CULIACAN, JALISCO RISK MISSING LMP PLAYOFFS

Gracias y Adios, Chapo!

    With nine games remaining in the 2022-23 regular season, most of the intrigue over the Mexican Pacific League's final week will be at the bottom of the standings rather than the top. Two Mex Pac powers of recent winters, Culiacan and defending champion Jalisco, are in danger of missing the postseason altogether this season after meeting in a thrilling LMP championship series last January that required the maximum seven games to decide.

    How times have changed.

    Now, instead of their usual jockeying for playoff seeding over the last ten days of the schedule, both the Tomateros and Charros are fighting to simply keep playing when the first round opens in January. If the regular season had ended yesterday, the two clubs would be out of the running due to a projected total of 8.5 playoff points and a ninth-place finish for Culiacan while Jalisco projects to a last-place overall finish with 7.5 playoff points. Their respective front offices have noticed, with manager Benji Gill barely avoiding his ouster in Culiacan while the axe fell on Roberto Vizcarra in Guadalajara days ago.

    The two teams played each other over the weekend in Guadalajara with the Charros sweeping all three games over the Tomateros as over 25,000 fans were in the stands between Friday and Sunday. Jalisco broke out the brooms Sunday with a dominant 8-1 win over the visitors as starter Yoennis Yera scattered three hits over seven innings of one-run pitching with six strikeouts. Veterans Jose Aguilar and Agustin Murillo each had two hits and scored twice for the winners while Alexis Wilson singled in Joey Meneses with Culiacan's lone run in the top of the second as new Jalisco manager Gil Velazquez went to 3-0 after his hiring on Friday.

    Gil Velazquez? This being the “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately?” world of Mexican baseball, the season-long struggle for the Charros proved too tempting for Jalisco ownership to resist firing manager Vizcarra last Friday, less than a year after leading the team to their second pennant in four years and Caribbean Series appearance (both times under his leadership). Velazquez, who was canned himself in Mexicali after this season's first half, was named the new Charros manager before the series opener on Friday night. Along with ex-MLBers Vinny Castilla and Tony Perezchica, Velazquez was named as a coach for Mexico in next year's World Baseball Classic under manager Gil. All were named by team general manager Rodrigo Lopez, a former Baltimore Orioles starting pitcher.

    Meanwhile, in the more rarefied air at the top of the standings, Hermosillo holds a one-game lead over Los Mochis despite dropping a 6-2 game at Navojoa Sunday while the Caneros pounded out a 12-8 decision over Monterrey at home. Both teams are playoff shoe-ins due to finishing in first and third, respectively, in the first half. Obregon and Mexicali are tied for third in the second-half standings three games behind Los Mochis. The Yaquis came in second in the first half and have punched their ticket to the quarterfinals but Mexicali (who finished seventh) will have to maintain their current spot to hold off Mazatlan, Monterrey and Navojoa among the middle-tier teams fighting for postseason seeding berths.

    Monterrey's Roberto Valenzuela is batting .369 and, barring a precipitous late collapse at the plate, stands to beat out Los Mochis teammates Yasmany Tomas (.336) and Justin Dean (.329) for the batting title. Tomas socked three homers last week to bring his season total to 10, tying him with Mexicali's Anthony Giansanti and Jesse Castillo of Jalisco for the league lead.Tomas has also brought his RBI total to 52 to take a commanding lead over Obregon teammates Victor Mendoza (45) and Yadir Drake (41). Jose Cardona of Hermosillo and Mazatlan's Randy Romero are tied for the stolen bases lead at 20 swipes each, five ahead of the 15 pilferages by Los Mochis' Dean.

    Among pitchers, the numbers for wins leaders remain unchanged from last week as Hermosillo's Wilmer Rios' seven victories are one more than the six apiece for Nico Tellache (Guasave), David Reyes (Mexicali) and Juan Tellez (Mazatlan). Los Mochis' Luis Miranda rebounded from two bad starts to post seven shutout innings at Obregon last Wednesday to lower his ERA to 1.02, ahead of Braulio Torres-Perez of Mazatlan at 1.33 and Guasave's Matt Pobereyko's 1.94 mark. Pobereyko's 60 strikeouts trail only the 62 of Culiacan's Manny Barreda while Gusave moundmate Gino Encina's 56 K's rank third. Elkin Alcala of Mazatlan hasn't posted a save since December 9 but his 17 still lead the LMP, with Guasave's Brandon Koch's 14 and the 13 each of Joe Riley (Monterrey) and Jake Sanchez (Mexicali) good for the next three slots on the list.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE STANDINGS
Hermosillo 16-7 (10.0), Los Mochis 15-8 (7.0), Obregon 13-10 (8.0), Guasave 11-12 (9.0), Mexicali 12-11 (5.0), Culiacan 10-13 (3.5), Monterrey 10-13 (4.5), Navojoa 10-13 (5.5), Mazatlan 9-14 (6.0), Jalisco 9-14 (4.0). Note: First-half playoff points in parentheses.

