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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
July
24, 2 0 1 7
Tijuana
win skein at 13 games; Tigres fire skipper Vizcarra
Former
Diamondbacks prospect Cyle Hankerd scored from third
base when Tabasco third baseman Kristian Delgado bobbled Jorge Cantu's
grounder
in the top of the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie and the Tijuana Toros
went on
to post a 7-3 win over the Olmecas Sunday to stretch their season-high
Mexican
League winning streak to 13 games.
Dustin Martin's three-run homer in the seventh gave TJ their
final
margin of victory as former MLB pitcher Horacio Ramirez got the win to
raise
his record to 3-2 in his ninth start of the year after missing ten
weeks
between April and June due to injury.
The contest was
played in front of a cozy gathering of 960
fans at Villahermosa's Estadio Centenario 27 de Febrero, where the
Olmecas have
been plagued by poor attendance and a faulty ballpark lighting system
all
season. The 67-28 Toros have the best
record in the circuit and hold a three-and-a-half-game lead over 63-31
Monterrey in the LMB North standings with 15 games left in the regular
season. The Sultanes have mostly kept pace
with their own six-game win string.
Manager Pedro Mere's Toros have found July to their liking,
winning 18
of 20 contests thus far. Tijuana opened the month with a five-game
winning
streak before losing a pair of games in Monclova, then launched their
current
run with a 1-0 win over the Acereros July 9 to avoid the sweep. Since then, they've reeled off consecutive
sweeps against South Division weak sisters Campeche and Tabasco, first
in a
six-game homestand and then another six on the road.
The LMB North's
top four teams have made hay in their two
weeks of cross-divisional play. Besides
TJ's 12-0 run, Monterrey had a record of 9-3 against Veracruz and
Oaxaca, as
did Monclova (who played the same two clubs), while overachievers
Aguascalientes posted an 8-4 mark against defending champion Puebla and
Leon to
continue the North's season-long mastery over their counterparts to the
south. Tijuana, Monterrey, Monclova and
Aguascalientes are well out in front of the rest of the LMB North pack
and all
but assured playoff berths.
That dominance
has not applied to the Yucatan Leones,
however. The LMB South leaders drew
Union Laguna and Durango as their crossover opponents and came away
winning 8
of 12 games. Yucatan has brought in
Monterrey coach Juan "Chico" Rodriguez to replace the fired Willie
Romero as manager after coach Oswaldo Morejon filled in for a couple
games. Rodriguez was a Salon de la Fama
shortstop during his 20-year Liga playing career, mostly with Veracruz
and
Aguascalientes. Romero will manage in
Navojoa next winter but has not landed with another LMB team yet. That will likely change for someone with his
credentials. Puebla went 7-5 against
Aguascalientes and Saltillo so it wasn't a total wash for the southern
sides. Teams will play only within their
divisions over the final five series of the regular season schedule.
Romero isn't the
only former helmsman looking for work. The
Quintana Roo Tigres relieved manager
Roberto "Chapo" Vizcarra of his duties following a series-opening 3-1
loss at home to Union Laguna. Vizcarra was in his fifth season running
the
Tigres and had been quite successful over his first four, winning two
pennants
and posting a 182-122 record after taking over the team late in the
2013
season. However, 2017 was not kind to
the Sonora native as Quintana Roo was 36-49 after losing 12 of their
first 14
games this month (including a nine-game losing skid).
Vizcarra, who will remain with the Tigres
organization working with prospects, was replaced by third base coach
Hector
Hurtado. A former catcher who managed
the ill-fated Reynosa Broncos last season, Hurtado led Quintana Roo to
a four
wins over his first five games. The
beleaguered team, which has been plagued by financial problems off the
field
under new owner Fernando Valenzuela, is now in a virtual tie for third
with
Veracruz in the LMB South at 40-50. With
the bottom four teams in the division fading to the finish line, both
the
Tigres and Rojos del Aguila are almost sure bets to join Yucatan and
Puebla in
the postseason.
Former Durango
outfielder Yadir Drake's .385 average compiled
before his exit to Japan (where paychecks presumably arrive on time)
has made
the LMB batting title the Cuban exile's to lose. A
former Drake teammate with the Generales,
third baseman Daniel Mayora, now plying his trade in Monterrey, is
second at
.375. Mayora was hitting .425 in his
first nine games with the Sultanes but did not play during their
weekend home
series with Oaxaca as veteran Agustin Murillo manned the hot corner. Mayora's absence from the lineup was not felt
too acutely as manager Felix Fermin's squad, who lead the Liga with a
collective .317 average, put 30 runs and 45 hits on the scoreboard in
the
Sultanes' three-game sweep of the Guerreros.
