Thousands of articles!
Bruce
Baskin /
Jackie
Robinson Moments
B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
July
10, 2 0 1 7
Molina having standout
year in Veracruz, ERA now at 1.41
Let's start this story
with a proven fact: No matter where
he's pitched, Nestor Molina has been a winner.
Throw out a 6-12 season in 2012 while pitching for the White Sox
organization, and the Venezuelan right-hander has posted a winning
record every
year since his pro baseball debut in 2007, with a career MiLB record of
60-28
in his eleventh summer. Along the way,
Molina was a postseason All-Star in the Class A Florida State League
after
going 10-3 with a 2.58 ERA for the Blue Jays' Dunedin affiliate in 2011
(his
first year as a starter) prior to being sent to the Pale Hose that
winter in a
swap of minor leaguers. He hasn't backed
into that career .682 winning percentage either, registering a 3.13 ERA
over
230 appearances, 92 of them starts.
Even with an impressive
background like that, the 28-year-old
Molina has dialed it up at least one notch this year pitching for the
Veracruz
Rojos del Aguila. Molina raised his 2017
Mexican League record to 10-1 after shutting out Tabasco over six
innings last
Saturday en route to a 3-2 Red Eagles victory in Villahermosa, limiting
the
Olmecas to four singles while striking out four batsmen.
It marked Molina's tenth straight win after
losing an April 8 home game to Leon despite a decent start in which he
gave up
two Bravos runs in six innings.
Consistency has been a hallmark, with only one of 18 starts not
being a
"quality" outing when Molina let in four Durango runs on eleven hits
in six frames during a May 11 no-decision.
Every time out, he gives the Rojos del Aguila a chance to win.
Last weekend's win over
Tabasco lowered Molina's earned-run
average to 1.41 on the season, more than a full run better than
Tijuana's
Carlos Hernandez at 2.44. His ERA stood
at 2.54 after that rocky start against Durango, but he has lowered it
in each
of his next nine starts over the past two months. In
that stretch, Molina's ERA has been a
microscopic 0.42 with with 47 strikeouts and 17 walks over 66 innings. Molina is second in the Mexican League in
strikeouts with 90 whiffs in 121.1 innings, trailing only Monclova's
Josh
Lowey's 108 punchouts.
Although the Veracruz
roster has past and present All-Stars
like first baseman Balbino Fuenmayor and outfielder Luis Suarez, Molina
is
clearly the main reason the Red Eagles have passed the Quintana Roo
Tigres into
third place in the punchless LMB South with a 37-43 record. Although being six games under .500 is
nothing to write home about, Veracruz might be battling to keep out of
the
division cellar if manager Eddy Castro couldn't send Molina to the
mound every
five games. Instead, they're positioning
themselves for the playoffs after finishing sixth in the LMB South in
2016.
Veracruz is one of the
Liga's oldest baseball cities. The Rojos
del Aguila predate the Mexican
League by more than two decades, making their debut in 1903. The team is the oldest in the circuit, with
six LMB pennants since 1937 while such baseball greats as Hall of Famer
Martin
Dihigo (who led the Red Eagles to titles in 1937 and 1938), Santos
Amaro,
Roberto Ortiz, Al Pinkston, Pilo Gaspar, Ramon Arano and Miguel
Fernandez have
worn Veracruz jerseys. Jorge Pasquel,
who briefly challenged the hegemony of Major League Baseball in the
1940's, was
a Veracruzano. While it's unlikely
anyone in the LMB South will challenge Yucatan in the postseason this
year
(although defending champion Puebla has shown some signs of life
lately),
Nestor Molina will likely carry the Rojos del Aguila on his back to
their first
playoff berth since 2013.
Things have heated up
considerably in the North, where
Tijuana loosened Monterrey's season-long grip on first place by
sweeping the
Sultanes at Estadio Monterrey in a midweek series last week before
going into
Monclova for a weekend series with the red-hot Acereros.
Monclova won the first two games of the
series to stretch their winning streak to ten games before the Toros
took
Sunday's closer, 1-0, as Monclova starter Miguel Pena combined with
three
relievers for a six-hit shutout. Corey
Brown's fifth-inning double off hardluck Acereros starter Mauricio Lara
drove
in Isaac Rodriguez with the game's lone run as Pena's record rose to
8-2 while
his ERA fell to 3.12. For their part,
Monterrey dropped the first two games of their home series with Mexico
City
before bouncing back Sunday to blank the Diablos Rojos, 8-0. Angel Castro tossed seven innings of
three-hit ball to go to 10-3 on the season and Ramon Rios cracked a
fifth-inning grand slam off Diablos Rojos starter Efren Delgado in the
Sultanes
win.