REMAINING REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE
Dec. 20-21-22: Los Mochis at Mazatlan, Mexicali at Guasave, Culiacan at Hermosillo, Navojoa at Obregon, Jalisco at Monterrey.
Dec. 23-24: No games scheduled
Dec. 25-26-26: Obregon at Culiacan, Guasave at Navojoa, Monterrey at Mexicali, Hermosillo at Los Mochis, Mazatlan at Jalisco.
Dec. 27-28-29: Navojoa at Mazatlan, Mexicali at Hermosillo, Los Mochis at Guasave, Jalisco at Obregon, Culiacan at Monterrey.


MANNY RODRIGUEZ RETIRING AFTER MEX PAC SEASON

Manny Rodriguez (l) and Amadeo Zazueta

    One of Mexico's best (and most popular) ballplayers over the past two decades will hang up his mitt at the conclusion of the current Mexican Pacific League season at age 40.

    Jalisco Charros second baseman Manny Rodriguez was honored during a pregame ceremony Saturday night in Guadalajara, where the Charros hosted Culiacan in a crucual weekend series for both clubs. Rodriguez is in his ninth season for the Charros, all as team capitain, after playing eight winters for his hometown Guasave Algonoderos before the franchise was sold and shifted to Guadalajara in 2014.

    He's never played for another Mex Pac team and has compiled a very respectable. 295 batting average over 17 seasons with 123 homers and 611 RBIs in 1,037 regular season games. Rodriguez was a member of title-winning Jalisco teams in 2019 and 2022 and is a three-time LMP Most Valuable Player. His 233 doubles are second only to Hector Espino in league annals while he ranks fifth on the all-time Mex Pac list with 595 runs scored.

    Receiving applause from over 9,000 fans at Estadio Pan Americano as well as members of both teams, Rodriguez addressed those assembled: “I would like to thank my family and my teammates. Thank you very much for so much support to all the fans. Thank you for being here. I have no words. Thank you, Culiacan Tomateros, for so many years of competition and respect. I admire you and I wish you all the best. I did not know how this farewell was going to be and it exceeded all my expectations. Thank you very much, Jalisco.” 

    Rodriguez had received a Culiacan jersey with his number 13 moments earlier from Tomateros manager Benji Gil, who himself escaped involuntary “retirement” weeks ago after a meeting between Culiacan players and ownership reversed the ex-MLB infielder's firing.

    Born Jose Manuel Rodriguez (but known as “Manny” to fans south of the border), the 5'10” 187-pounder played for Chillicothe of the indepedendent Frontier League in 2004 and 2005, batting an even .300 with 17 homers in 114 games over two years for the Paints (and leading the loop with a .380 average in 2005), before signing with Saltillo of the Mexican League in 2006.

    He hit .344 in 55 games for the Saraperos that year and then batted .333 in his first winter for Guasave in 36 games. He's gone on to top the .300 mark nine times in the Mexican League, where he has a career .307 average with 149 homers over 1,037 games while playing in four All-Star Games and winning Comeback Player of the Year in 2014. Rodriguez represented Mexico in the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2017 World Baseball Classic.

    After hitting .250 with six homers in 48 games for Saltillo last summer, Rodriguez has a .181 average with one homer for the Charros over 19 contests this winter.


VERACRUZ AGUILAS TO HOST THREE GAMES IN LA PAZ

Estadio Arturo C. Nahl, La Paz

    The Mexican League's Veracruz Aguilas will face the Puebla Pericos de Puebla in the so-called "Baja Series" between March 31 and April 2 at Arturo C. Nahl stadium in La Paz, Baja California Sur, prior to the start of the 2023 regular season. The Aguilas will host the event and serve as home team.

    Friday's official presentation of the Baja Series was headlined by Gilberto Garciglia, General Director of La Paz' Instituto Sudcaliforniano del Deporte, representing the Governor of Baja California Sur; Aguilas general director Hector Fitch, Pericos sports manager Enrique Lopez and members of the event's organizing committee, where they gave details of what they hope will become a tradition for the people of Baja California Sur.

    According to a press release from Veracruz, all three games will be of high caliber, as several players will have the opportunity to show their talent to the fullest to seek a place with both the Aguilas and Pericos for the 2023 Mexican Baseball League season. "We are very excited to be able to come and play,” said Fitch. “We have a great rival in the Pericos so what better way to start the preseason with some games in La Paz?

    "The players are very excited to be able to come to La Paz for the preseason, to be able to live with the children and with the people. A big part of being here is seeing the new prospects and making a mark here."

    In addition to a full Veracruz roster headed by stars such as Alexi Amarista and Jesús "Cacao" Valdez, the press release states, Veracruz team mascot Pachi Aguilar will also attend La Baja Series to infect the children of Sudcalifornia with his “jarocha joy.”

