Yankees

Boxing may once again be returning to Yankee Stadium nearly 30 years after Muhammad Ali fought Ken Norton at the old venue in the Bronx.

On Friday, the Yankees announced that they've agreed to accommodate a family that scheduled a bar mitzvah for June 5, the date that promoter Bob Arum wants to stage Yuri Foreman's junior middleweight title defense against Miguel Cotto at the opulent ballpark.

Although it is not yet clear what accommodations were made, the bar mitzvah for Scott Ballan is still scheduled for the same day.

For the diehard fans of the New York Yankees, third baseman Alex Rodriguez does not need more hip surgery and that will be a relief to the Yankees Empire.

Rodriguez found out that his surgically repaired right hip is doing just fine and his hopes of starting a winter workout should not be interrupted.

Last March, Rodriguez went under the knife to repair a torn cartilage and then missed the first month of Baseball season. It was expected that he would require more surgery during the offseason, but Rodriguez was excited to find out that it would not be the case.

Philadelphia Phillies head into Game 2 of the World Series leading the series against the New York Yankees 1-0, but what’s more compelling about this game outside of the fact that the Yankees were dominated in Game 1 by Cliff Lee’s pitching and Chase Utley hit two home runs off CC Sabathia, is the fact that Pedro Martinez is pitching in Game 2 against New York.

While this is his first World Series start in five years, Martinez plans to lead the Phillies to a two-game lead over New York Thursday night at Yankee Stadium.

If the New York Yankees did not believe Jimmy Rollin’s prediction, maybe they should consider that going forward. Rollins, the Philadelphia Phillies shortstop predicted that the Phillies will win the World Series in five games. They started off on a good note Wednesday night in New York as pitcher Cliff Lee dominated the Yankee batters, while Chase Utley had two home runs to give Philadelphia an initial 2-0 lead as they eventually won game one 6-1.

Last year, the Philadelphia Phillies shortstopper Jimmy Rollin had predicted the team would win 100 games, they ended up with 92 wins along with 11 more wins as they won the World Series last season. This week, Rollins boasts that the Phillies will take care of the New York Yankees in the 2009 World Series of Baseball in five games.

This time, Rollins, playing for back-to-back World Series titles, might be accurate with the number.

When it was announced that Mark McGwire would join the coaching ranks at his former team the St. Louis Cardinals as their new hitting coach, most critics of baseball would have simply pointed to his refusal to answer questions during a March 2005 Congressional hearing on Steroids. But no one can deny the fact that McGwire along with Sammy Sosa in 1998 brought baseball back to its place as America’s past time and his well deserved opportunity to give back to the sport he gave his all.

In the past, current Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O’Neal had given out tickets to NBA games via his Twitter page. Well as he is getting ready for the new NBA season, in Cleveland, Shaq now supports the Pittsburgh Steelers using the same medium to announce it - Twitter.

On his Twitter page, he tweeted “Let’s go Steelers let’s go,” after Pittsburgh defeated San Diego 38-28 on Sunday.

That to Browns fans would be considered crossing enemy lines, sending the wrong message to Cleveland sports fans as Shaq in his new territory would not need that unnecessary attention.

So Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez are not the only major names in Baseball to test positive. Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz and key member of their World Series championship in 2004 and 2007, tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003.

Ortiz and Ramirez were among more than 100 MLB players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, according to a report in the New York Times.

As many have heard, future Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez has been labeled as the Philadelphia Phillies big target as they make the push into the second half of the baseball season. With the All-Star Game coming up this week, the Phillies front office will have plenty of time to consider the former ace.

The Philadelphia Daily News is reporting that scouts spent some time in the Dominican Republic watching Martinez throw in a few simulated games last week. Not evidence that could be used in a court of law, but enough to assume their taking a real hard look at the 37-year-old.