Robles, 24, held his ground on the mound, allowing only two hits and one run in a complete game while striking out 10 batters and retiring the last 24 to bag the finals MVP honors.

Tator, on the other hand, delivered the go-ahead run after slamming his third double of the game in the fifth, scoring Christian Galedo, who singled and stole second base, that proved to be enough to give the Mikee Romero-owned franchise the crown.

It was the Sharks’ first championship after two failed bids – in Series II against the Dolphins and in Series V against the Batangas Bulls.

“We deserve this crown,” said Manila team manager Jhoel Palanog, whose wards took the series opener, 5-3, but lost the next. 9-10, in a thrilling duel.

“They made all the sacrifices and they trusted each other.”

Meanwhile, the game will be aired on NBN-4 on Aug. 5 starting at 2 p.m.

Manila topped the elims with a 4-1 record and gained the No. 1 seed in the semifinals where the Sharks defeated the Alabang Tigers to reach the finals.

“From the start, we got aggressive in our preseason pick-ups and I think that really started our run,” said Palanog.
Cebu broke the ice after hurler Edmer Del Socorro scored on a groundout by Jonard Pareja in the second inning.But the Sharks countered in the third on an RBI single by first baseman Marvin
Malig that scored Galedo, who reached first on an error and second on a double by Tator.

Then Robles took over.
In the ninth after a groundout on Cebu coach Isaac Bacarisas and Fulgencio Rances, Robles forced a lineout on Joseph Orillana on the first pitch as the Dolphins stormed onto the field to celebrate the championship.

“I’m happy with the overwhelming trust the team gave me,” said Robles, who had a stint in the Czech Republic and who only yielded a hit in Manila’s 5-3 win in Game 1.

Del Socorro had a respectable outing in place of Orillana, who was ineligible to pitch Game 3 after exceeding the 50-pitch count rule in Game 2, fanning eight batters but allowing eight hits.
The Sharks also played minus national pitcher Charlie Labrador, who also threw more than 50 pitches in Game 2 in the tournament sponsored by Gatorade, Industrial Enterprises Inc., Philippine Transmarine Carriers Inc., Harbour Centre and The Heritage Park with the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, Philippine Umpires Association and Sports Radio 918 as partners.

Linescores:
Cebu                     010 000 000  1  2  1
Manila                  001 010 00x  2  8  0

Games July 31
(Felino Marcelino Baseball Stadium, Taguig City )
9 a.m. – Exhibition game
1:30 p.m. – Manila vs Cebu (Game 3)

CEBU FORCE RUBBER MATCH IN DUNKIN DONUTS BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Cebu unleashed three runs in the eighth inning then held off Manila in the ninth to hack out a thrilling 10-9 victory and force a rubber match for the Dunkin Donuts Baseball Philippines Series VI championship at the Felino Marcelino Baseball Stadium in Barangay Ususan, Taguig City.

Center fielder Jonash Ponce capped off a sizzling game with an RBI double in the eighth, shattering a 7-all count then scored on a fielding error by the Sharks to essay the victory in Game 2 of their best-of-three series in tournament presented by Dunkin Donuts and organized by Community Sports Inc.

The winner-take-all match is set July 31 at 1:30 p.m., also at the Taguig venue.

After a single by Fulgencio Rances and a walk by Miggy Corcuera, Ponce doubled off starter Charlie Labrador then he pounced on a fielding error by Manila to give Cebu a 10-7 cushion entering the final inning.

In all, Ponce had four hits in five at-bats and scored four runs in the game.

The Sharks got to within one run in the ninth after Jon Jon Robles and Christian Galedo scored and Francis Candela and Saxon Omandac reached second and first bases, respectively. But national pitcher Joseph Orillana got the final out for Cebu to close out the contest.

Orillana started the game but was assigned to right field after just one inning before returning in the sixth after reliever Christian Maghanoy yielded four runs in the second and third innings.

Cebu never trailed again after Manila scored three runs in the second inning and even led, 7-4, after scoring three runs in the fourth, two of which came on a Ponce single that scored Maghanoy and Ponce.

But the Sharks fought back and tied the game in the seventh on an RBI single by Bambol Servo.Ponce, however, had other things in mind.

The Sharks, who took the opener, 5-3, proved erratic with seven errors in the game which will be aired on NBN 4 on July 29 starting at 2 p.m.

In an exhibition game, the Taguig Patriots beat the ILLAM All-Stars, 7-2.

