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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday, August 2, 2021
MEXICO
CLOBBERED BY ISRAEL, 12-5, KNOCKED OUT OF OLYMPICS
The Mexican Olympic baseball team
lost to Israel by a 12-5 count Sunday in Yokohama to be eliminated from
their
first appearance in the Summer Games after losing all three contests
they
played. The Verdes Grande had dropped a 1-0 knucklebiter to the
Dominican Republic and a 7-4 decision to host Japan last week to finish
0-2 in
Group A.
In Sunday's loss, Israel took a 6-0
lead and never looked back in winning their first Olympic game after
turning in
an 0-2 record in Group B. Mexico starter Manny Barreda gave up six runs
on four
hits and three walks over two-plus innings to take the loss. The
ex-Yankees
prospect was trailing 1-0 after two innings before the roof caved in
top of the
the third, when he walked Israel's first two batters before giving up a
three-run homer to former MLBer Danny Valencia, who drilled a fastball
ten rows
deep into the Yokohama Baseball Stadium's left-field seats. Barreda
allowed two
more baserunners without recording an out before being yanked for
reliever
Sasagi Sanchez, who then gave up a two-run Nick Rickles single to make
it a 6-0
game.
To their credit, the Mexicans fought
back to make it a one-run game by scoring four times in the bottom of
the
third. Braves farmhand Ryan Goins doubled to deep left to plate
Jonathan Jones
with Mexico's first run and then came in when Israel starter Jonathan
Zeid
uncorked a wild pitch during a walk to Isaac Rodriguez. Rodriguez
scored on a
Sebastian Elizalde double to left and then Elizalde crossed the plate
when Joey
Meneses singled to shallow left to narrow the deficit to 6-4. Adrian
Gonzalez
singled in Meneses in the bottom of the sixth to close to gap to 6-5,
but a
horrible top of the seventh put the game out of reach.
In that fateful frame, Israel sent
ten batters to the plate and scored six runs on as many hits, keyed by
consecutive two-run singles from Mitch Glasser and Zach Penprase, a
pair of
longtime indyball players. Former MLB hurler Oliver Perez allowed all
six runs,
although the first two were charged to fellow Mexican reliever Fernando
Salas.
Israel allowed one Gonzalez double over the last three frames to cement
the
win.
Mexico dropped their first game last
Friday, 1-0, to the Dominican Republic. Starter Angel Sanchez (5 IP)
and four
relievers combined to limit the Mexicans to four singles and three
walks while
Mexican starter Teddy Stankiewicz battled admirably through 4.2
innings,
striking out five Dominicans but allowing the game's lone run when
ex-MLBer
Melky Cabrera single in Charlie Valerio in the bottom of the fifth.
Diamondbacks minor leaguer Luis Castillo turned in a 1-2-3 ninth for
the save.
The Verdes Grande's best
chance came in the top of the sixth when Isaac Rodriguez laid down a
bunt
single, advanced to second on a passed ball by catcher Valerio while
Elizalde
was up and then tried to score on a Meneses single to left but was cut
down at
the plate by a throw from Jose Bautista.
Things were a little less dramatic one
day later, when Japan bopped Mexico by a 7-4 score on Saturday. Mexico
actually
took a 1-0 lead against the host team in the bottom of the first when
Meneses
singled up the middle off Masato Morishita to score Rodriguez from
second.
Japan came back to tie it in the second and go ahead in the third with
single
runs against Mexican starter Juan Pablo Oramas. Eduardo Arredondo
relieved
Oramas in the fourth and gave up a pair of singles to set up a
three-run homer
by Tetsuto Yamada to bring Japan's lead up to 5-1.
Mexico got a run back in the bottom
of the fourth when Elizalde scored from third on a Gonzalez double-play
grounder to second, but Japan scored singletons in the seventh and
eighth to
stretch their advantage to 7-2. Meneses crashed a two-run homer off
reliever
Kaima Taira in the bottom of the eighth, making it a 7-4 game, but
Mexico could
get no closer before running out of outs.
All in all, it was a disappointing
Olympic baseball debut for Mexico, who was outscored 20-9 over three
games.
