The
World Baseball Softball Confederation's U-23 Baseball World Cup
started last Thursday in Mexico. Twelve national teams comprised of
players aged 24 or under (special dispensation for players who were
23 when last year's BWC was postponed) are taking part in
tripleheaders at Hermosillo's Estadio Sonora and Estadio Yaquis in
Obregon. The two six-team groups are competing in seven-inning,
round-robin first stage games through Monday night, plus last
Thursday's rained-out group A contest between Cuba and the Dominican
Republic rescheduled for this Tuesday. Host Mexico won three
consecutive games after dropping their opener to clinch a berth in
the Super Round.
Mexico pitcher Alemao Hernandez
Mexico got off to a bad Group A start with a 5-1 upset loss to the Czech Republic last Thursday in Obregon despite holding the Czechs to two hits. One of those was a bases-loaded double by Marek Chlup off Mexican starter Saul Castellanos in the top of the third that drove in three runs. Fabricio Macias singled and later scored from third on a Brandon Valenzuela groundout in the sixth for the lone Mexican score with 2,233 watching at Estadio Yaquis.
Mexico came back Friday night with a 5-0 shutout over Cuba as 1,651 looked on in Obregon. Alemao Hernandez picked up the win by tossing 5.1 innings of two-hit ball with four strikeouts during the combined whitewash. It was a 2-0 until Macias belted the first pitch in the top of the seventh for a homer while Reivaj Garcia's two-run single capped the scoring for the night. Cuba starter Bryan Chi was tagged with the loss after allowing two runs in 5.2 innings.
The Mexicans won Saturday's game against the Dominican Republic, 8-2, thanks to a six-run sixth inning that broke open a 2-2 contest. Kevin Zamudio sliced a two-run double while Valenzuela chipped in with a two-run single in breaking the game open. A gathering a 2,714 watched as Keven Lamas hit an early homer in support of starter Alejandro Chavez, who tossed five innings of two-hit, two run ball against the Dominicans.
Mexico
then punched its ticket to the Super Round with a 3-0 win over Taiwan
on Sunday. Javier Salazar scored from third on a first-inning wild
pitch after singling earlier in the frame. Macias made it a 2-0 lead
in the fourth by doubling to deep left, to bring in Lamas from second
and Valenzuela completed the scoring in the fifth by singling and
then motoring around to score on an Agustin Ruiz double to left
center. Juan Tellez scattered three hits over four innings for the
win as 2,177 took in the contest at Estadio Yaquis.
Mexico outfielder Fabricio Macias
The top three finishers in each group will advance to the Super Round in Hermosillo while the bottom three converge in Obregon for the Consolation Round starting on Wednesday. Each team will carry their first-round record into the next stage, where they'll play games against the three teams arriving from the opposite group. The tournament concludes on Saturday in Hermosillo when the third and fourth place Super Round finishers meet in the Bronze Medal game at 1:00PM local time, followed by a Gold Medal game between the top two Super Round finishers at 7:30PM.
WBSC U-23 BASEBALL WORLD CUP SCHEDULE/RESULTS
Thursday,
September 23
Taiwan
7, Germany 0 (Zhuang-Chen Zhong-Ao 5 innings pitched, 6 hits, 9
strikeouts)
Colombia
7, Panama 1 (Elkin Alcala allowed 1 run on 4 hits in 7-inning
complete game)
Cuba
vs. Dominican Republic in Obregon rained out, rescheduled for
September 28
Nicaragua
6, South Korea 4 (Luis Montealto doubled, homered and had 5 RBIs)
Czech
Republic 5, Mexico 1 (Marek Chlup had 2 hits, including 3-run
2B in top of 3rd)
Venezuela
9, Netherlands 4 (Roberto Perez belted a 3-run homer in win)
Friday,
September 24
Dominican
Republic 8, Germany 4 (Francis Florentino, Fabian Sandro both hit
2-run Hrs)
Panama
13, Nicaragua 6 (Panama 7 runs in top of 8th, Abraham Rodriguez 2-run
HR)
Taiwan
4, Czech Republic 1 (Chen Sheng-Ping's 2-run double keyed 4-run top
of 1st)
South
Korea 8, Netherlands 7 (Jung Min-Kyu walkoff run from 3rd on error in
bottom of 8th)
Mexico
