Results tagged “stargame”

You may have heard that New York City will have two new ballparks to attend in 2009. Of course that means that Shea Stadium and Yankee Stadium will close their doors forever after the 2008 season. And if you want to be there for the last scheduled game at either venue, you better have a lot of money. Tickets for the finale at Yankees Stadium are being scalped online for as much as $17,000 with tickets for the Shea Stadium finale, and last chance to see the Home Run Apple, going for “only” up to $6,000.

While nothing is done until the players actually change teams, the Nets and Mavericks have agreed again on a trade that will send Jason Kidd to Dallas. After Devean George sabotaged the first deal with his refusal to waive his no-trade clause and Jerry Stackhouse incurred the wrath of the NBA with his comments, it took some creativity on both sides to complete the deal.

In the final year of baseball in Yankee Stadium, the legendary park will host the 2008 All-Star Game. In its 45th and final year, what does Shea Stadium get? A commemorative logo from the New York Mets. Fitting for the multi-purpose stadium that is a relic of the 1960s. Today, the Mets, the stadium's primary occupant since it opened in 1964, unveiled a logo that players will wear on their sleeves during the 2008 season....

There's one member of the Mets that is up for the Hall of Fame today. The Mascot Hall of Fame, that is. The round-headed ball of a mascot is trailing by about 5,500 votes in the race for popularity on the Mascot Hall of Fame website. He trails The Coyote, the mascot of the San Antonio Spurs. The Post pulls out all the stops to make sure Mr. Met is the top vote getter. Pulling out the stops like the Mets did in an attempt to get Paul Lo Duca into the All-Star Game.

Yesterday at Yankee Stadium, Major League Baseball unveiled the logo for its 2008 All-Star Game. Mayor Bloomberg was on hand to unveil the logo along with baseball officials, former Yankee players (including Yankees legend Yogi Berra) and current Yankees Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui. The 2008 Midsummer Classic will take place on Tuesday, July 15. The logo, pictured at right, features the historic facade of Yankee Stadium, which will be in its final season, along with the classic pinstripes of Yankee uniforms.

Jose Reyes did all he could for the National League in Tuesday's All-Star Game in San Francisco, but his team was still undone by the American League's best. Reyes played eight innings, had three hits and a run scored, but that wasn't enough. Perhaps his best performance came when he pulled back his fist from Carlos Beltran and David Wright during the pregame introductions.

• As baseball takes it's yearly break to play a somewhat meaningless game, there was so much mutual respect between Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez that we almost think that Barry and A-Rod should get a room. With Bonds on the verge of Hank Aaron’s record of 755 career home runs, Bonds said that when Rodriguez breaks his in the future, he'll be there. “And when you do, you don’t have to worry about calling me. I’ll call you. If you want me there, I’ll be there. I’ll be there in a heartbeat.” Bonds, who is 42, is only four homers away from tying Aaron and Rodriguez is at 494 career home runs at the age of 31. What did A-Rod say about Barry? “I love Barry. I’m one of his biggest fans. If you think about his work on the field over the last 20 years, it’s been second to none, maybe Babe Ruth or the all-time greats."
• Speaking of A-Rod, Shaun Powell thinks that it's no longer a question of whether Rodriguez is good enough for the Yankees next year, but a question whether the Yankees are good enough for A-Rod. Rodriguez can opt-out of the final years of his contract, making him a free agent next year. Powell's reasoning? The Yankees are no longer contenders, but a team that's headed in the wrong direction. A team that has less of a chance to win a title than the Indians, Tigers, or Brewers.
• Down in the Minor Leagues, Lastings Milledge is on the mend from his strained ligaments and could return the the bigs after the All-Star break. Milledge is lighting it up with AA Binghamton, hitting .435, with three home runs, a double, a triple and eight RBI. L Millz, who last made news when rapping, is heading to the Cyclones to keep playing through the All-Star break. Milledge's recovery couldn't come sooner for the Mets, who have three outfielders on the DL.

A look at some noteworthy television this week:

After the Post went for the jugular with its "Stray-Rod" cover, the floodgates of gossip about the Yankees third baseman (and the leading vote-getter for the All-Star Game so far) have opened.

Last month, Jason Kidd filed for divorce from his wife, Joumana, citing extreme cruelty. The Nets point guard claimed his wife kicked and punched him, as well as put tracking devices on his cars and computers, not to mention taunted him during games. The Kidds' relationship had its patches and other allegations of spousal abuse - back in 2001, Joumana Kidd had some called 911 while Kidd played for the Phoenix Suns (she said he had punched her in the face because she didn't want him eating their son's French fries).