The tournament is sponsored by Gatorade, Industrial Enterprises Inc., Philippine Transmarine Carriers Inc.,Harbour Centre and The Heritage Park with the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Amateur Baseball Association, Philippine Umpires Association and DZSR Sports Radio as partners.

Linescores:
Manila             030 100 212  9 17 7
Cebu                004 300 03x 10 12 3

The controversial decision that marked the third fight between heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton was the last title fight at Yankee Stadium in New York.

That was on September 28, 1976. On Saturday June 5, Sunday June 6 in Manila, boxing returns to the spanking new state-of-the-art Yankee Stadium where WBA junior middleweight champion Yuri Foreman defends his title against former WBO welterweight champion Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico who lost his 147 pound title and the WBC’s “Diamond Belt” to pound-for-pound king and “Fighter of the Decade” Manny Pacquiao.

There are many intriguing questions about the fight and the possibilities especially after Cotto took a mauling at the hands of the Filipino phenomenon and lost by a 12^th round TKO in a fight that many boxing writers felt should have been stopped a couple of rounds earlier.

How much that beating and a previous battering from Antonio Margarito who was suspended for one year after being found to have loaded his hand-wraps with a hardening substance in the Shane Mosley fight which Margarito lost, has affected Cotto remains to be seen.

Beyond that Foreman is much taller and a classic boxer who uses his reach to advantage as well as the ring.

HBO analyst Emmanuel Steward who trained Cotto for this fight believes the public will see a much sharper, mobile Cotto in what may well be a fight that could shape the future – if he has one – of Miguel Cotto.

Should he win and a possible Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr super-fight fail to push through because of the apparent intransigence of the Mayweather camp on the purse-split which is something that was recently introduced after the negotiations for a fight last May 1 collapsed on the issue of random drug tests.

Mayweather refused to accept a Pacquiao compromise of a 24 day cut-off and insisted on 14. Now that Pacquiao has agreed to a 14 day cutoff although the last time Mayweather was tested before the Shane Mosley fight was 18 days before, Mayweather is insisting that he is the bigger draw and wants a 60-40 split in his favor.

Of course while Mayweather-Mosley pay-per-view numbers were reported at 1.5 million compared to the Pacquiao-Clottey fight which was 700,000 there was a yawning difference between the challengers – Mosley who was the welterweight champion and rated behind Pacquiao in the Ring Magazine’s pound-for-pound rankings and Clottey who had been beaten in his previous fight by Cotto.

A fairer comparison would be the Pacquiao-Cotto fight last November which turned in 1.25 million PPV buys while the MGM Grand was sold out for the fight in contrast to Mayweather-Mosley which failed to sell out despite earlier claims by Golden Boy Promotions CEO that it was a sell-out and the fight would even reach 4 million pay-per-view buys. It was evident that the former Swiss banker got his numbers all wrong.

In an article by George Willis in the New York Post, Harold Lederman who will be an unofficial judge in the HBO broadcast team at the Yankees new ballpark in The Bronx recalls that he was one of the judges who scored the controversial fight between Muhammad Ali and Ken Norton almost 34 years ago.

Lederman had the fight even after 14 rounds before giving Ali the 15th round, part of a unanimous decision that favored Ali. However, many fans and media who saw the bout thought Norton had won.

Lederman was quoted Willis as saying “It had to be one of the most controversial title fights in the history of heavyweight boxing. The fight was very close. It was one of those fights where Ali was giving away the first six or seven rounds, but he had the uncanny ability to know when to turn it on. I had it all even after 14 rounds, but Norton didn’t throw a punch in the 15th round until the final seconds when he landed a vicious left hook.”

Lederman added. “Ali had been jabbing him to death for about two minutes. It’s one of those things where you say, can one punch win a round? I didn’t think so.”

That fight was the last fight at the old Yankee Stadium. The 34-year drought ends Saturday night when Foreman, who lives in Brooklyn by way of Israel, makes his first title defense against Cotto, who is moving up to 154 pounds after holding titles at 140 and 147.

Willis notes that Lederman will be ringside scoring the bout for HBO, a less stressful job than he had three decades ago when his telephone “didn’t stop ringing for a month” after the fight.

The New York Post quoted Lederman stating, “I got calls from all over the world with people asking me why I scored the fight the way I scored it.” He said. “I knew it was 7-7 after 14, but Norton’s corner didn’t think he was in any danger. They told him to go out there and not get hurt. He should have jumped all over Ali at the beginning of the round. But he waited for 2:50 and then he unloads.”