The result of all this
activity is that Tijuana maintains a
tenuous half-game lead over Monterrey while Monclova has moved to
three-and-a-half games back in third.
The Aguascalientes Rieleros hold fourth place after winning
their first
eight games in July before dropping a 5-4 decision to Laguna at home
Sunday. Puro
Beisbol editor/columnist Fernando Ballesteros calls the Railroaders
"dangerous" because they have more pitching depth than most LMB teams
along with solid everyday players like MVP candidate Jesse Castillo,
ageless
All-Star Saul Soto, outfielder Dave Sappelt and newcomer third baseman
Michael
Wing, who's hit .441 with five homers in his first 20 games in Rieleros
togs. Suffice to say, nobody wants to
face this team in the playoffs.
With former Durango
outfielder Yadir Drake and his .385
batting average gone to Japan, the Cuban (who'll barely qualify for the
batting
title) set the bar for the rest of the Liga's hitters to catch up to. At this point, Drake's lead in the batting
race appears safe. His former Generales
teammate, Daniel Mayora, has moved into a tie with Monterrey's Chris
Roberson
for second place on the table with .367 averages. Mayora
missed a couple weeks with an injury
shortly after his 35-game hitting streak ended, but he's gone 6-for-14
(.429)
over three games since his July 6 return.
Tijuana's Brown homered Thursday and Saturday to become the
first LMB
batsman to reach 20 homers for the season, two ahead of Monclova's Matt
Clark
and Raniel Rosario of Saltillo. Brown
has also gone 12-of-14 on stolen base attempts and while his .292
average will
hamper his MVP aspirations, the former Oklahoma State star has been a
linchpin
in the Toros lineup this summer. Yucatan
first baseman Ricky Alvarez' 86 RBIs are 12 ahead of Monclova second
sacker
Manny Rodriguez' 72, while Acereros outfielder Justin Greene is running
away
with the stolen base title (couldn't resist) with 38 swipes, well ahead
of
Mexico City speedster Carlos Figueroa's 23.
As mentioned, Veracruz'
Molina (10-1/1.41/90K) is on his way
to a career year and should be considered the frontrunner for Pitcher
of the
Year honors by keeping an at-best mediocre Red Eagles team in the
playoff
hunt. However, there have been a number
of top pitching efforts in the 2017 LMB season.
Former Mets farmhand Octavio Acosta of Mexico City won at
Monterrey,
8-1, Saturday for his Liga-leading eleventh win. The
11-1 Acosta has an ERA of 2.71 with 82
strikeouts in 99.1 innings pitched.
Besides Molina, Monterrey's Castro, Yohan Flande of
Aguascalientes and
Yucatan ace Yoanner Negrin (2016's Pitcher of the Year) have all
reached the
10-win threshold. Monclova's Lowey is
well out in front of Molina in the strikeout derby by a 108-90 margin
and
Monterrey closer Wirfin Obispo has overtaken Durango's injured Tiago da
Silva
in the saves department. Obispo has
preserved 22 Sultanes wins while da Silva had 20 saves for the
Generales before
going on the shelf following a two-inning stint at Tijuana on June 11.
Coming up in the Mexican
League, it'll be a crossover week as
all eight LMB North teams do battle with counterparts in the South. The most intriguing midweek series appears to
be scheduled for Puebla, where the Pericos will host Aguascalientes in
a
matchup of teams positioning themselves for postseason runs. The best series next weekend is slated for
Torreon, where Union Laguna welcomes Yucatan as both teams owned by the
Arellano brothers clash. It'll be the
first game back at Estadio Revolucion for Yucatan's Ricky Alvarez, who
was
traded to the Leones late last month, touching off a firestorm of
criticism
among Laguna fans and lower attendance at subsequent Vaqueros home
games. The numbers may rise next weekend
but a
festive mood is unlikely.
FOR MORE BASEBALL NEWS
FROM MEXICO, VISIT
www.BaseballMexico.com