Meneses turned in the top plate performance, going 6-for-12 with a
homer and
four RBIs, but Gonzalez (.273) was the only other hitter above .250 as
the team
combined for a .202 batting average. The pitching was little better,
although
Stankiewicz (1.93) and Oramas (3.00) did fairly well while relievers
Sanchez,
Carlos Bustamante, Daniel Duarte and Cesar Vargas allowed no earned
runs but
Barreda and three relievers all had ERAs at 13.50 or above as Mexico
finished
with a 6.23 team ERA.
Mexico manager Benji Gil was
circumspect in the aftermath of what most baseball observers in the
country
consider a disastrous performance. “Not even in my worst nightmare did
I think
this would be the result,” said the former MLB infielder, who was
brought in
after Juan Castro was unceremoniously fired despite having led the team
to the
country's-ever Olympic baseball appearance by qualifying in the 2019
Premier12
tournament. Gil pointed to a pitching collapse after allowing just one
run
against the Dominican Republic.
“Normally
in all these competitions, Mexico always has tremendous pitching,” said
Gil.
“We compete with that and that is why we are known in baseball. In the
last two
games, we did battle...not all of them, but as a team we did battle.
Allowing
19 runs in 18 innings is something that has never been seen for a
Mexican
team.”
Now it has.
SECOND-PLACE
TOROS FIRE VIZQUEL AS LMB PLAYOFFS APPROACH
With the Mexican League playoffs
just days away, two teams have made decisions regarding the men
managing them.
The Tijuana Toros demoted Hall of Fame candidate Omar Vizquel for
“personal
reasons” last Monday after the team suffered a three-game weekend sweep
to
Monterrey at home. The Toros were 32-22 at the time and in second place
in the
LMB North with nine games left in the regular season. There is
speculation that
Vizquel stepped down due to pressure from Major League Baseball because
of an
unresolved domestic violence case filed by the wife of the former
shortstop,
but the team owners (the Uribe family) are rather capricious even by
LMB
standards and have cut loose a dozen managers despite six consecutive
playoff
appearances and a 2017 pennant.
The Tijuana front office issued a
statement claiming "the decision that resolves the labor agreement was
generated by mutual agreement and is adopted from the highest
responsibility
between the board of directors and the Venezuelan helmsman." Vizquel
will
be reassigned to other duties with the Toros while longtime Mexican
baseball
figure Homar Rojas (who was fired earlier this year as Monterrey's
helmsman)
becomes the 13th manager in Tijuana since the Toros debuted in 2014
while
Bronswell Patrick moves from pitching coach to bench coach. Tijuana won
five of
their first six games under Rojas, who is managing his sixth LMB team
since
2005.
In Merida, the Yucatan Leones
announced a new skipper to replace Geronimo Gil, who was fired on June
22 with
a 14-11 record. Salon de la Fama member Chico Rodriguez led Yucatan to
a 13-14
mark as interim manager until the Leones named Luis Matos as dugout
boss on
July 21. Matos spent seven years as an MLB outfielder before playing
for
Yucatan between 2008 and 2012. He managed Caguas to two Venezuelan
League
pennants and Caribbean Series titles in 2017 and 2018 during a
four-year stint
with the Criollos. Matos split his first eight games at the helm of the
Leones
going into Sunday's contest with Campeche.
The expansion Veracruz Aguilas still
have Leo Rodriguez III as manager, but they brought in some experienced
help
last week by hiring former Mazatlan Venados leader Juan Jose Pacho as
bench
coach. Pacho was fired by the Mexican Pacific League team last winter,
allegedly because he made public appearances supporting a political
candidate
opposed by Venados ownership. The Salon de la Fama shortstop's presence
certainly hasn't harmed veteran slugger Jesus “Cacao” Valdez, who
swatted a
pair of three-run homers and drove in nine runs in an 18-6 blowout in
Oaxaca
last Thursday as Veracruz clinched a playoff berth.
Just three games remain in the regular
season and most playoff slots have been secured. In the LMB North,
Guadalajara
has clinched first place while Tijuana, Monclova and Saltillo have also
punched
their tickets. Aguascalientes is fifth after winning seven of ten games
and
close to reaching the postseason but Union Laguna, Dos Laredos and
Monterrey
are in a fairly tight battle for the sixth and final berth. Mexico City
has
clinched the top of the LMB South while Tabasco has won nine of ten
outings to
secure a playoff slot. Yucatan, Veracruz and Quintana Roo are also
locks,
meaning sixth-place Puebla needs one win or one Leon loss for the final
postseason berth.
