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M e x i c o
Monday,
February 5, 2 0 1 8
January 29,
2018 - Culiacan wins LMP pennant
January 22, 2018 - January 15, 2018 - January 10, 2018 - January 1, 2018 - December 25, 2017- December 18, 2017 - December 11, 2017 - December 4, 2017 - December 1, 2017
Mexico goes 0-3
to start Caribbean
Series, slim chance for semi berth
The 2018
Caribbean Series has gotten off to a thud for the
Mexican Pacific League champion Culiacan Tomateros, who added no fewer
than 15
reinforcements from other LMP teams after the conclusion of the
playoffs to
give manager Benji Gil a veritable all-star team to take to Guadalajara
(while
a number of miffed players were left behind).
Regardless of having a talent-loaded squad, the Mexicans lost
their
first three games at Estadio Charros to place themselves in must-win
mode for
their final round-robin contest.
Culiacan lost
Friday's opener to defending champion Caguas of
Puerto Rico, 7-4, in front of 16,500 fans.
The Tomateros held a 4-3 lead after four innings, but the
Criollos tied
the game in the top of the fifth and touched reliever Casey Coleman for
three
runs in the eighth to achieve their margin of victory.
Coleman (part of the only three-generation
pitching family in MLB history) allowed three hits, including an RBI
ground-rule double to David Vidal that broke the deadlock.
Nick Struck, who relieved Coleman with one
out, let another run on on a wild pitch to Dayron Verona before giving
up a
run-scoring trip to Verona to bring the score to 7-4.
Sebastian Elizalde singled twice to drive in
two runs and score another for Mexico, Jesse Castillo and Gabriel
Gutierrez
combined for four hits and Ronnier Mustelier scored twice.
Anthony Garcia paced the winners with three
hits, including two doubles, two RBIs and a run scored.
Edgar Gonzalez (4.2IP/4R/8H) had a rocky
start for Culiacan, for whom Coleman took the loss.
Saturday night's
game went no better for Mexico in a 5-4 loss
to Cuba's Granma Alazanes after frittering away another late lead. This time, it was a 4-2 advantage going into
the bottom of the seventh that was lost after being built on a
three-run fourth
frame that featured run-scoring singles by Rico Noel and Elizalde. Culiacan reliever Aldo Montes gave up a
one-out solo homer to Raul Gonzalez to make it a one-run game and a
subsequent
sacrifice fly by Frederich Cepeda tied the contest at 4-4.
It was left to Gonzalez to drive in the
eventual game-winner in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly off
the
snake-bitten Coleman, who was tagged with his second loss in as many
nights. Justin Greene, Walter Ibarra and
Noel each
had two of eleven Mexican hits while Noel picked up two ribbies. Culiacan starter Danny Rodriguez lasted just
37 pitches before being pulled with two out in the third, letting in
two runs
on as many hits and one walk. Alain
Sanchez got the win for Cuba with five innings of one-run relief.
Skipper Gil's
seat got even hotter after Mexico lost their
third straight game at home Sunday, 6-4, to Venezuelan champion
Anzoategui. While Culiacan never led in
this one, the tilt was tied at 2-2 until the Caribes pushed a run
across in the
top of the sixth on Willians Astudillo's solo homer off reliever Miguel
Pena, a
former Red Sox farmhand who went 11-2 for Mexican League champion
Tijuana last
summer. One inning later, Niuman
Romero's line-drive single off Pena brought in Luis Domoromo to give
the
Venezuelans a two-run lead. The Caribes
scored two more in the top of the ninth to go up 6-2 before Chris
Roberson's
pinch homer with Joey Meneses on base closed the gap to a final two
runs. Meneses and Jesse Castillo each had
two of
the Tomateros' eight hits as Venezuela starter Nestor Molina (last
year's LMB
Pitcher of the Year with Veracruz) went 5.1 innings for the win,
allowing two
earned runs on five hits. Rolando Valdez
lasted four innings and 74 pitches for Mexico, letting in a part of
runs, while
Pena absorbed the loss after giving up those two runs.
Casey Coleman did not pitch.
