Thousands of articles!
B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
October 08, 2 0 1 7
Mexican
Baseball Road Trip: Tucson, Arizona
Mexican Baseball Fiesta
Day 1 - October 6, 2017
Day 2 - October 7, 2017
Tucson
Mexican Baseball Fiesta: Day Three Report
After sitting in the press box at
Kino Stadium through four games over the first two nights of play at
the
Mexican Baseball Fiesta, I decided to write tonight’s entry while
sitting in
the stands. My on-field focus has taken
my attention away from what makes the MBF an “event” rather than just
another
set of ballgames and it’s the event that drew me to travel from
Portland to
Tucson in the first place. So rather
than bring you the dry summaries you’ve been getting so far, I’m hoping
to
convey more of the atmosphere here in Tucson at the expense of tracking
runs,
hits and errors (although I’ll throw in some random observations of
play and
players). Right now I’m sitting in a
section on the third base side of the upper level of Kino Stadium
extending out
from either side of the press box. What
follows will be spontaneous bursts of no particular train of thought:
It’s 5:35PM, the first game pitting
Los Mochis against defending Mexican Pacific League champion Mexicali
has just
gotten underway and already the crowd is larger than either of the
first two
nights. I think the crowd tonight is
going to be...WHOA! I just had a foul
tip rattle around among the shading right above my head before spitting
out to
the concourse below. One wrong bounce
and this report is finished, as is the Chromebook I’m writing it on.
C.J. Retherford
is batting for Mexicali with the bases loaded
and nobody out in the bottom of the first. He’s become a year-round
player in
Mexico and I’ve noticed him playing with his very young son on the
field during
warmups all three nights, a charming sight you’d never see prior to a
major
league game but things are different in Mexican baseball.
Apparently they take the phrase
“family-friendly” to heart. C.J.’s son didn’t come close to catching
one of the
tosses that I witnessed, but he has plenty of time to learn. Despite the threat, the Aguilas failed to
score before being retired.
At about a quarter after 6 with the
sun going and an accompanying
breeze, we’re settling into what should be a pleasant evening for some
baseball. Temperatures have reached the
mid to upper 90’s every day since I arrived Wednesday night, something
I rarely
see at home midway between Seattle and Portland, but the low humidity
has kept
it from being bothersome. The old saw,
“It’s a DRY heat” is really true in Tucson.
How’s this for prescience? The
first game is now in the bottom of the
third (they’ve been playing seven) and Retherford just broke up a
scoreless tie
by smoking a double against Mochis starter Roy Merritt off a chain link
fence
atop the 8-foot high wall in the left field corner, driving in Walter
Ibarra
from third to put Mexicali up, 1-0.
Merritt was able to escape the inning without further damage.
Top of the fourth now and the
Caneros have tied the game. Ramon Urias,
whose brother Luis is a top shortstop prospect in the Padres system,
took first
after being hit by a Sergio Mitre pitch and then flew around the bases
on a
Mitchell Walding double. Urias had a
terrific summer at shortstop for Mexico City was Baseball Mexico’s
Summer 2017
MVP. Tough choice this year but the kid
kept the Diablos in the playoff race. He
doesn’t look big enough to hit 19 homers in a season but neither does
Jose
Altuve and the ball DOES tend to carry well in Mexico City’s 7,382-foot
elevation.
People
continue to
file in to Kino Stadium, likely for the Hermosillo-Obregon nightcap
(although a
live performance by popular Mexican musical artist Freddy Vegas is no
doubt at
least an added draw). Looking above and
beyond the berm in right field, I can see a long string of cars making
their
way to the Kino parking lot. Yep, it’ll
definitely be the biggest crowd of the three nights I’ve been here. I’d
guess
there are upwards of three thousand people in the stands already. Not impressive at first blush until the
independent Tucson Saguaros’ average
attendance of 279 for three Pecos League playoff games earlier this
year adds a
sense of perspective.
Top of the fifth with the score
still tied, 1-1. Mexicali manager Roberto
Vizcarra has replaced ex-Yankee Sergio Mitre, who allowed one run on
two hits
in four innings, with Nicolas Heredia, who gives up a leadoff single to
left by
hulking Mochis veteran Saul Soto. Soto
is one of those guys who always hits well north of .300 with power, and
it was
a measure of respect in the summer of 2016 when he was named
player-manager in
Aguascalientes late in the season. He
did a credible job with the Rieleros before returning to player-only
status
after Homar Rojas was brought in and led the Railroaders to a
fourth-place
finish in the Mexican League’s North Division this year.
What had been a
quickly-played game started dragging a bit,
what with all the Caneros baserunners circling the sacks for three runs
in the
fourth and another three in the fifth to take a commanding 7-1 lead. Mexicali has had six hits of their own but
only that one run in the third to show for them. Merritt
pitched through the sixth, although I
can make out some soft-tossing going on behind some signs obscuring the
Caneros
bullpen behind the left field fence and suspect skipper Luis Sojo will
make a
change for the seventh.
And so Sojo did,
bringing in Lenix Osuna to close out the win
for Merritt. After getting the first two
outs, Osuna ran into trouble and allowed a pair of last-gasp Aguilas
runs to
narrow the Caneros lead to 7-3 before inducing Retherford to ground out
with
runners at the corners to end both the surge and game.
Not having eaten for hours, I went
down to the concourse for some late (8:00PM) dinner.
This weekend the house specialty is Mexican
food and although there were several tempting items to choose from, I
bought a
bean-and-cheese burrito. Along with
concerns about eating something that would put me in a state of
discomfort at 2
tomorrow morning, I’ve been a gringo
pollo when it comes to spicy food ever since I bought a two-star
item at a
Thai restaurant near Seattle years ago that delivered a five-alarm fire
with
every bite. I never DID taste the dish. The mediocre-tasting burrito cost US$7.25,
proving that you’ll overspend for ballpark food pretty much anywhere in
any
language.
