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B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
Monday,
February 11, 2 0 1 9
CHARROS FINISH 2-2, JUST MISS CARIBBEAN SERIES
TITLE GAME
The Jalisco
Charros won two of their four
double round-robin games at the Caribbean Series in Panama City last
week, but
the Guadalajara team lost out on a berth in the final game against
Panama's
Herrera Toros via mathematics. Jalisco,
Cuba's Las Tunas Lenadores and Venezuela's Lara Cardenales all finished
Group A
competition with identical 2-2 records but Jalisco barely missed
qualifying
despite a 9-4 win over Lara last Friday due to a tiebreaker. One more run over their four games would've
made the difference for the Mexican Pacific League champions.
The Charros
scored only two runs over their
first two games at Rod Carew National Stadium, beginning with last
Monday's 5-1
defeat at the hands of Lara. Cardenales
starter Nestor Molina allowed one Jalisco run in the top of the fifth
when
Stephen Cardullo singled in Agustin Murillo to take the win. A familiar face to Mexican League fans as the
2017 Pitcher of the Year with Veracruz and an All-Star Game selection
last
summer with Dos Laredos, Molina scattered four hits and struck out four
over
his five frames of work. Carlos Rivero,
who spent part of 2018 with Tijuana, belted a two-run homer off
Francisco
Moreno in the sixth for Lara but a two-run fourth for the Cardenales
gave
Molina and mates all the scoring they'd need for the night. Orlando Lara (3.2 IP, 2 R, 2 H, 2 BB) took
the loss for Jalisco, who went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
One night
later, the Charros fell, 3-1, to Las
Tunas as the Lenadores' Lazaro Blanco, a 32-year-old veteran of
international
competition, blanked Jalisco on three hits over seven innings to take
the
victory. Another longtime figure for the
Cuban National Team, Alfredo Despaigne, hit three singles in four
at-bats to
drive in three Las Tunas runs. Despaigne
spent parts of the 2013 and 2014 seasons with Campeche in the LMB
before moving
to Japan, where he has become one of NPB's premier power hitters with
118
homers since mid-2014 for the Chiba Lotte Marines and Fukuoka Softbank
Hawks. Jesus Valdez' two-out single
brought in
Amadeo Zazueta with Jalisco's lone run in the bottom of the ninth, but
Murillo
ended the contest by flying out to right on the first pitch he faced
from
Raidel Martinez as the Mexicans dug themselves an 0-2 hole midway
through the
round.
After a day off
Wednesday, Jalisco came back
Thursday with a revenge win over Las Tunas, a 3-2 knucklebiter that
wasn't
settled until the eleventh inning. At
the top of that entrada, Ramon Rios
drilled a Livan Moinelo pitch up the middle for a two-out single that
drove in
Dariel Alvarez from second with the go-ahead run. Ramirez
actually whiffed Alvarez for the
second out but the third strike sailed past Lenadores catcher Yosvani
Alarcon,
allowing the former Orioles minor leaguer to reach first safely. Sergio Romo came in with one out in the ninth
and went on to pitch 2.2 scoreless innings for the win, including a
1-2-3
eleventh for Jalisco. Leadoff hitter
Alonzo Harris had three singles and a walk, scoring twice for manager
Roberto
Vizcarra's Charros.
The Charros'
offense finally woke from their
torpor on Friday by recording 15 hits during their 9-4 win over Lara. Jalisco took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the
first when Victor Mendoza singled in Harris for one run and a Japhet
Amador
sacrifice fly scored Amadeo Zazueta from third for another. A Gabriel Gutierrez RBI single made it a 3-0
Mexican lead in the fourth and while the Cardenales went on to plate
four runs
over the next two innings, there was no denying the Horsemen a win in
this
one. Mendoza wrapped up a productive
Caribbean Series by going 4-for-5 with two runs and four RBIs,
including a
three-run homer off Elvis Araujo in the sixth, while Zazueta singled
twice and
scored a part of tallies. Starter Marco
Tovar left the game with a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth, but it
was
Rafael Martin (from among seven relievers sent in by Vizcarra) who got
the win
by tossing 2.1 scoreless innings.