The 0-3 Mexicans
will get one more crack at a win Tuesday
when they play Dominican kingpins
Cibaenas, managed by former LMB helmsman Lino Rivera, in the nightcap
after a
bye on Monday. Cuba is 2-0 with games
ahead Monday against the Dominicans and Tuesday versus Puerto Rico. Venezuela is 2-1 going into Monday's clash
with
Puerto Rico, while both the Dominicans and Boricuans are 1-1. While Culiacan is up against the wall, it
should be remembered that Caguas was similarly 0-3 at this time last
year
before sneaking into the semis with a fourth-game win, then won the
semi and
final games for the championship.
Venezuela's Rene
Reyes leads all batters appearing in three
games with a .583 average after going 7-for-12.
Teammate Balbino Fuenmayor, who got off to a great start last
summer for
Veracruz in the MXL before cooling off in the second half, is right
behind with
a .500 average. Fuenmayor's two homers
are tied with yet another Anzoategui performer, Rafael Ortega, while
his six
RBIs top that list. Six pitchers have
one win apiece but only one, Dominican ex-MLBer Francisley Bueno,
allowed no
runs as Bueno blanked Caguas for five innings in Sunday's 6-3 Cibaenas
win over
the Puerto Rican champs. Cuban veteran
Lazaro Blanco has five strikeouts, one more than Mexico's Valdez and
Venezuela's Molina.
One notable
change from past Caribbean Series is that the
games are being split into day-night doubleheader, with fans attending
the
afternoon games required to exit the ballpark before paying their way
in for
the evening contests. Results thus far
are mixed but incomplete. With Mexico
playing the nightcap throughout the round-robin stage, the afternoon
games drew
around 7,000 for the first two days with no attendance listed for
Sunday's Day
Three. Culiacan's Friday opener against
Caguas drew a sellout crowd of 16,500 at Estadio Charros, but no
figures have
been released for either Saturday's or Sunday's nightcaps.
The day-night format will continue through
Wednesday's semifinals, with the title game slated for 9PM Eastern on
Thursday
night.
Diablos lose
2018 LMB All-Star Game
in wake of MLB series shift
The offseason
has not been kind to the Mexico City Diablos
Rojos. In addition to the so-called
"Rookiegate" scandal in which the team is being investigated over
five Quintana Roo Tigres prospects being mysteriously transferred to
Mexico
City (two of whom were sold to the Texas Rangers for a combined $2.7
million),
continued delays in the construction of the Diablos' new ballpark has
led to
the Mexican League shifting its 2018 All-Star Game from the Nation's
Capital to
Parque Kukulkan in Merida, home of the Yucatan Leones.
The All-Star
Game was originally scheduled to take place at
13,000-seat Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu on June 29, a date that falls
between the
two 57-game seasons with playoffs the LMB will be playing this year. However, at an Assembly of Presidents meeting
held last week in Mexico City, it was determined that the new ballpark
(which
had originally been slated to open in 2017) couldn't be guaranteed
ready to
host the All-Star Game. Instead, the
Presidents voted to move the contest to Merida and its 16,000-seater. Parque Kukulkan was opened in 1982. Since then, it has been the site of All-Star
Games in 1982, 1992, 1998 and 2015 (the latter in front of 12,600
spectators). The facility underwent $30
million in renovations prior to the 2016 season.
Losing the
All-Star Game marks the second time this winter
that the Diablos Rojos have lost a chance to host a major event. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres
had previously arranged to play a 2018 three-game regular season series
in
Mexico City, contingent on the new ballpark being ready.
However, structural damage found in late 2017
led to all sorts of timelines being pushed back months while those
damages were
to be addressed. That resulted in the
Dodgers and Padres moving their series to Estadio Monterrey, home of
the
Sultanes, in early May. Although the
Monterrey ballpark's current renovation will drop its seating capacity
from
27,000 to 22,000, it remains Mexico's largest baseball facility and
should be a
showcase for new Sultanes owners Grupo Multimedios, who will host the
MLB
set. Monterrey led all minor league
teams in attendance last summer with an average of 11,575 per game
(although
paid attendance at the liberally-papered house was believed by many
columnists
to be a fair amount less than the announced figures).
