Saturday, April 30, 2011

Mexican League results of Friday, Apr. 29, 2011

CAMPECHE 4-9-0, Veracruz 0-2-0
W-Ruiz (1-3). L-Vargas (4-2).
Miguel Ruiz (pictured, 7IP), Renan Martinez and Jose Silva combined on a 2-hitter for Piratas as Roberto Valencia whacked a 2-run homer.

Puebla 16-26-0, LAGUNA 6-12-1
W-Meza (6-1). L-Delgadillo (1-3).
Pericos starter Andres Meza went to 6-1, but Iron Mike could’ve won this one as Puebla collected 26 hits (three batters had 4 safeties apiece).

Monterrey 12-16-2, MEXICO CITY 10-15-3
W-Menchaca (2-1). L-Delgado (1-1).
Eleven Sultanes players hit safely, including Humberto Cota, who was 3-for-4 with a double, homer and 2 RBIs.

MONCLOVA 6-11-2, Oaxaca 5-13-1
W-Bustillos (1-1). L-Butto (2-2).
Amaury Cazana’s walkoff single to left off Francisco Butto scored Jose Salazar with the winning run for Acereros.

Reynosa 8-13-0, SALTILLO 6-12-1
W-Alvarez (4-1). L-Hernandez (2-3).
Jesse Gutierrez had 3 hits and 3 RBIs (socking a 2-run homer in the 9th) for Broncos, who overcame 4-2 deficit with 4 runs in 7th inning.

Minatitlan 7-14-0, TABASCO 1-8-4
W-Solis (3-3). L-Vizcarra (3-1).
Carlos Rivera had 3 hits and 3 RBIs for Petros as Tabasco starter William Vizcarra was victimized by 3 unearned runs in 4.2 innings on mound.

QUINTANA ROO 4-8-0, Yucatan 1-6-0
W-Etherton (2-2). L-Bustillos (2-4).
Seth Etherton allowed 1 run and struck out 7 over 6 innings for Tigres, who got 2 hits and 2 RBIs from Ricardo Vazquez.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Andres Meza has been outstanding in last year's season and winter ball season, and he continues where he left off. He's one of the very few pitching aces in Mexico. Do you think he would stand a chance in USA Triple-A leagues?

Anonymous said...

By the way, it's great you are still posting news about this league. Another thing, how would you rate Mexican Triple A compared to USA leagues? For my feeling, Mexican AAA is quite a bit below the US AAA level, you can see it when sometimes a decent player from US AAA switches to Mexico for a season, he's usually among the league leaders in batting or pitching. So I would say Mexican AAA is between US AAA and AA level, would you second that? Especially when it comes to pitching, I even think that most Double A pitchers would do quite well in Mexican AAA. I think it's a very interesting question.

Bruce said...

It's hard to quantify how a player's success (or lack thereof) in the US translates when they play elsewhere. Frank Howard and Bob Horner were stars in the majors for years but did little in Japan; conversely, Leron Lee wasn't a starter in the big leagues here but a very successful player in Japan for years. You just never know...as much of it depends on how the player adapts to a foreign culture as it does to adapting to a foreign way of playing ball.

I think the hitting in Mexico is at least the equal of the IL or PCL, maybe a little better. There are a LOT of veterans in the Liga who just know how to swing a bat. They may be aided by some smaller ballparks or higher altitudes, but many of these guys are just damned good batters who would (I believe) do as well in Salt Lake City and Syracuse as they do in Saltillo.

As far as pitching goes, I'm with you on that. There are some very good pitchers in the MXL. You mentioned Meza, who's solid, and I'd throw in Roberto Ramirez, Joel Vargas, Pablo Ortega and Marco Quevedo, to name a few. Overall, though, I rate Liga pitchers at AA in quality. As mentioned, ballparks and altitude can affect a pitcher's ERA, but you still have to throw strikes. There are six teams letting in 5.10 or more earned runs a game, and nobody is below 4.43.

Good discussion.