    La Paz has a team called the Delfines (“Dolphins”) that competes in the Northern Mexico League during the summer after being awarded a franchise in 2019, becoming the first city in Baja California Sur to field a professional ballclub. However, the LNM's shaky fiancial situation following the withdrawal of formal Mexican League support and the arrival of the Wuhan virus in Mexico led to a two-year hiatus for the loop between 2020 and 2021.

    Play in the Liga Norte resumed this year as the Ensenada Marineros won their fourth pennant since 2012 by defeating San Quintin, 4 games to 1, in the championship series. A second BC Sur team, the Los Cabos Bucaneros, has been added to the LNM. The Delfines and Bucs will open the 2023 season on April 27 in La Paz at Estadio Arturo C. Nahl, a 4,200-seat ballpark opened in 1967 and renovated a number of times over the years.

HIRED, FIRED, REHIRED: GIL'S MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

Past, present Culiacan manager Benji Gil

    Benji Gil had a most interesting month in November, even by Mexican baseball standards. First, the former Rangers and Angels infielder was picked to manage Mexico in next year's World Baseball Classic. Then he was fired as manager of the Mexican Pacific League's Culiacan Tomateros, only to be reinstated and back in the dugout within hours of being sacked. Even for someone like Gil, as voluble as he is volatile, that's a head-spinning series of events. Ready? Here we go...

    After leading Mexico to a sixth-place finish at last year's Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Gil will manage the Verdes Grande at the World Baseball Classic 2023. The 50-year-old Gil served as a coach with the Los Angeles Angels last summer under managers Joe Maddon and Phil Nevin after managing Guadalajara's expansion team in the Mexican League in 2021, earning Manager of the Year honors that season. As a player, Gil participated in the World Baseball Classic 2006. He played eight MLB seasons as a utility infielder and was on the 2002 World Series-winning Los Angeles Angels roster.

    "Benji Gil is a winner," commented National Team general manager Rodrigo Lopez, a starting pitcher and Gil teammate for Mexico in the 2006 World Baseball Classic. "As a player, he is on the list of World Series winners; as a manager, he's shown leadership, attitude and passion. He is fluent in English and Spanish and knows the Mexican Leagues as well as the Big Leagues."

    Ranked fourth in the world, Mexico will compete in Group C of the WBC and face host USA (ranked fifth), Colombia (#11), Canada (#12) and Great Britain (#23) in Phoenix from March 11 through 15 next year. So far, so good but as November drew to a close, things got weird.

    First, he was fired last Monday as helmsman in Culiacan, where he had managed the Tomateros to four pennants (but no Caribbean Series titles) in six winters. However, the team had a cumulative 16-25 record this current season, including a last-place finish in the first half with 14 wins over 35 contests. Bench coach Noe Munoz was also let go as the team's board of directors issued the usual thanks for professionalism to both as the door was hitting them on the way out. While MLB fans may be shocked over the dismissal of a manager who had been one win away from a fifth pennant since 2014 last season, as Culiacan lost the LMP championship series to Jalisco in seven contests last January, it's a common occurance south of the border. What happened next, though, is a bit rarer.

    In officially announcing the ouster of both Gil and Munoz last Tuesday at noon, a press release from the team stated that Tomateros bullpen coach and former pitching star Francisco Campos (who also manages Campeche in the Mexican League) would be Gil's replacement in the dugout beginning with that night's home game against Guasave. This brought an immediate response from the Culiacan players, who let the board know in no uncertain terms during an impromptu meeting that afternoon that they supported their deposed skipper. After the meeting ended, it was announced by Campos himself (alongside sports manager Mario Valdez) that both Gil and Munoz would be back that night.

    "Upon arriving at the stadium, the boys approached me and told me that it's nothing against me, that I shouldn't take it in that way, but they wanted to talk to Benjamín to let him know that they want him to return," said Campos, who remains as bullpen coach.

    "They asked for an opportunity to show that they can make a difference and that they can make positive results to obtain victories, they wanted Benjamin to return, Mr. Héctor (Ley, executive president) said that they should talk to him and if I accepted, go ahead."

    The Tomateros indeed went ahead and split their first six games after Gil's reprieve.


NARANJEROS WIN, PULL ONE GAME AHEAD OF LOS MOCHIS

Monterrey OF Roberto Valenzuela

    With just over three weeks remaining in the Mexican Pacific League's regular season schedule, there has not been a lot of separation between teams twelve games into the second-half standings. Los Mochis was in the driver's seat a week ago but first-half champion Hermosillo was never far behind and the two teams found themselves in a tie for first on Saturday before the Naranjeros pulled into a one-game lead by virtue of their 12-5 win at home over Monterrey while the Caneros dropped a 5-1 decision to visiting Jalisco Sunday.