5, Cuba 0 (Alemao Hernandez 5.1 shutout innings on 2 hits with 4
strikeouts)
Venezuela
3, Colombia 2 (Roberto Perez singled, doubled and scored 2 runs)
Saturday,
September 25
Germany
6, Czech Republic 4 (David Grimes had two-run double in top of 3rd)
Panama
5, South Korea 2 (Adrian Montero went 3-for-4, scored 2 runs and had
an RBI)
Cuba
2, Taiwan 1 (Yuddiel Gonzalez' 2-run homer in bottom of 7th was
enough for win)
Colombia
10, Netherlands 0 (Luis Moreno allowed 3 hits, had 7 K's in 6-inning
shutout)
Mexico
8, Dominican Republic 2 (Kevin Zamudio's 2-run double aided 6-run
6th)
Venezuela
6, Nicaragua 3 (Juan Fernandez' 2-run HR keyed 3-run top of 3rd)
Sunday,
September 26
Cuba
10, Germany 3 (Marlon Vega allowed 1 run on 1 hit in 5 innings
pitched, struck out 8)
Netherlands
4, Panama 1 (Tyriq Kemp hit 2-run homer during 4-run 4th for
Dutchmen)
Dominican
Republic 2, Czech Republic 0 (Jordan Sandoval hit 2-run HR in mercy
rule win)
Colombia
10, Nicaragua 0 (Jordan Diaz socked 2-run HR, added RBI double in
shutout)
Mexico
3, Taiwan 0 (Juan Tellez and two relievers combined on a three-hit
shutout)
Venezuela
3, South Korea 0 (Roberto Perez' 2-run double aided 4 pitchers in
2-hit shutout)
Monday,
September 27
Game
25: Cuba vs. Czech Republic (Group A) in Obregon
Game
26: Nicaragua vs. Netherlands (Group B) in Hermosillo
Game
27: Dominican Republic vs. Taiwan (Group A) in Obregon
Game
28: Panama vs. Venezuela (Group B) in Hermosillo
Game
29: Germany vs. Mexico (Group A) in Obregon
Game
30: Colombia vs. South Korea (Group B) in Hermosillo
Tuesday,
September 28
Game
3: Cuba vs. Dominican Republic (rescheduled group A) in Obregon
STANDINGS
(through Sunday, September 26)
GROUP
A: Mexico 3-1, Cuba 2-1, Dominican Republic 2-1, Taiwan
2-2, Czech Republic 1-3, Germany 1-3.
GROUP
B: Venezuela 4-0, Colombia 3-1, Panama 2-2, South Korea 1-3,
Nicaragua 1-3, Netherlands 1-3.
MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE ROAD TRIP: Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
For
the next ten weeks, BASEBALL MEXICO will be taking an updated virtual
road trip to all ten Mexican Pacific League cities. We'll start in
Monterrey, then cut across to Mexicali and head south through
Mazatlan before wrapping up our online journey in Guadalajara.
The
Mexican Baseball Road Trip (which touched down in all 24 cities in
both the LMP and Mexican League) was first carried in the old VIVA
BEISBOL column and repeated during BBM's first year in 2009. Each
stop on our Mex Pac tour will include some revised text:
Our Mex
Pac Road Trip begins in Monterrey, home of the Sultanes (who also
field a summer team in the Mexican League), capital of the state of
Nuevo Leon, the leading city in northern Mexico and the industrial
center of the nation. Monterrey sits in the Sierra Madre Oriental
foothills and was founded in 1596 by Diego de Montemayor, but it
wasn’t until after the War of Independence in the 1820’s that it
started blossoming as an important business center.
Downtown Monterrey, Nuevo Leon
Present-day Monterrey is home to over five million metropolitan residents and is Mexico’s second-largest city behind Mexico City. Although daytime high temperatures regularly hit the 90's during summer, winters are actually quite pleasant, with daytime highs usually in the low 70's between November and February.
Visitors will not be impressed by the factories, traffic and smog they’ll encounter here, but Monterrey’s city center is actually quite pleasant, with a combination of colonial elegance and modern architecture and statues. The heart of Monterrey, many say, lies in the Plaza Zaragosa (also known as the “Macroplaza”), which was created by the demolition of six complete city blocks in downtown Monterrey. The crown jewel of the Macroplaza is the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, or MARCO, a museum that is considered a “don’t-miss” experience for art lovers visiting Monterrey. While not as beautiful on an overall basis as some of the more colonial cities in Mexico’s south, Monterrey has much to offer those willing to look past the industrial congestion that creates the city’s wealth.
