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Bruce
Baskin /
Jackie
Robinson Moments
B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
April
10, 2 0 1 7
LEONES OFF TO FAST
START; LEON, DURANGO EARLY SURPRISES
There was nothing shocking
about Yucatan winning seven of
their first eight games to take an early lead in the Mexican League's
Southern
Division standings. The Leones were
considered an early favorite after defending champion Puebla's roster
was
gutted in the off-season load up the Monclova Acereros (both teams are
owned by
Gerardo Benavides), and they opened the season by sweeping Quintana Roo
in a
three-game opening series, splitting a pair of games at Tabasco and
taking all
three home games against Campeche last weekend to start the campaign
with a 7-1
mark.
Yucatan's pitching, a
traditional strength for the Merida
team, has been exceptional thus far, turning in a team ERA of just 1.39
as last
year's LMB Pitcher of the Year Yoanner Negrin and veteran Jonathan
Castellanos
(pictured) won their first two
starts. Negrin has picked up where he
left off, blanking the Tigres over six innings in the March 31 season
opener at
Parque Kukulcan and holding Campeche to one run on two hits and no
walks with
seven strikeouts in seven frames last Friday.
Negrin's 0.69 ERA leads the Mexican League, just ahead of
Monterrey's
Angel Castro's 0.79.
Castellanos has quietly
been one of the Liga's top pitchers,
going 48-33 over the past five seasons and missing only one start since
the
start of the 2012 season after battling injury problems earlier in his
career. The 35-year-old righty pitched
five shutout innings against Campeche Saturday after beating the Tigres
on
April 1. With proven offensive
performers like outfielder Jesus Valdez, Leo Heras and Jose Aguilar
plus
newcomer infielders Esteban Quiroz and Yuniesky Betancourt (who has yet
to play
a game for the Leones this season), Yucatan will be tough to beat.
Puebla's rebuilt Pericos
lead the league with a .356 team
batting average to start 6-3 out the gate, good for second in the LMB
South
standings, but the surprise team of the division has to be Leon. The Bravos, who suffered through a miserable
24-88 season in 2016 as the Reynosa Broncos, are tied for third at 5-4
under
veteran skipper Francisco "Paquin" Estrada. While
the team will have to play on the road
until Estadio Domingo Santana in Leon is ready for occupancy later this
month,
the Bravos pulled into a tie for third with Oaxaca and Quintana Roo
after
sweeping the Veracruz Rojo del Aguilas over the weekend.
Former Southern League All-Star outfielder
Alfredo Marte leads Leon with a .424 average and 9 RBIs while ten-year
minor
league pitcher Mitch Lively is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA after two starts.
In the LMB North, Monclova
has surprised nobody by winning
six of their first nine games to take a one-game lead in the standings. Puebla's losses have been the Acereros' gain
as owner Benavides transferred several key members of his 2016 pennant
winners
to Monclova's already-strong team in hopes of bringing a championship
to his
home state. Free agent signee Matt
Clark, a former NCAA home run leader at LSU who hit 25 dingers in 2013
for
Japan's Chunichi Dragons and spent time in Milwaukee in 2014, is
batting .343
with 3 homers and 14 RBIs in 9 games for the Steelers.
Josh Lowey, the LMB's Pitcher of the Year in
2015, won his first two starts for Monclova with 16 strikeouts in 13
innings
for a 2.77 ERA under new manager Wally Backman.
The Acereros lost in Laguna, 5-2, Sunday night to snap a
three-game win
streak.
The surprise team of the
North, and perhaps the entire
league, is Durango. The very existence
of the Generales for the 2017 was in doubt until days before the season
began,
given the uncertainty over the team's financial situation and whether
their
ballpark, Estadio Francisco Villa, would be ready over the first three
months
of the schedule. Even so, the LMB
Assembly of Presidents approved the former Carmen Delfines moving
forward on a
rare unanimous vote while, like Leon, playing on the road until their
home
field is ready. The Generales didn't
even name a manager until two weeks before the season opener, but Joe
Alvarez
has quickly galvanized his squad to produce a 5-4 start to trail
Monclova by
one game in a three-way tie for second with Tijuana and Aguascalientes. Durango opened the season by beating the
Rieleros, 2-1, on March 31, winning two of three in TJ over the potent
Toros
and then copping a pair of games in Monterrey over the weekend. Cuban outfielder Yadir Drake is off to a hot
start for the Generales, leading the club with a .389 average, 2 homers
and 6
RBIs, but it's been the pitchers doing much of the heavy lifting, as
the
Generales are among the LMB's team ERA leaders at 3.99.
Adrian Garza won his first two starts of the
season, middleman Antonio Garzon has a pair of wins in relief and
closer Tiago
Da Silva's five saves leads the loop.
Saltillo's Luis Borges
leads the LMB with a .500 batting
average after going 13-for-26 over 8 games, Alex Liddi of Tijuana has
crashed 5
homers, Monclova newcomer Manny Rodriguez' 17 RBIs top the circuit and
Justin
Greene has swiped 5 bases for Saltillo to take the early lead in steals. Among pitchers, besides Negrin's 0.69 ERA for
Yucatan and Da Silva's 5 saves for Durango, thirteen pitchers have 2
wins
apiece and Lowey's 16 strikeouts for Monclova are tops in that category.
On the upcoming schedule,
the Quintana Roo Tigres make the
loooong trip from Cancun to Tijuana to face the Toros in a big midweek
series
while next weekend's slate of games includes another big
cross-divisional set
in Monclova when Puebla comes to town.
Somehow, one thinks emotions in the stands will likely run a
little
higher when the Acereros make their first visit to Angelopolis with so
many former
Pericos players on their roster.
MEXICAN LEAGUE
STANDINGS as of March 10, 2017
LMB North:
Monclova 6-3, Aguascalientes 5-4, Durango 5-4, Tijuana 5-4, Laguna,
Monterrey
4-5, Saltillo 4-5, Mexico City 3-6
LMB South:
Yucatan 7-1, Puebla 6-3, Leon 5-4, Oaxaca 5-4, Quintana Roo 5-4,
Campeche 3-6,
Tabasco 3-6, Veracruz 2-7
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