    The Orangemen had to overcome an early 3-0 deficit after Ricardo Serrano socked a three-run homer off starter Jose Samayoa in the top of the first, but knotted the game up at 3-3 in the bottom of the frame, thanks in part to a two-run roundtripper by Luis Alfonso Cruz off Sultanes opener Frank Duncan.

    The two teams went back and for the the next few innings and the score was 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth when Cruz singled in Jasson Atondo and Scott Schebler scored on a fielding error by Monterrey second baseman Alberto Carreon to make it a 7-5 game. A five-run outburst in the eighth put the game away for Hermosillo as Ramon Mendoza stroked an RBI double and Cesar Salazar, Roberto Ramos (who'd homered earlier) and Atondo chipped in with run-scoring singles to end the scoring as 11,395 spectators watched at Estadio Sonora.

    Hermosillo now leads the LMP second half with a 9-3 record, just ahead of 8-4 Los Mochis. The Caneros fell at home to Jalisco Sunday, 5-1, as Julian Ornelas scored on a sacrifice fly in the top of the third to give the Charros a 1-0 lead that they'd build to 5-0 until Brayan Mendoza plated the Caneros' lone run of the night on a Justin Dean single. Ornelas went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs, adding a two-run homer off reliever Daniel Duarte in the top of the seventh.

    Jalisco starter Brennan Bernardino and four relievers scattered 10 hits and four walks as Los Mochis went 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 15 on base. Nick Struck did not pitch badly for the Caneros, allowing one earned run on three hits in four innings, but his offense just couldn't put together enough support.

    Just off the Mex Pac pace are Mexicali and Obregon, who are tied for third with identical 7-5 records. The Aguilas lost a tough 6-5 game in Navojoa Sunday after trailing 6-0 heading into the seventh. Reynaldo Rodriguez (a former twins farmhand) just missed hitting for the cycle, delivering a double, triple and two-run homer for Mexicali. Likewise, Obregon fell a game back by losing on the road in Guasave, 4-2, Sunday. The Yaquis could only gather seven hits, two by Victor Mendoza, as Nico Tellache won his fifth for the Algodoneros.

    Tellache is one of five pitchers tied for second in wins in the LMP, one behind the six of Hermosillo's Wilmer Rios. Rios has won five games in a row with one no-decision since November 4, lowering his ERA from 7.84 to 2.24 in his last eight starts. Los Mochis' Luis Miranda, who'd given up one earned run in his first seven starts, allowed four against Jalisco last Friday and saw his ERA jump from 0.20 to 0.92 but that still leads the Mex Pac. Juan Pablo Oramas of Hermosillo is second at 1.28 while Mazatlan's Casey Harman's 1.83 ranks third. Two strikeouts separate the three league leaders as the 50 K's of Matt Pobereyko (Guasave) and Manny Barreda (Culiacan) lead the 48 by Luis Payan (Navojoa). Mazatlan's Elkin Alcala has recorded three saves since the start of December to bring his season total to 15, three more than the 12 each of Josh Leuke (Jalisco) and Brandon Koch (Guasave).

    Monterrey's Roberto Valenzuela saw his batting average drop from .380 to .363 over his last six games but he still enjoys a comfortable lead over Justin Dean (.339) and Yosmany Tomas (.330), both of Los Mochis. Mexicali's Anthony Giansanti belted a homer against Mazatlan last Tuesday to pull into a lead with Jesse Castillo of Guasave at 10 apiece. Obregon's Sebastian Valle is third with eight dingers. The Caneros' Tomas now leads in RBIs with 37, ahead of Obregon teammates Victor Mendoza (36) and Yadir Drake (35). A nice race in stolen bases (so to speak) has developed between Randy Romero of Mazatlan and Hermosillo's Jose Cardona, who have 18 and 17 swipes, respectively. Justin Dean (Los Mochis) and Jared Oliva (Monterrey) are tied with 14 each.


LIM: YUCATAN SOUTH CHAMP; MONCLOVA, PUEBLA IN FINALS

Puebla LIM P Hector Sepulveda

    In restructuring the Mexican Winter League for a second season after its revival last winter, the Mexican League created a somewhat-unwieldy circuit with ten teams representing 14 LMB clubs (including four combined squads) spread out over three divisions: Monclova, Monterrey and Union Laguna in the North; Mexico City/Oaxaca, Veracruz/Leon and Puebla in the Central; and Durango, Yucatan, Tabasco/Guadalajara and Tijuana/Aguascalientes in the South.

    The format made for uneven scheduling and at least one team sitting out every day during the regular season between October 12 and November 28. Teams in the LIM North and Central played 24 games each while LIM South clubs, all playing in Yucatan towns, took the field 28 times. It was determined at one time that the South Division playoff winner would serve as a stand-alone champion among their larger group of teams while North and Central playoff winners would meet in the Serie del Principe for the nominal LIM championship, which was won by Monclova last winter.

