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Bruce
Baskin /
Jackie
Robinson Moments
B a s e b a l l
M e x i c o
May
8, 2 0 1 7
LMB: Leones lengthen
lead, Paquin sent packing, Robo rolls on in Monterrey
While the Mexican League's
Northern Division has been a
dogfight over the first month of the 2017 regular season, the LMB South
has
been more or less the sole domain of the Yucatan Leones thus far. The 21-11 Lions are the hottest team in the
Liga right now, winning 11 of their last 13 games to pull into a
five-and-a-half game lead over defending champion Puebla and Campeche
(both
15-16 on the season as Yucatan is the sole team with a winning record
iu the
LMB South).
Pitching has always been a
mainstay of Yucatan baseball and
it remains a team hallmark this year at Merida's Estadio Kukulcan. The Leones are third in the Liga with a team
ERA of 3.67 and tied with Tijuana for second with a 1.34 WHIP
(Monterrey leads
in both categories at 3.19 and 1.22, respectively) behind the starting
pitching
of 2016 Pitcher of the Year Yoanner Negrin (5-1 and 2.64) and two-time
All-Star
Juan Delgadillo (4-1 and 3.41), but it's really the bullpen that's
carried the
mound staff. Five relievers have ERAs of
3.00 or less, with former MLBer Jairo Asencio thriving in the closer's
role
with a 1-0 record, 12 saves and a 2.12 ERA.
Asencio has allowed 13 hits and two walks in 17 innings for an
0.88 WHIP
while striking out 19 batsmen.
The Leones offense has
been steady if unspectacular, with
very few holes in the batting order.
While Yucatan's team batting average of .280 is in the bottom
half of
that league table, they've benefitted from opportunistic hitting from
the likes
of LF Jesus "Cacao" Valdez (.360 with 2 homers and 15 RBIs), RF Leo
Heras (.345/2/14), 2B Jordany Valdespin (.298/2/18) and SS Esteban
Quiroz
(.281/3/16). Former Mariners IF Yuniesky
Betancourt (.325/1/9) signed with the Leones in the offseason but
wasn't
activated until April 26. After starting off 1-for-15 over his first
four
games, Betancourt has since gone 12-for-25 (.480) while building up a
seven-game hitting streak through last weekend's series with Veracruz. The Leones will never bludgeon opponents
offensively like Laguna has been doing as long as they play in
pitching-friendly Estadio Kukulcan, but this year's batting order looks
to be a
death-by-a-thousand-cuts proposition for the pitchers facing them.
Where Yucatan has been
able to create some breathing room
between themselves and the rest of the division, the Leon Bravos faded
badly
following a decent start after playing the first two weeks of the
season on the
road, and that cost manager Francisco "Paquin" Estrada his job. Estrada had already survived a spring of
uncertainty due to his reported virtual
kidnapping
episode during training camp, which
drew international attention, and living out of a suitcase for the
first five
series of the regular season before Leon hosted its first home game on
April 19
(a day after the scheduled opener was postponed due to a power outage
at
Estadio Domingo Santana). Although the
Bravos blanked Mexico City, 8-0, in their Leon debut, the team then won
just
two of their next 14 games, marked by three four-game losing streaks
before
Estrada got the axe prior to last weekend's series at home against
Tabasco with
the team at 10-20. Estrada was replaced
at the helm by Luis Carlos Rivera (pictured),
who then steered the Bravos to a three-game sweep of the Olmecas to
bring them
up to 13-20 on the season. Rivera, a
former pitcher who had cups of MLB coffee with Atlanta and Baltimore in
2000,
spent 11 years in pro ball before retiring in 2010 at age 32.
Meanwhile, in the Northern
Division, Tijuana continued to
ride the hot bats of OFs Cyle Hankerd (.351/8/32), Dustin Martin
(.307/6/30)
and Corey Brown (.291/12/41) to cobble together a six-game winning
streak for
an LMB-best record of 23-9, but Monterrey sits a half-step behind at
22-9. As mentioned, the Sultanes have
received some
very good pitching this spring, particularly from starters Angel Castro
(4-0
and 2.33) and Ken Sigman (3-0, 3.41), closer Wirfin Obispo (3-1, 1.11
with 4
saves) and now Alfredo Aceves (3.12 in two starts).
