Billion dollar Yankees

The millions of dollars that were spent by the New York Yankees are at last paying off with the team at the brink of the World Series.

If you don’t know what this is all about, this is Major League Baseball (MLB), America’s favorite pastime, but unfortunately not so popular here in the Philippines.

To get you a little excited, the team now holds a 3-1 win-loss record in the American League Championship Series against the Los Angeles Angels and one more win will give them one of two slots in the World Series, which is MLB’s version of the season-ending finals.

The two teams fighting it out in the National League Championship Series are the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Phillies are also a win shy of making it to the World Series after a big 5-4 win in Los Angeles in game 4.

Of course we can’t say for sure yet that that two LA teams are already good as gone, but then anything can still happen.

The Yankees have a payroll of $200 million, but if you add up the total contracts of the players, you will realize that this is a billion dollar team.

Among the most prominent figures in the team are Alex Rodriguez or A-Rod, who costs $275 million, and Derek Jeter, the captain, who has a $189 million contract.

Other expensive Yankees are first baseman Mark Teixeira $180 million, pitcher CC Sabathia $161 million, and pitcher AJ Burnett $82 million.

Star closer Mariano Rivera, a pitcher who specializes in finishing the game off for the Yankees has a contract that pays him $45 million to pitch for sometimes just an inning or two.

Catcher Jorge Posada along with outfielder Johnny Damon and Japan’s Hideki Matsui are paid $ 52 million each while second baseman Robinson Cano has a cheap $30 million contract.

It has been a few years since the last time the Yankees have been in the World Series and this season looks like the one that their fans have been looking forward to.

Many MLB stars are from South America and Asian countries like Japan and Korea, which means that Filipinos actually have a chance to make it if extra effort would be made to push batted sports.

The most popular Fil-Am in the MLB now is San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Timothy Leroy Lincecum, whose mother is a Filipina. He was a starting pitcher in this year’s All-Star Game.

Lincecum’s former teammate Geno Espinelli is a full-bloodied Pinoy, who was a relief pitcher for the Giants.

Maybe our sports officials can find ways to develop baseball awareness and interest among the Filipinos. We got a better chance here than in basketball.

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MILESTONES: Happy birthday greetings to our former colleague and fellow photo buff Arlene Solis Chua. The same goes to Darlene Winfrid Dayoc and my cousin Wella Llanos Catapang-Crowder.

Tomorrow’s greetings go to my good friend from our college days Douglas Nikki Tan and to my high school classmate Richard Villaceran.

More power to all of you!   (FREEMAN NEWS)