Home to three past Little League World Series champions, Monterrey is also in some aspects the center of Mexican baseball. It is home of the Salon de la Fama, the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame, which was originally opened in 1971 at the Cuauhtemoc Brewery grounds. After its 2012 closure at the behest of the brewery, Mexico City billionaire Alfredo Harp Helu provided over US$18 million in funding for a beautiful new facility that opened in 2019. Over 200 immortals from Mexican baseball are enshrined there.
In
nearby El Carmen sits the Mexican Baseball Academy, where all 16 LMB
teams share funding for the 100 young domestic athletes hoping to
develop into pro ballplayers. The complex consists of 56 dormitory
rooms, four baseball fields, four batting cages, a computer room,
weight room, cafeteria, infirmary and a plaza where players can
congregate. In the past, the Academia has operated an eight-team
rookie league during the winter.
Estadio Monterrey, home of the Sultanes
The Monterrey Sultanes are one of the Mexican League’s flagship franchises and have won ten LMB championships since their founding in 1939. The Sultanes added a Mexican Pacific League team in the 2019 expansion, which has yet to reach the playoffs in two seasons. Both teams play home games in Mexico’s largest ballpark, the 22,000-seat Estadio de Beisbol Monterrey. It was the first venue in the country to have hosted Major League Baseball regular season games in 1996.
MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Ramon Arano, Pitcher
Ramon
Arano is one of only two men to have pitched in six different decades
in professional baseball history (the other is Hub Kittle), and is
the only man to have won 300 or more games in one minor league.
While Arano never reached 20 wins in a season, the workhorse hurler
won 10+ games 18 times and holds LMB career record with 334 wins, 57
shutouts, 297 complete games and 4,773 innings pitched.
Ramon Arano at his peak with Diablos
The diminutive Arano made his Liga debut for Poza Rica in 1959, going 8-9 with the Petroleros with a 4.47 ERA. He spent the next three seasons with Veracruz, including a disastrous 1960 campaign in which he was mainly used out of the bullpen and lost all five of his decisions with a sky-high 6.53 ERA. Arano turned things around in 1961, turning in an 11-3 record to lead the LMB in winning percentage for the pennant-winning Aguilas. He then reeled off 46 wins over the next three campaigns and made his only journey to play pro ball north of the border at the end of the 1962 campaign with Oklahoma City of the American Association, going 1-1 with a 9.82 ERA in three appearances.
Following a mediocre 9-8 season with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in 1965, Arano went on another three-year skein of effective pitching between 1966 and 1968, showing a 48-32 record with 400 strikeouts and a sub-3.00 ERA each season. An injury-shortened 1969 saw him go 5-7 before yet another three-year run of double-digit victories despite pitching for three teams (the Diablos, Saltillo and Cordoba) in that span. After another shortened year with the Cafeteros in 1973, Arano went on an eight-year tear of solid pitching.
Between 1974 and 1981, Arano won between 12 and 19 games every season while consistently registering sub-3.00 ERAs, winning 19 games in both 1978 and 1979. He spent the strike-split 1980 season with Reynosa and won 14 games for the Broncos and turned in a 14-5 mark for the Diablos Rojos in 1981.
Arano
bounced around a bit after that, although he did go 11-9 for Veracruz
as a 44-year-old in 1984. He retired in 1986 before coming back in
1995 with the Aguilas, throwing one game in 1998 with Cordoba, and
finally made one three-inning appearance in 2001 as a 62-year-old
pitching coach for Veracruz.
Pitching for Veracruz at age 62
In all, Arano played in a total of 32 seasons (a Mexican League record) with eight teams. He also played winterball in the Mexican Pacific League for 15 seasons, compiling a decent 89-84 record with a solid 2.81 ERA and a no-hitter. Among his career highlights, Arano shut out Cleveland 4-0 in a 1967 exhibition game, but he saved the best for the following year. In a game in Mexico City, Arano beat Jim Bouton and the New York Yankees, 5-3, striking out Mickey Mantle twice.
Arano, a Veracruz native who passed away in 2012 at age 72, was inducted into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. His nickname as a player was "Don Pantalones" (loosely translated, "The Man Who Wears the Big Pants"), a good name for the winningest pitcher in Mexican baseball history.
No comments:
Post a Comment