However, you have to go to the top of the
Monterrey batting order to put a finger on the catalyst.
Leadoff hitter Chris
Roberson, an Oakland native who married
a Mexican woman and has achieved dual citizenship, has topped the .300
mark all
six years he's patrolled center field for the Sultanes, averaging 19
stolen
bases and 12 homers per season along the way.
This year, Robo is outdoing himself early by leading the LMB
with a .435
average, 19 points ahead of Saltillo 2B Luis Borges, while his 10
homers are
second in the loop. As befits his
leadoff status, Roberson's 31 runs scored are tied for third in the
Liga with
Laguna 1B Ricky Alvarez, trailing only two other Vaqueros, RF Jonathan
Jones
(34) and 2B Anderson Hernandez (32).
Tijuana's Brown launched a pair of homers in Aguascalientes last
Thursday to bring his roundtripper total to 12 for the season, two
ahead of
Roberson. Alvarez' 45 RBIs are tops in
the circuit, four more than Brown and Monclova 1B Matt Clark. Saltillo OF Justin Greene continues to lead
in stolen bases with 11 swipes, but has just one steal since April 25. Tijuana's Martin and Laguna LF Ethan Martin
are tied for second with nine steals each.
Among pitchers, nobody
broke the six-win barrier but
Yucatan's Negrin joined Frankie de la Cruz of Saltillo and Laguna's
Edgar Osuna
and Dustin Crenshaw in the five-win circle.
Negrin, whose April 13 loss to Mexico City was his first in the
regular
season since May 1 of last year, is 5-1 thus far in 2017 with a 2.64
ERA that
ranks tenth in the LMB. That category is
led by Saltillo's Raul Carrillo, who shows a 1.27 figure after four
starts and
three relief appearances to go with a 1-1 record. Leon's Walter Silva
is second
at 1.72 to go with his 3-2 mark. Irwin
Delgado of Oaxaca has passed Monclova's Josh Lowey in the strikeout
derby, 43
to 41. Delgado has one more start and
seven more innings than Lowey, whose 1.11 whiffs per inning tops
Delgado's .98
rate. In the saves department, Yucatan's
Asencio (12) has overtaken Durango's Brazilian closer Tiago da Silva
(11) after
converting his last six save opportunities.
Da Silva continues to pitch well for the Generales, with a 1.88
ERA, but
the LMB's 2014 Reliever of the Year hasn't had a lead to preserve with
Durango
in the throes of a 12-game losing streak through last weekend.
On the schedule this week,
the top midweek series will be in
Monterrey, when the Laguna Vaqueros visit for a meeting of the Liga's
top
offense versus the league's best pitching staff. The
Vaqueros are third behind Tijuana and
Monterrey in the LMB North at 21-12.
Campeche hosts Yucatan for three games between Tuesday and
Thursday in
an important trio of LMB South games.
Next weekend’s biggest
series appears to be the
Monclova-Laguna set in Torreon. The
Acereros were predicted to challenge for a pennant in 2017 after most
of last
year's key players on Puebla's title team were moved north by Gerardo
Benavides
(who owns both teams) to augment an already-solid Monclova roster, but
the team
has not performed to expectations thus far, starting this week with an
18-15
record. The club did win four straight
games last week, including a sweep of reeling Durango, but Benavides
(whose
grandfather founded the team in 1974) is in "win now" mode and while
it's no secret that manager Wally Backman would leave Mexico in a
heartbeat if
a better offer came along, his team needs to do better or his exit may
not be
in concert with another gig north of the border. As
the saying goes, "Wherever you go,
there you are" and, Wally, right now you're in Monclova with a very
talented team and one of the Liga's most loyal fan bases.
Make the most of it.
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