The New York Post said the bout in Yankee Stadium was the third of one of the best trilogies in boxing history. Norton won by split decision in their first meeting in March 1973, when he broke Ali’s jaw in San Diego. Ali won the rematch by split decision six months later in Los Angeles, and was defending the title when they met three years later in Yankee Stadium.

“Muhammad always had trouble with Norton’s style,” Lederman said. “Norton would drag that right foot and come over the top with a vicious right hand.”

Willis wrote that the controversial decision only added to an already crazy evening. The New York Police Department was on strike at the time, leaving fans to attend the fight at their own risk. An expected crowd of 30,000 wound up being about 20,000.

“There were fights and riots all outside the stadium,” Lederman recalled. “Pickpockets were everywhere. It wasn’t a great neighborhood to begin with. You can imagine what it was without police protection.”

Lederman could have used his own police protection after Ali-Norton and this was before talk radio, the Internet and the over analyses that come with sports today. Still, he considers himself fortunate to have judged one of the most famous fights in boxing history.

“If [Norton] got robbed, he got robbed by one round,” Lederman said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEW YORK YANKEES STADIUM

A charity baseball tournament in Cebu in honor of Z “The Dream” Gorres raised some P12,000 for the fighter whose promising  career was cut short by brain surgery after a smashing ten round decision over rugged Colombian Luis Melendez at the Mandalay Bay House of Blues in Las Vegas last November.

The event marked the celebration of the stylish southpaw’s 28^th birthday at the East Visayan Academy field in Bulacao with Gorres as special guest.

The charity event was organized by Michael Lopez and Ros Ormo with the funds from entrance fees to help defray the cost of Gorres’ rehabilitation program according to Rommel Manlosa of Sun Star, Cebu. He reported that Gorres threw the ceremonial pitch tigether with Talisay Mayor Soc Fernandez.

Manlosa quoted Gorres’ wife Datchess as saying they did not ex pect that people who were not from the boxing community would help Gorres and show their concern for him.

Gorres who was the  beneficiary of the care and concern of Filipino doctors, nurses and therapists as well as other Filipinos in Las Vegas after he suffered a brain injury and was operated on, is currently undergoind rehabilitation at the Perpetual Succor Hospital where Manlosa said he is “under the close watch of Dr. Rbuel Delano who has offered to give him 30 free sessions.”

The tournament itself was won by Cebuana Lhuillier which blanked the Rebels Softball Club 6-0 in the finals to avenge a 7-6 loss in the clash of unbeaten teams prior to the championship showdown.

The event also gave Ms. Gorres a chance go formally launch their line of products which Dr. Ben Calderon who looked after Gorres in Las  Vegas helped set-up in Cebu. The products are the Z Gorres detergent soap, fabric conditioner and dish washing liquid which are being manufactured by the husband-and-wife team of Z and Datchess.    

Powerade Philippine National Team coach Yeng Guiao was relieved after the nationals practice at The Arena in San Juan on Thursday when both point guards Ryan Reyes and JayJay Helterbrand told the coach they are “pretty confident they can play” in the Jones Cup which begins in Taipei on July 18.

After another good workout at which even the players in the on-going Barangay Ginebra-San Miguel Beer championship series – Helterbrand, Cyrus Baguio and Mick Pennisi showed up to demonstrate their solidarity, Guiao said he is just waiting for the series which is tied at 2-2 to be over to get a full complement of players to scrimmage.

Guiao called of Friday’s practice to enable the players to attend the birthday celebration of Talk N’ Text team owner and Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny Pangilinan at The Mandarin Hotel.

Reacting to the news that Reyes and Helterbrand who were both having hamstring problems are confident they’ll be ready for the Jones Cup, Guiao said “ I can now breathe a sigh of relief that I don’t have to look for any other point guard.”

Adding to his relief was the fact that Talk N’ Text’s missing player Jarred Dillinger called shortly after he returned from abroad Thursday to say he’s ready to begin practice.

Guiao said that at his next practice which will be on Sunday he expects to have ten players so that “we can scrimmage and get the feel of the whole game playing full-court.” He said “we need to play around two or three more scrimmages before we leave for the Jones Cup even if its with each other.”

The national coach said doctors advised Ryan (Reyes) to ‘take two or three more sessions of therapy and then do light practices with the team so by the time we are ready for the Jones Cup he should be ready by that time also.” At the same time he said Helterbrand’s hamstring injury “was not that bad.”