Tijuana
outfielder Corey Brown pummeled two homers against
Tabasco to give him a league-leading 22 for the season, one more than
Aguascalientes infielder Jose Vargas. A
Ventura, California product, the 29-year-old Vargas is making his
Mexican
League debut in 2017 after spending three years in the White Sox system
and
another six playing independent ball, but he's making up for lost time
after
joining the Rieleros, homering in five straight games earlier this
month and
socking his 21st longball in 69 games Sunday against Leon. Yucatan's
Ricky
Alvarez is regaining his stroke in Merida following his midseason trade
from
Laguna. He had two homers and six RBIs
last Tuesday against Durango and is hitting .366 over his last ten
games with
the Leones while his 97 ribbies lead Monclova's Manny Rodriguez by 13
in that
category. Monclova centerfielder Justin
Greene had three stolen bases last week to bring his season total to 45
swipes,
continuing to run away with the steals title (I'm not tired of that
line QUITE
yet).
Veracruz ace
Nestor Molina had a no-decision Friday at
Monclova in his first start in eight days, but pitched well (7 IP, 1
ER, 9 K)
to lower his Liga-leading ERA to 1.62 and crack the century mark in
strikeouts
at 104. The 11-1 Molina has
singlehandedly kept the Eagle Reds in playoff contention and is the
frontrunner
for BBM's Summer Pitcher of the Year award.
Monclova's Josh Lowey hasn't been as dominant as in year's past
at 7-5
with a 3.08 ERA, but the Floridian is cruising to his third straight
strikeout
title with 121 ponches over 108
innings. Mexico City hurler Octavio
Acosta was reached in Campeche for three runs on nine hits over 5.1
innings in
Saturday's no-decision, but still leads the loop in wins with a 12-1
record in
the Guasave product's breakout year.
There's a spirited competition for the saves crown among five
closers
going down the stretch. Chad Gaudin
(Monclova) and Wirfin Obispo (Monterrey) are tied for the lead with 25
saves
each, one ahead of Jason Urquidez (Tijuana) at 24 while Tiago da Silva
(Durango)
has 22 and ex-MLBer Jose Valverde (Aguascalientes) has 21.
Da Silva may have trouble gaining ground with
Generales management white-flagging the season via the jettisoning of
stars
Drake and Mayora, but Urquidez has been solid all year while Valverde
has been
the linchpin of an otherwise marginal Rieleros pitching staff,
converting his
21 saves in 24 opportunities.
With the Liga's
interdivisional games concluded until the
Serie del Rey in September, the rest of the regular season schedule
becomes
doubly important as playoff contenders will now play head-to-head over
the
final five series. The biggest midweek
faceoff will undoubtedly be in Tijuana, where the Toros host a
Monterrey side
they've been unable to shake off despite TJ's dozen straight wins. While this series won't settle the question
of who wins the LMB North's top seed, it'll go a long way in that
direction. There are more than one
series that matter next weekend. Tijuana
will be on the road to take on an Aguascalientes team playing well
under
manager Homar Rojas. While the Rieleros
may be the fifth-best team of the five given a realistic shot at the
pennant,
they may also be the squad that nobody wants to draw in the postseason. They've been finding ways to win all year
long.
An intriguing
LMB South weekend matchup will be Yucatan at
Puebla. The Leones have led the division
almost wire-to-wire this year and while the ouster of Romero (the
defending
two-time Manager of the Year) is a bit of a headshaker, the
less-volatile
Rodriguez has kept the team winning. The
Pericos, for their part, were emaciated following their 2016
pennant-winning
campaign when owner Gerardo Benavides transferred Puebla's core players
to his
newly-purchased Monclova team, but they've hung in there this season
and have
played better since former Blue Jays skipper Tim Johnson took the reins
from
Von Hayes earlier this season. The
Parrots will not be a pushover.
One interesting sidebar is that Benavides is now making noises about possibly moving the Pericos to either Juarez or Nuevo Laredo next season, disappointed with attendance figures in Puebla this year (3,051 per game, a decline of 29 percent from 2016) but apparently not connecting the dots as to why. Veracruz owner Jose Antonio Mansur has made similar comments about relocating the Rojos del Aguila to the Texas border. Puebla and Veracruz are two of the LMB's longest-standing cities, although franchises have come and gone in both over the years.
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