In the end, the
tiebreaking formula did in
Jalisco. Despite outscoring both Las
Tunas and Lara during group play, a slice of arcana called "Total
Quality
Balance" required the LMP kingpins to outscore the Cardenales by six
runs
Friday to have a chance of advancing to the finals.
As a result, even though the Cubans beat the
Venezuelans, 3-0, Saturday to put all three Group A teams at 2-2, the
Charros
were done.
In Sunday's
title game, Las Tunas met
surprising host Herrera, who went 3-1 in Group B after winning only two
of six
games the previous week at the Latin American Series in Veracruz. The Panamanians completed their Cinderella
performance Sunday with a 3-1 win over Las Tunas, an amazing feat for a
team
whose country hadn't played in the Caribbean Series since 1960 and were
only
added to the field as tournament host after political turmoil forced
organizers
to move the event from Barquisimeto, Venezuela for the second year in a
row.
The Charros can
console themselves knowing
they'd earned some redemption after losing their first two games, came
in
second among the six combatants with a .261 average and pitched
reasonably well
with a 2.92 team ERA, although that figure only ranked fifth among the
teams as
hurlers ruled the week (Las Tunas' team ERA was a paltry 1.40, yet the
Cubans
only won two of five contests). Gutierrez
led Jalisco with a .385 average over four games while Mendoza and
Zazueta each
batted .375. Martin and Romo combined to allow no earned runs in nine
innings
out of the bullpen, with Romo collecting six strikeouts and letting up
just one
hit in his 4.2 frames of work.
LIGA ANNOUNCES 2019 SCHEDULE, LAGUNA FRANCHISE
SOLD
The Mexican
League held an Assembly of
Presidents meeting last week in Mexico City, whether they announced
they have
finalized the 2019 season schedule (although it has not yet been
released to
the public), confirmed their June All-Star Game and approved the sale
of one of
its franchises.
The regular
season will open Thursday, April 4
in Monterrey when the defending Fall champion Sultanes will host the
Yucatan
Leones, who defeated Monterrey in last year's Spring title series. One day later, the rest of the Liga's 16
teams will play their inaugural games.
The Mexico City Diablos Rojos are set to open their new Estado
Alfredo
Harp Helu on April 5 against longtime rival Quintana Roo, who shared
the
nation's capital with the Diablos for 46 years before moving to Puebla
in 2002
and eventually landing in Cancun five years later.
The Diablos and Tigres have 28 Mexican League
pennants between them, with Mexico City winning 16 titles.
The LMB will
play a 120-game schedule this
year, divided into two 60-game halves.
The first half will conclude just before All-Star Weekend
commences on
Saturday, June 15, a day which will feature both the traditional Home
Run Derby
and the Double Play Derby, a competition among top keystone
combinations from
around the league that debuted at last year's All-Star Weekend in
Merida. The host Yucatan Leones got the
sweep as Luis
"Cacao" Valdez beat Monterrey's Ricky Alvarez in the final round to
win the Home Run Derby while Everth Cabrera and Diego Madero teamed up
to beat
out four other duos and cop the Double Play Derby last June 28. One day later, the South crushed the North,
10-2, with veteran Mexico City outfielder Ivan Terrazas winning MVP
honors at Parque
Kukulcan.
The second half
of the Liga season will open
Friday, June 21 and run through Thursday, August 29.
If a single elimination game is required
should the fourth- and fifth-place teams in either division finish
within three
games of each other, it would be played Saturday, August 31 at the
fourth-place
team's ballpark. The full playoffs will
begin September 3 with the division semifinals and conclude with the
Serie del
Rey between September 24 and October 2 (if a Game Seven is required).
Also at the
Assembly meeting, owners approved
the sale of the Union Laguna franchise by brothers Jose Juan and Erick
Arellano
to a group of businessmen headed by Francisco Orozco, the executive
director of
the Solucionika telecommunications
company. Orozco also owns his hometown
Saltillo Dinos franchise in Mexico's League of American Football (LFA),
a
semipro circuit which will open its third season later this month. Terms of the sale were not disclosed but the
Arellanos made no secret of the fact that they wanted to take the
Torreon-based
team off their hands so they could focus all their time and resources
on the
Yucatan Leones, which they also own.