Newly-acquired Romeo Jasmin proved why he was a key addition for the
Batangas Bulls as they rallied past the upset-minded Dumaguete Uni-Bikers, 2-1,
at the resumption of Baseball Philippines Series 5 at the Rizal Memorial
Baseball Stadium.

Meanwhile, centerfielder Jonash Ponce had two RBIs (runs-batted-in),
including one in the seventh inning that propel the Dolphins to pull away.
Cebu starter Joseph Orillana, the Series 4 MVP, had four strikeouts in four
innings of work and kept the Taguig offense off as he allowed just one run and
three hits to earn the win.

7 a.m. Manila vs Taguig
10:30 a.m. Alabang vs Batangas
2 p.m. Dumaguete vs Cebu

    The Manila Sharks leaned on an late-inning scoring spree as they edged the
tough Forward Taguig Patriots, 9-6, Saturday at the start of the Baseball
Philippines Series 5 at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

    RP team mainstay Francis Candella completed a three-run eighth inning when
he hit a two-out, bases-loaded, two-run double off losing pitcher Fernando
Badrina to send Jarus Inobio and Christian Galedo home.

     Charlie Labrador, pitching in for starter Joseph Albindo in the fifth
frame, fanned out all three batters he faced in the last inning as the Sharks
began their quest of rebounding from a disappointing 3-7 record in Series 4 on a
high note.

     Taguig's defeat overshadowed a strong effort by RP team mainstay
Ernesto Binarao.

	The 30-year old hurler out of Zamboanga City gave up only two runs off four
hits in four innings before he was rested after tossing 74 pitches.

     A new ruling for this tournament sponsored by Gatorade, Industrial
Enterprises Inc., Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Inc., Harbour Centre and the
Heritage Park was enforced allowing a maximum of 75 pitches in order to pitch
the next game.

     But Binarao also had a big day at the plate as he made four RBIs
(runs-batted-in) off three hits, including a two-run double in the top of the
seventh for Taguig's last lead, 6-5.

    Manila, though, tied the game in the bottom half of the said inning when
Nino Tator hit a one-run double in the seventh frame that drove home Galedo to
tie the contest.

     From there, the Sharks managed to overtake the Patriots in the next frame
when Badrina walked Galedo with the bases-loaded to score catcher Rommel Roja
from third before Candella made his key hit to beat the Patriots.

     Earlier, Philippine Sports Commission chairman chairman Harry Angping
and Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose "Peping" Cojuangco
joined other invited guests in tossing out the ceremonial first pitch during a
simple opening rites.

Air 21, now carrying the banner of Burger King tests the mettle of the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas team in an exhibition game at 5:00 p.m. Wednesday, prior to Game 4 of the All Filipino best-of-seven championship series between the Alaska Aces and Talk’N Text at the Araneta Coliseum.

Newly appointed Burger King coach Yeng Guiao who had earlier questioned the appointment of a foreign coach to handle the national pool under the SBP umbrella will come face-to-face with Serbian coach Rajo Toroman in their first encounter Wednesday. The coaching confrontation between the fiery Guiao and the Serbian mentor could well prove to be one of the highlights of the exhibition game.

The two teams are scheduled to meet again in a preliminary game on Friday before the SBP squad takes on Rain or Shine on Sunday provided there is a Game 6 in the PBA championship series.

Guiao didn’t appear to be too enthusiastic of playing the members of the national pool under Toroman since Burger King had practiced for barely a week and although he said the team is “doing okay” he doesn’t wish to risk being embarrassed.

Burger King team manager Mikee Romero wanted the youngsters in the SBP national pool to be tested even though Guiao’s squad is, according to the coach, “not quite ready.”

Barangay Ginebra which was requested to play the Toroman team in one game turned it down. Coach Jong Uichico who is on a brief vacation in Bangkok told us the team had hardly practiced and was currently going through a conditioning process before stepping up preparations for the import-reinforced conference.

Although a list of 18 names was submitted by the office of SBP executive secretary and former PBA Commissioner Noli Eala, www.insidesports.ph, Standard Today and Viva Sports was informed that some players had declined to sign the contracts offered them by Eala.

Among those who have reportedly declined to sign the contracts which were initially branded as “onerous” were outstanding young talents Rico Maierhofer of La Salle , Ogie Menor of San Beda and Marcy Avellano of University of the East.