del Rio and Santiago. I do not think that Isla de la Juventud to remain the fourth place; they do not pick properly their reinforcements. Holguin and Artemisa have received important additions to strengthen their squads, but it will be very difficult, despite being less weak on paper, they can move up in the standings. However, you must always leave a gap for surprises, and right...

Even though we missed the incandescent lights penetrating the darkness of the ring before the initial gong, the high-sounding music and beautiful girls announcing with their bodies the beginning of each round of the World Series of Boxing, the "Playa Girón National Tournament "demonstrated, above all things, that there are right now in Cuba very few divisions that have an undisputed figure. The championship, under the shadow and curiosity of the return of several of our stellar figures (sanctioned by indiscipline), provided a series of combats gathering in the ring the fight for national belt and bloody rivalry between boxers. There were no surprises in the light flyweight and flyweight, as it was known beforehand that Yosvani Veitía (49 kg) and Gerardo Cervantes (52 kg) would fight with the tranquility of knowing themselves kings in their respective divisions. The respective performances of both fighters reinforce the idea that right now they have no rivals in Cuba; perhaps this could much influence on their commitments outside home, or maybe when facing higher quality opponents and latent concern for a seat on the national team, the results were others in the international arena. The third fight of the final put face to...