Back at my perch next to the suites
in time for introductions of players and coaches as well as the singing
of both
Mexican and USA national anthems by a lovely young lady.
At the end of the Mexican anthem (which
itself is a longish but lovely song), I heard a male voice in the crowd
shout
“Viva Mexico!” followed by a loud cheer from the stands.
Loved it.
Just moments
away from the first pitch of the nightcap and
the stands are well over half-full. It
seems definitely a pro-Hermosillo gathering, if the number of cheers
accompanying the on-field announcer’s mention of the Naranjeros as one
of the
two teams is any indication. Lots of
orange shirts and replica jerseys to be seen.
It reminded me of my first visit to Lambeau Field in Green Bay
(I’m a
lifetime Packers fan) for a night game, when I saw a large number of
orange
jackets in the stands. Puzzled because
the Packers colors are green and gold, I asked a local about the orange. “Hunting vests,” he replied.
Not to be
outdone, Obregon fans in attendance had their
chance to roar approval on the second pitch of the game when former
Orioles
outfielder Felix Pie launched a delivery from Naranjeros starter Jose
Samayoa
to near the top of the berm in right-center field to stake the Yaquis a
quick
1-0 lead. Hermosillo came right back
with the tying run in the bottom of the first when Domonic Brown ripped
a
run-scoring double to the wall in right-center to send speedy Jason
Bourgeois
flying in from first. The Naranjeros
then took the lead in the bottom of the second on a two-run double by
Roberto
Ramos and added another one later in the inning to go up 4-1, but
Obregon’s
Alex Liddi erased it with a three-run bomb into the left field bullpen
in the
top of the third to make it a 4-4 game and the Yaquis pushed two more
runs
across to grab the lead back at 6-4.
As in the
States, mascots play a large role in Mexican
baseball, perhaps even more than their Yanqui counterparts. Two of the MexPac’s most-popular mascots,
Hermosillo’s Beto Coyote and Tigre Chaco of Obregon, are on hand and
started
working the crowd early. As I type this,
Chaco is dancing in the third-base coach’s box as the Yaqui partisans
chant in
unison from the stands. Whatever the
cause, the fairly reserved crowd in the opening game has been taken
over by a
boisterous gathering of what appears to be at least 5,000 aficionados
in the stands for this one.
It’s now the top
of the fifth with the Yaquis lead cut to 6-5
and Barbaro Canizares batting for Obregon.
Canizares is an interesting case.
A Cuban exile who’d been a teammate of Kendrys Morales with the
Havana
Industriales, Canizares defected with two other players in early 2004
after
receiving a lifetime suspension from Cuban baseball for selling his
jersey to a
member of the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.
After a few seasons in the Braves system (including a five-game
cup of
coffee with Atlanta in 2009), Canizares spent time with both the Yaquis
and in
Oaxaca of the Mexican League, batting .396, .438 and .378 for the
Guerreros
between 2011 and 2013 before going to Japan.
He only played 38 games in three injury-plagued years with the
Softbank
Hawks and returned to the LMB this summer, but was cut by both Veracruz
and
Quintana Roo after hitting .244 in 34 games, ending up in the Liga
Norte. Approaching his 38th birthday, the
6’3” first
baseman is trying desperately to regain some of his old magic and found
some in
his bright red bat by blooping an RBI single in center to stretch
Obregon’s
lead to 7-5..
Well, here’s
something you don’t always see at a ballpark: A
guy just came out onto the field behind home plate and proposed to his
girlfriend on the mic (in English and with the gentle prodding of Chaco
the
mascot). She said yes, thankfully for
the guy.
Music is as ever-present at Mexican
ballgames as it is in the USA and this weekend has been no different. As might be expected, nearly all the songs
pumped out over the PA system between innings and during at-bats is
from south
of the border and greatly add to the atmosphere. There
were mariachi bands playing close
enough to the action to conspire with the loudspeaker music to create a
bit of
a cacophony at times the past two nights, but I can hear strains of
live music
(Freddy Vega?) emanating from the parking lot without battling the PA
system
for decibel supremacy. Good move,
although it looks like some of the crowd is heading toward the parking
lot for
some dancing. Beisbol con
salsa!
While the stands were mostly full
three hours ago, they’re gradually emptying with almost as many cars
streaming
out of the parking lot as were coming in earlier as the clock atop the
left
field scoreboard approaches 11:00. The
number of people occupying the berms is far fewer.
The gathering on the left-field foul
territory berm appears to be mostly adults, but the outfield berms are
the
domain of kids. The right-field
berm seems especially popular
with the younger set, particularly for rolling down the slope on their
sides
toward the back of the outfield wall. Sliding
on their, uhh, backsides is another
favorite, sort of like sledding without either a sled or snow. It’s been a while, but I remember that as a
kid, we made things like that work whether we had the proper
accoutrements or
not. The younger you are, the more
expansive your imagination.
Well, this one
is finally in the books, with Obregon taking
an 9-6 win as the final out was recorded at 11:46.
It’s been a long night at the ballpark, but a
good one. I’d been in a down mood all
day, wondering whether what I’ve been doing with this blog (and Viva Beisbol before it) all these years
has made the slightest bit of difference.
That’s still as debatable as it was this morning and something
I’ll have
to confront after I get home, but my blue funk has lifted significantly
and
these games have been the difference. If
the goal of baseball promoters is to surround a ballgame with a party,
MBF
organizer Mike Feder and the great, friendly ballpark staff have
succeeded. Well played.
Now it’s back to
my room at the Quality Inn for a late-night
discussion with that burrito.