In an effort to keep the United Nations in NYC, Mayor Bloomberg may revive an old plan to create more office space that could benefit both the U.N. and other city developers. The NY Sun reports that the plan would involve building "swing space" for the U.N. during the renovation of the Secretariat building. One possible place for the swing space: Long Island City. Picture it, ferries of U.N. employees across the East River!

For Yankee Stadium's last year - before a new park - Major League Baseball will be having the 2008 All Star Game in The House that Babe Built. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig said, "One of the biggest factors was George Steinbrenner. He has made wonderful contributions to this city and to the Yankees. Clearly one of the primary factors was to honor the city, the franchise and George Steinbrenner." Man, Selig makes it sound like Steinbrenner's going to die at some point! But we suppose MLB wants to honor Steinbrenner for driving up salaries so much. The Boss, who wasn't at the City Hall press conference, said he was touched.

Eddy Curry limped off the court and the season may have gone with him. At this point, we know very little about his injury other than the fact the medical staff called it “serious”. What we do know is that without Curry, the Knicks are headed into a tailspin. He was the focus of the offense and had even added some rebounding this year. Tests are expected back sometime today.

Besides the Umenyiora pick, Reese has been widely respected for his work in scouting and was considered in many circles as a potential GM for some time. Since Reese comes from within the organization, that should simply personnel decisions and prevent any conflicts with Tom Coughlin.

-Eastern Conference 98, Western Conference 82: A day after the most popular All-Star Game in American sports, the WNBA's best took the floor at Madison Square Garden. Each year, the Wednesday following baseball's All-Star game is derided by sports fans as the worst day of the sports calendar. Despite the WNBA's efforts, Wednesday wasn't that exciting. The Liberty's Becky Hammon didn't play because of an injury. With the game out of reach in the final seconds, an impromptu slam dunk contest broke out. Alas, neither Diana Taurasi nor Michelle Snow could dunk the ball.

- American League 3, National League 2: The Mets' David Wright hit a home run and his teammate Carlos Beltran scored the second run, but Trevor Hoffman couldn't close the deal in the ninth inning, and the American League won another All-Star Game. The Yankees' Mariano Rivera earned another All-Star save.

Republican candidates. The AP reports that he was in Cleveland for Senator Mike DeWine last night, and today, he'll be in Arkansas for Asa Hutchinson (running for governor) as well as in Pennsylvania for Senator Rick Santorum and the All-Star Game. Then tomorrow he'll be at fundraisers for Lynn Swann, running for governor of Pennsylvania, and Maryland Governor Robert Ehrlich. Yeah, we did the "Ugh, Santorum, really?" too, but apparently Giuliani is keen to support him because of his commitment to national security. Okay, we get that national security is a big issue, but being able to view other Americans as people is a big issue to us. The scuttlebutt is that the fact that Rudy is visiting Arkansas, Ohio and Pennsylvania means that he's strongly considering a presidential run.

The Knicks finally won something this season; unfortunately it was only the slam-dunk contest. Nate Robinson, only 5’9” provided a spectacular slam, soaring over the similarly vertically challenged (for the NBA) Spud Webb to force the first ever dunk off. It took him 13 tries, but Robinson executed a nifty pass between the legs/throw off the backboard slam to win the contest.

A baseball All-Star game was played in Brooklyn Tuesday night for the first time since 1949 and while it wasn’t major leaguers playing; the Class A players of the Mets and Yankees did quite well on their own. Over 9,000 fans, the second most ever to attend a game at Keyspan Park, saw the National Legue defeat the American League 5-4.

- It may be the off-season, but there is plenty of NBA news: the Knicks are active, but the Nets are in jeopardy after losing Kenyon Martin.

The All-Star game is tonight at 8 on Fox. Lest you think that this game is as meaningless as the All-Star games of other sports, the two leagues are playing for home field in the World Series. Whether or not home field should come down to some players that may not care, or if home field actually matters in the World Series at all, is open to debate.

With a chance to go into the break on a positive note, the Mets fell to the Marlins yesterday, 5-2 (box score). In the 93° Florida heat, Al Leiter only pitched three innings but threw 88 pitches in the outing. The number was a result of several long battles with hitters. The Times reports that Leiter went through "two 12-pitch at-bats, two nine-pitch at-bats and one eight-pitch at-bat" all in a six batter stretch.

Glavine is also trying hard to make the All-Star Game on July 13th, but his win-loss record may negate his impressive ERA. After the game, Glavine said, "I want to make the team. Believe me, after everything that went on last year I'd definitely like to make it and represent our organization. But I don't know what's going to happen. Let's see if my win-loss record hampers me." Each team is guaranteed one spot on the roster and, according to voting results, Mike Piazza is slated to be the starting catcher.

Find out what it means to Tha D.

- The Giants sign former MVP Kurt Warner.