    Yucatan earned the LIM South title by defeating the combined Tijuana/Aguascalientes club in three playoff games, including last Thursday's 7-6 win in Uman. Leones starter Cesar Cervantes pitched seven innings to earn the win while closer Anhuar Garcia got the save. Garcia was the LIM's leader in salvados during the regular season. Toros prospect Porfirio Guerrero was tagged with the loss.

    "I'm very happy and very proud of the boys,” said Leones sports manager Santos Hernandez. “We're sure that they will continue to show great capacity for this sport and I'm very grateful to all those fans who have been supporting these future stars from day one."

    Meanwhile, Monclova and Puebla have already begun their Serie del Principe rematch from last season, which was won by the Acereros in dramatic fashion on Shawon Dunston, Junior's walkoff homer in the bottom of the tenth in the fifth and deciding game. Monclova is managed by Matias Carrillo while Hector Hurtado, who spent 22 seasons as a catcher in the Mexican League, is dugout boss for the Pericos, who he led to an LIM-best 16-7-1 record during the regular season.

    The first two games took place in Estadio Monclova, where Puebla won Saturday's opener in a 2-1 pitcher's duel. Pericos starter Hector Sepulveda contributed five shutout inning to earn the win while Parakeets reliever Jose Hernandez sparkled by striking out all five Acereros batters he faced in the seventh and eighth innings. Puebla took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on Herman Alvarado's RBI single and the visitors added a run in the eighth on a run-scoring one-bagger by Giancarlo Servin. With runners at the corners and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth, the Acereros pulled off a double steal that brought Evan Carrillo home from third to break the shutout bid and narrow Puebla's lead to one. That was as good as it would get as Caleb Perez ultimately grounded to Luis Medina at third for the final out.

MEXICAN WINTER LEAGUE Final 2022 Standings
North: Monclova 14-8-2, Monterrey 10-12-2, Union Laguna 9-13-2.
Central: Puebla 16-7-1, Mexico City/Oaxaca 14-10-0, Veracruz/Leon 5-18-1.
South: Yucatan 14-10-2, Tijuana/Aguascalientes 15-11-1, Tabasco/Guadalajara 12-12-2, Durango 9-17-1.

BOTH MEX PAC SEMIS GO TO GAME 6 TUESDAY

The Mexican Pacific League playoff semifinals have been extended into a second week as a Guasave win over defending champion Culiacan on Sunday staved off an Algodoneros elimination while Jalisco defeated Monterrey the same night to bring their series back to Guadalajara with a one-game lead over the Sultanes.

Both semis began with splits of the first two games in Guasave and Guadalajara. The Algodoneros dropped their opener to Culiacan last Tuesday, 4-2, as Jesus Fabela’s RBI triple broke a 2-2 tie in the top of the seventh. Fabela scored on a Ramiro Pena single for the final score of the night. Fabela, Pena and Emmanuel Avila combined for six hits, three runs and four RBIs for Culiacan while Manny Banuelos got the win after allowing two runs over six innings with six strikeouts. Esteban Quiroz homered for Guasave, who wasted a good start by Gino Encina (6IP, 2R, 6K).

The Cottoneers came back one night later to win an 8-7 thriller in walkoff fashion when an infield single by Marco Jaime off Tomateros reliever Sasagi Sanchez in the bottom of the ninth scored pinch-runner Bryan Araiza with the winning run. Guasave trailed 5-0 before scoring five fifth-inning runs to tie the score. Jhoan Urena had four hits for the winners while Culiacan’s Ramiro Pena was 3-for-4 with a homer in a game lasting well over 5 hours thanks to a combined 39 hits and walks and 11 pitching changes. Despite allowing two runs and blowing a save, Matt Pobereyko was awarded the win after pitching the final 2.2 innings for Guasave.

The series then shifted to Culiacan, where the locals held off Guasave, 4-3, last Friday. Tomateros shortstop Jose Guadalupe Chavez set an LMP single-game record with 13 assists and went 2-for-4 at the plate, including an RBI single. That plated the eventual winning run in the sixth. Tomateros first baseman Joey Meneses opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a two-run homer off Algodoneros starter David Holmberg for the 17th postseason roundtripper of his LMP career while Urena hit his own two-run circuit clout in the fifth for Guasave off winning pitcher Anthony Vasquez.

The Tomateros took a commanding 3-games-to-1 lead Saturday with a convincing 8-3 home win over Guasave. The Algodoneros gained an early 3-1 lead in the top of the second via run-scoring singles from Jaime, Quiroz and Yadir Drake, but Culiacan eventually regained advantage in the fifth when Meneses doubled in Sebastian Elizalde and Victor Mendoza blasted a two-run homer. Fabela’s three-run longball in the eighth was icing on the cake for the Tomateros with reliever Aldo Montez earning the win with 4.1 shutout innings after starter Jose Bravo was chased in the second.