Guadalajara's Leo Heras is batting
.415 after 43 games, good enough to top the batting race on the LMB
website,
ahead of Saltillo's Henry Urrutia (.391) and Tito Polo (.390) of
Durango.
Leon's Xavier Batista has pulled ahead of Rainel Rosario of Saltillo in
the
home run derby, 19 to 18, while Tijuana's Leandro Castro's 68 RBIs will
likely
be enough to hold off Japhet Amador's 57 for Mexico City to take that
crown. In
stolen bases, Quintana Roo's Reynaldo Rodriguez has 21 while Herlis
Rodriguez
of Tabasco is one behind at 20.
Among pitchers, Masaru Nakamura of
Guadalajara still has a perfect 8-0 record to lead the Liga in wins,
one ahead
of five other hurlers. Former Pirates righty Luis Escobar heads the ERA
list as
the Colombian shows a 2.60 mark after 11 starts, comfortably ahead of
Laguna's
Rafael Pineda (3.21). There's a battle for strikeout supremacy between
Aguascalientes' Erik Leal (66), Puebla's Jose Valdez (66) and Mexico
City's
Hector Hernandez (65) while another three pitchers have 60-plus K's.
Fernando
Rodney of Tijuana is tops in saves with 15, one more than Guadalajara's
Fernando Cruz.
Just nine midweek series remain before
the regular season closes. The most important may be a crossover set
when
Aguascalientes visits Leon, with the Rieleros trying to fight off three
teams
for one of two unsettled LMB North berth and the Bravos needed to win
all three
games to even have a chance to qualify in the LMB South.
JUAN
VENE: JALISCO CHARROS
HEADED FOR SALE, NAME CHANGE
Now in his
90's, Juan Vene has covered Mexican baseball for years and his column
“En la
Pelota” is carried by 37 newspapers and websites. In a recent column,
the
Florida-based Vene states that a sale of the Mexican Pacific League's
Jalisco
Charros to the owners of the Guadalajara Mariachis is pending, as is a
change
of the team nickname. Puro Beisbol reports
that sources from
the State of Jalisco confirm the transaction and that the LMP will
approve the
deal.
The following
is a lightly-edited Google translation of Vene's column:
The Jalisco Charros, whose name is
owned by Armando Navarro, are about to end. The next team for the
Guadalajara
winters would be called the Jalisco Caballos and owned by José Luis
González
Íńigo and Carlos Valenzuela Gómez, who also own the Mexican League's
Guadalajara franchise.
"Both González and Valenzuela,
co-owners of the Mariachis, are very good people," said a fellow
journalist
from Guadalajara.
Navarro had contributed the name of
Charros to be a partner of Salvador Quirarte, who invested the
necessary money.
The two got into a fight under accusations of mismanagement of the
team's
money. And there is no way to reconcile them.
Quirarte does not respond to calls
and Navarro's cell phone number always get the “beep-beep-beep” busy
signal.
Meanwhile, the Zapopan stadium, in
the beautiful metropolitan area of Guadalajara, is owned by the
Government of
the State of Jalisco. And the governor, Enrique Alfaro Ramírez, is a
Guadalajara leader who only wants peace and good baseball.
Alfaro Ramírez likes the name
“Jalisco Caballos” and is willing to provide all the necessary support
to those
who dedicate themselves to organizing the best show for Jalisco and not
to
fight for two or three pesos of old paper.
Navarro has accused Quirarte of
mishandling the team's money, so I try to contact him to see if he
informs me
how his partner did something wrong. But I already told you it's a case
of
“beep-beep-beep” every time I call him.
Beautiful Guadalajara and its
surroundings are home to hundreds of thousands of frenzied baseball
fans, who
have always supported it.
However, there is a kind of gypsy
curse on the ball in that sector of the world. The original Charros
played in
an uncomfortable stadium, built for student baseball and located on the
outskirts of the city.
It was not comfortable to go there.
The Charros had to disappear in 1995.
They returned in 2014, with great
enthusiasm to a full stadium in the modern house of Zapopan, until
peace ended
in 2021. That is why, possibly, the 2021-2022 season will be that of
the burial
of the Charros and the birth of the Caballos.
The figure of the caballos (or
“horses”) is emblematic in Jalisco, especially for what these beautiful
animals
mean in the life of the charros.
It will be a new life for baseball in Jalisco, absolutely better than Navarro and Quirarte pulling their hair out for two or three pesos of old paper.