Meanwhile, back
in Mexico City, the Diablos are resigning
themselves to playing another season at tiny Estadio Fray Nano. The 5,200-seat facility, which is the
smallest in the MXL, was only meant to be a stopgap after the Red
Devils
vacated the larger (but far less baseball-friendly) Foro Sol prior to
the 2015
season. Instead, they'll be playing
their fourth season on the heels of a 2017 campaign in which one of the
Liga's
flagship franchises finished out of the playoffs while drawing just
2,503 fans
a night, 14th in the 16-team circuit.
One bright spot
from last week's meeting is that the upcoming
two-season LMB calendar will be named after owner Harp, only the second
time
the league has dedicated a season to a person.
The other was the late Mexico City Tigres founder and future LMB
president Alejo Peralta. Puro
Beisbol's perspicacious
columnist/editor Fernando Ballesteros noted last week that while there
are
similarities between the two men, Peralta's vision and effort always
included
Mexican baseball as a whole while Harp has kept his own vision and
effort
within his two teams, the Diablos and Oaxaca Guerreros.
Union Laguna
changes name from
Vaqueros to Algodoneros
While it's been
a tough time for the aforementioned Alfredo
Harp Helu in Mexico City, at least he has his billions in the bank and
an
upcoming Mexican League season named after him.
Then you have baseball fans in Torreon and Gomez Palacio, who've
endured
some hardships of their own over the years, particularly the last one.
Consider that
teams representing the Laguna region have not
won a Mexican League pennant since 1950, when Union Laguna beat out the
Jalisco
Charros for the flag. Since then, Laguna
has copped just one division crown (in 1990) while owners, managers and
players
have come and gone. One thing that
remains from that 1950 championship is Estadio Revolucion, a
12,000-seat
ballpark with an impressive neoclassical entryway that was completed in
1932. While some renovations were done
before the 2003 season, Estadio Revolucion looks much the same as it
did in a
year when Babe Ruth was "calling" his homer at Wrigley Field and
Mickey Mantle was turning one year old.
With that as a
backdrop, Laguna fans saw their Vaqueros make
an unexpected run for a Mexican League playoff berth under first-year
manager
Ramon Orantes last summer, only to see star first baseman Ricky Alvarez
traded
to Yucatan as part of a seven-player deal in late June.
Alvarez was batting .330 with 13 homers and a
MXL-leading 75 RBIs in 66 games at the time, and his departure left
both a huge
hole in the Vaqueros lineup and tremendous unrest among the Laguna
faithful. The team plunged out of
contention while attendance at home games plummeted as many fans stayed
home as
part of an unofficial boycott. The
Vaqueros are owned by the same Arellano brothers who coincidentally
also own
the Leones in Merida, beneficiaries of the one-sided Alvarez deal and
confirmed
over the winter that, indeed, they are more focused on success in
Yucatan than
Laguna.
The Arellanos
(brother Erick runs the Torreon team while Jose
Juan operates the Merida squad) spent the winter trying to sell the
Vaqueros
after it had been speculated in the past that they may seek to move the
franchise to their hometown Mazatlan, but found no takers.
Thus, faced with an unhappy fan base and a
team regarded as Yucatan's "farm team" the way the old Kansas City
A's were to the Yankees, the Arellanos did what any logically-thinking
owners
would do to turn things around: They changed the team name.
The Union Laguna
Vaqueros are now the Union Laguna
Algodoneros (loosely translated to "Cotton Growers").
The nickname was used by the Mexican Pacific
League's former Guasave team, still used by San Luis Rio Colorado's
North
Mexican League club and dates to the name of a Laguna franchise started
in 1970
as part of the LMB's on-again, off-again presence in the region of 1.2
million
residents.
Whether fans
will respond to the new name when the team
wearing it is the same one that missed the playoffs (albeit with a
winning
60-49 record under Orantes). Laguna did
finish sixth on the MXL attendance table with an average of 4,396 in
2017, but
the then-Vaqueros had been averaging over 5,000 per opening prior to
the
Alvarez trade and those missing fans will have to be enticed back to
the
Algodoneros' aging ballpark. A name
change may not be enough.