The Cottoneers fought back for a 7-2 win on Sunday to send the series back to Guasave for Game Six on Tuesday night. The Algodoneros scored five times in the top of the first innings as Angel Erro capped the outburst with a two-run double off Culiacan starter Manny Banuelos, who may have been distracted after earlier signing a minor league contract with the New York Yankees. The Tomateros plated two runs off Guasave starter Gino Encino in the bottom of the first but Encino settled down to pitch scoreless ball between the second and seventh frames to earn the win. 

Jalisco and Monterrey each took a win in the first two games of their semi set at Estadio Charros. The Guadalajara side roared back from a 4-0 deficit to tie last Tuesday’s opener in the bottom of the fifth on Amadeo Zazueta’s two-run double and Christian Villanueva’s two-run homer before pushing ahead one frame later on Missael Rivera’s run-scoring double. Villanueva finished the game with three hits, two runs and three ribbies while Carlos Figueroa and Ricardo Serrano each collected two fits and two RBIs for Monterrey as Serrano doubled twice.

The Sultanes came back to even the series last Wednesday with a 5-3 triumph. Jalisco pushed a run across in the bottom of the first when Jose Juan Aguilar scored on a Villanueva groundout to second. The Charros held their narrow 1-0 lead into the top of the eighth, when Monterrey exploded for five runs as Serrano contributed a three-run double to put the visitors in command. Nick Struck got the win for the Sultanes after pitching seven innings and allowing one run on four hits with one strikeout. Javier Solano (7.1IP/1R/5H) had a solid start for Jalisco but three relievers combined to allow four runs on three hits and two walks in two-thirds of an inning in the fateful eighth.

Friday’s Game Three in Monterrey lasted eleven innings before Jalisco pulled out a 6-5 win over the Sultanes. Monterrey plated three runs in the sixth, keyed by Gilberto Galaviz’ two-run single, to take a 5-3 advantage but Jalisco scored twice in the eighth to tie the contest.  Fernando Flores’ solo homer off Sultanes reliever Nathanael Santiago in the top of the eleventh put the visitors ahead and Charros closer Roberto Osuna held on to strike out Fernando Perez with two runners on to close out the game. Osuna struck out six batsmen over 2.2 scoreless innings to earn the win for Jalisco.

Game Four on Saturday saw the Sultanes knot the series at two games apiece with an 8-6 win over the visitors. Monterrey took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first  thanks in part to back-to-back RBI singles from Nick Torres and Fernando Perez. Dariel Alvarez’ two-run safety in the top of the third brought Jalisco to within one and a bases-loaded single by Aguilar in the fourth tied it up at 3-3. A Serrano two-run single keyed a three-run fifth for the Sultanes and Torres added insurance with a two-run singleton in the eighth. Torres and Serrano combined for four hits and four RBIs for Monterrey while Alvarez added a two-run homer in the seventh for the Charros.

Agustin Rios’ three-run homer in the top of the eighth keyed a four run-frame for Jalisco to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 win, sending their semifinal series against Monterrey back to Guadalajara with the Charros leading, 3 games to 2. Jalisco starter Orlando Lara didn’t get the win (reliever Jared Wilson did), but the 36-year-old lefty from Veracruz did his part by allowing one Sultanes run on two hits over six innings. Game Six of the series will be played Tuesday night in Estadio Charros.

GIL LEAVES MARIACHIS POST TO COACH FOR ANGELS

Benji Gil has resigned as manager of the Mexican League’s Guadalajara Mariachis to take a position coaching in Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Angels, the team he played for when they won their lone American League pennant and World Series title in 2002. Gil was hired along with fellow ex-MLBers Phil Nevin and Bill Hasselman in the wake of a shakeup of Angels manager Joe Maddon’s coaching staff following a disappointing 77-85 season despite the presence of American League MVP Shohei Ohtani in the Halos’ lineup. It’s not known which position Gil will occupy under Maddon, although speculation has him coaching at either first or third base.

Born in Tijuana in 1972, Gil attended Castle Park High School in Chula Vista, California, where he was better known as a pitcher who tossed a no-hitter as a senior after leading San Diego County prep hurlers with a 0.52 ERA as a junior. The Texas Rangers saw him more as a hitter, however, and took Gil as a shortstop with the 19th pick of the 1991 June draft. He debuted with the Rangers in their 1993 season opener but was back in the minors for more seasoning and would not return to MLB until 1995.

After signing with the Angels as a free agent in 2000, Gil spent that season as their starting shortstop before taking on a utility role after the emergence of David Eckstein in 2001. He was a key reserve during Anaheim’s 2002 postseason run and went 4-for-5 with a double and a run scored in their World Series triumph that fall against San Francisco. Gil eventually returned to playing in the minors, winning the 2007 Mexican League championship with Monterrey during a six-year run in the LMB before retiring as a player in 2012.

