MOCHIS CLINGS TO TOP AS LMP’S FINAL WEEK BEGINS

The Los Mochis Caneros parlayed a recent six-game win streak into a tenuous lead in the Mexican Pacific League second half standings as the final week of the regular season gets underway. The Caneros lost, 9-6, to Mazatlan Sunday to drop to a 19-10 record, just ahead of 19-11 Hermosillo and 18-11 Culiacan. Mochis finished next-to-last in the first half to gather just 3.5 points but their strong second half showing has assured them of a playoff berth.

Only hapless Navojoa is mathematically out of the six-team postseason picture while Mazatlan and Mexicali are fighting to keep from playoff elimination. Mazatlan wraps up their series in Mochis Monday before hosting Hermosillo in a three-game series while Mexicali ends a set with the Naranjeros Monday prior to a closing series at home against Guasave.

Mochis’ Sandy Madera has taken the lead in the hitting derby with a .360 average while Luis Alfonso Garcia has 21 homers and 60 RBIs to hold comfortable advantages in both categories. Among pitchers, the Caneros’ Alberto Castillo has 9 wins (two more than his closest competitors), Obregon’s Marco Quevedo has taken the ERA lead with a 2.63 figure in the wake of the departure of Hermosillo’s Travis Blackley, and Mexicali’s Andy Sisco is maintaining his season-long strikeouts lead with 80 whiffs.