One of the
conditions of the transaction was
that the team, which may change its nickname from Algodoneros, will
stay in the
Torreon-Gomez Palacio area. Last year,
Union Laguna went 41-73 overall and missed the playoffs both seasons
while
playing in front of 176,931 fans in 55 openings at Estadio Revolucion,
an
86-year-old ballpark seating 9,500. One
of the first items on the new ownership group's docket was to find a
new
manager and they did so with the selection of Jonathan Aceves, a former
catcher
who spent nine years in the White Sox system and one with the Marlins
organization before playing another twelve summers in the Mexican
League (all
but one game with Saltillo). He retired
in the offseason. Last year's Laguna
skipper, Ramon Orantes, has taken the reins in Tabasco for 2019.
An added note
from LMB president Javier
Salinas was that while Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
recently
promised the return of the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila to the port city,
that
will not happen before 2020 at the earliest and that the Liga is
expected to
play with the same 16 teams it ended last year with.
However, the
jockeying may not be over
yet. Beatriz Pereyra of Proceso
says that AMLO is determined to
fulfill his promise to bring the LMB back to Veracruz this year, and
that the
Jalisco Charros of the Mexican Pacific League are being lobbied to
field a summer
team to bring the number of Mexican League teams up to 18.
The Monterrey Sultanes recently agreed to
create an LMP team to play winterball with the reconstituted Guasave
Algodoneros, the latter fulfilling another Lopez Obrador
promise. An admitted baseball fanatic,
AMLO seems to
be remaking the sport in Mexico in a way not seen since the days of
Jorge
Pasquel.
LMB ENDS AGREEMENT WITH LIGA NORTE, LA PAZ
ADDED TO LNM
In a move that
sent shockwaves throughout the
baseball community in northwest Mexico, the Mexican League has decided
to not
renew an agreement with the Northern Mexico League for the 2019 season. The decision, which was announced by LMB
president Javier Salinas late last month, means the Class AA Liga Norte
will
not receive financial assistance from the Class AAA Liga this year. Teams in the LNM have served as affiliates
for LMB franchises over the past several summers, which Salinas said
may
continue on an individual team-by-team basis despite the lack of a
signed
interleague agreement.
The move comes
as a blow to the Liga Norte,
which has relied on the Mexican League to help cover operating expenses
for the
six-team loop. In his announcement,
Salinas referred to a debt of 240,000 pesos (about US$12,585) that he
would
like to have paid to the LMB. The LNM
held a meeting in Tijuana last week that was attended by former major
league
infielder Edgar Gonzalez, who has been tabbed by Mexican president
Andres
Manuel Lopez Obrador to oversee the development and promotion of
baseball on a
nationwide basis. Liga Norte president
Francisco Ochoa Montano and others appear to be hoping their league,
which is
considered by some to be the top player development circuit in Mexico,
can
receive assistance from the federal government in lieu of lost support
from the
LMB league offices.
Earlier this
year, the Liga Norte announced a
new franchise, the La Paz Delfines, who will begin play in the Baja
California
Sur city this spring. There has been
past interest among officials from La Paz in securing a Mexican Pacific
League
franchise in the future, but the city of 244,000 will instead receive
an LNM
team to replace Tecate after the Indios requested a year off. The Delfines will represent the first Liga
Norte franchise to ever play outside the states of Sonora and Sinaloa
in the
loop's seven-year history. Baja
California Sur governor Carlos Mendoza Davis said, "We are proud of the
announcement of the LNM and of the entrance of La Paz to this
professional
baseball circuit, fulfilling a wish of the fans who will be able to
enjoy the
games at Estadio Arturo C. Nahl, which will be completely
rehabilitated." The ballpark is
expected to seat 3,800 spectators when league play opens April 12.
The Ensenada Marineros have won the last two LNM pennants. They'll be joined in 2019 by La Paz, the Caborca Rojos, Puerto Penasco Tiburones, San Luis Algodoneros and San Quintin Freseros. San Luis will play one more season at Estadio Andres Mena Montijo before moving into a new 7,500-seat in 2020, a year in which both Tecate and the Mexicali Sentinales are expected to return, making the Liga Norte an eight-team association.