Gil made his managerial debut in 2014-15 with Culiacan, where he won six Mexican Pacific League titles as a player over 13 winters. He led the Tomateros to the LMP title his first season but was fired after going 28-40 in 2015-16. He was brought back one year later and won the 2017-18 Mex Pac pennant before resigning to spend more time with his family, particularly son Mateo, who was drafted by St. Louis in the third round in 2018. 

Gil returned to manage the Tomateros a third time in 2019, piloting Culiacan to the last two LMP titles while reaching in the current playoff semifinals. Gil has received criticism in some circles for not winning a Caribbean Series championship in four tries, which neglects the fact that Culiacan had to survive the LMP postseason gauntlet and win the pennant four times to get that far.

Gil made his Mexican League managerial debut last summer and led Guadalajara to a first-place finish in the LMB North with a Liga-best 46-17, reaching the division finals before losing to eventual champion Tijuana. He was named Manager of the Year for his effort. Gil also stepped in late to replace Juan Castro as manager of the Mexican Olympic Team last summer, but the squad went 0-4 in Tokyo with Gil getting plenty of second guesses back in Mexico.

The 49-year-old Gil becomes one of the few Mexican-born former players to coach in Major League Baseball, joining Castro, Tony Perezchica and Ben “Cananea” Reyes. Among others. Reyes remains the only Mexican to have managed an MLB team, going 0-1-1 as interim skipper in Seattle during the 1982 season while Mariners manager Maury Wills served a two-game suspension for altering the batter’s box at the Kingdome that year. Reyes’ temporary work at the M’s helm is not in the record book.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Arturo Gonzalez, P (1972-2003)

 

Arturo Gonzalez was known as “El Rey” (“The King”) during a long career as one of the steadiest pitchers in Mexican baseball. Born in the Monterrey suburb of Tampiquito on October 29, 1955, he played his entire Mexican League career with the hometown Sultanes. He debuted in 1972 as a 16-year-old outfielder with Monterrey’s Class A Mexican Center League team and was signed by Houston after that season. 

 

Gonzalez batted just .161 with one double in 59 games for the Astros’ Cedar Rapids affiliate in the Class A Mexican League in 1973 and after hitting .195 in 41 games for Cedar Rapids, he was sent home to Monterrey and hit .289 for the Sultanes in his 14-game LMB debut in 1974. A .236 campaign for Monterrey in 1975 and a .183 average in 1976 convinced the Sultanes that Gonzalez’ strong throwing arm could be better used for pitching. After pitching sparingly in 1977, Gonzalez had a breakthrough year at age 22 in 1978, going 18-12 with a 2.57 ERA in 33 starts for Monterrey, including a 2-0 no-hitter against Union Laguna. The rest is history.

 

The 6’1” righty was equipped with a low-90’s fastball and various breaking pitches, including a nasty slider. He was one of the Mexican League’s most consistent hurlers ever, finishing his LMB career with a 232-169 record and a solid 3.26 ERA over 522 games and 3,228 innings.  He reached double figures 14 times, plus 10-win seasons in both 1985 and 1986 for the Phillies’ AAA Pacific Coast League farm team in Portland.  

 

“El Rey” led the Mexican League in 1983 with a 1.92 ERA while fashioning a 12-8 record in 23 starts for Monterrey. He started one game for the Sultanes in 2003 before retiring at age 47 after 32 summers, including Liga pennant-winning seasons in 1991, 1995 and 1996. He holds all pitching records in Sultanes history and his number 22 has been retired by the team.

 

Gonzalez was no less effective in Mexican Pacific League competition. His 125-85 career mark over 20 winters puts him fourth on the all-time wins list on the LMP, while his .595 won-lost percentage ranks sixth.  An ERA of 2.81 and 1,079 strikeouts in 1,831 innings also rank in the Mex Pac’s all-time Top 10. He topped the LMP in winning percentage twice, took a strikeout crown in 1987-88, and spun a 4-0 no-no for Navojoa against Mazatlan on December 18, 1983.

 

Arturo Gonzalez won a combined 357 games in Mexico during a career spanning four decades and was inducted into the Salon de la Fama in 2009, his first year eligible. He remained in the game long after retiring, serving as Homar Rojas’ pitching coach for the Sultanes in 2021 before Rojas and his staff were fired in June. Gonzalez spent the rest of the summer as a pitching instructor for Monterrey’s academy team.

CULIACAN SWEEPS MAYOS; LMP SEMI MATCHUPS SET

Usually when a top-seeded team draws the lowest seed in the playoffs, the former is confident that they have a good chance of advancing to the next round. However, as the Navojoa Mayos learned last week, drawing the two-time defending champion Culiacan Tomateros was anything but a ticket to the Mexican Pacific League semifinals.

Coming off a regular season in which they finished with the most points among the ten LMP clubs, the Mayos were swept in four straight games by the Tomateros. After Culiacan won the first game of the quarterfinal set, 8-5, on Christmas day, manager Benji Gil’s troops took a Game Two win at Navojoa last Sunday, 6-4, in a contest that lasted 12 innings. Jose Guadalupe Chavez opened the top of the 12th with a single, moved to second on a Randy Romero sacrifice and then scored the eventual game-winner on Ramiro Pena’s single. Culiacan reliever Carlos Baldonado, who singled in Pena with the Tomateros’ sixth run during a rare plate appearance, then held the Mayos scoreless in the bottom of the frame for the win.

The series then shifted to Culiacan, where the Tomateros won twice to close out the series. Last Tuesday’s game resulted in Gil’s 50th postseason victory as manager as Culiacan pulled out a 5-3 triumph, thanks in part to a four-run seventh during which a Joey Meneses single plated the go-ahead run. The brooms were brought out last Wednesday as the Tomateros completed the sweep with a 9-6 win. Former Orioles utilityman Stevie Wilkerson swatted two homers, one of them a walkoff three-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth to break a 6-6 tie and end both game and series.

The Tomateros will be joined by Guasave and Jalisco in the semifinals. The Algdoneros followed a 3-1 series opener loss at home to Obregon on Christmas by defeating the Yaquis in four straight to move to the next round. Yadir Drake’s three-run double in the bottom of the sixth was the difference-maker in the Cottoneer’s 5-2 win over the visitors last Sunday to knot the series at a game apiece. The two combatants shifted to Obregon, where Guasave shocked the Yaquis with three straight road wins.

Last Tuesday’s Game Three saw seven Guasave pitchers combine for a 6-0 shutout over Obregon as Jesse Castillo contributed a two-run double while Esteban Quiroz capped the scoring with a solo homer in the ninth. One night later, the Algodoneros took a 3-1 victory behind starting pitcher Luis Miranda’s six shutout innings as Drake poked a two-run single during a three-run fourth for the winners. Guasave closed out the Yaquis in Game Five last Thursday, 5-4, in ten innings. Alan Lopez opened the tenth with a single, advanced to second on a Miguel Guzman sacrifice and scored on Marco Jaime’s single off Yaquis reliever Carlos Machorro.

Jalisco nailed down one of the other two semifinal berths with a 4-games-to-2 win over Mexicali. After outlasting the Aguilas, 10-9, in a 12-inning Game One win on Christmas, the Charros took a 6-3 win over the visitors last Sunday in Guadalajara after Felix Perez’ two-run single keyed a four-run rally in the seventh to erase a 2-0 deficit. The series then shifted to Mexicali with the Charros up 2-games-to-0.

Last Tuesday’s Game Three ended with a 7-3 Mexicali win at El Nido as Yeison Acensio singled in Daniel Castro in the bottom of the first to give the Aguilas a lead they’d never relinquish. The Eagles tied the series one night later with a 4-3 triumph in eleven innings as Reynaldo Rodriguez’ RBI single ended Game Four in walkoff fashion. Jalisco won, 6-2, last Thursday as Charros starter Javier Solano allowed two runs in seven innings against his former teammates and Missael Rivera stroked a two-run double. The set returned to Estadio Charros for Game Six and Jalisco emerged victorious, 5-0, to end the series. Starter Brennan Bernardino blanked Mexicali over seven entradas while Juan Jose Aguilar tripled, homered and scored twice.

Jalisco moves on to face Monterrey, who was extended seven games in their quarterfinal series before shutting out Hermosillo, 5-0, Sunday night at Estadio Sonora. Michael Devine got the win with seven scoreless innings and Fernando Perez crushed a two-run homer in the fifth for the Sultanes. Monterrey won the series opener, 5-4, on Christmas in Hermosillo but the Naranjeros bounced back for a 10-4 win last Sunday behind a 17-hit attack that included a two-run homer by number nine batter Cesar Salazar in the fifth. The series then shifted to Estadio Monterrey, where the Naranjeros took the series lead with a 3-2 Game Three win last Tuesday as Rusney Castillo’s sacrifice fly brought Nick Torres in from third with the eventual game-winner in the top of the eighth.

The Sultanes then won the next two games in Monterrey to regain the series lead. A 6-3 Game Four win last Wednesday featured a four-run outburst in the seventh during which Aldo Flores doubled in Ricardo Serrano with the tying run before scoring the go-ahead run on Roberto Valenzuela’s single. In Thursday’s Game Five, Monterrey won a 6-5 thriller when Carlos Figueroa scored from third on a Perez walkoff single in the bottom of the 12th. Hermosillo roared back Saturday with a 9-2 home win as vet Luis Alfonso Cruz crashed a two-run homer and added an RBI single to aid Orangemen starter Ryan Verdugo (2 runs, 7 innings) and send the series to Sunday’s seventh and deciding game.

The Mex Pac semifinals will begin Tuesday night when Culiacan visits Guasave for Game One of their series while Jalisco will host Monterrey in Guadalajara in their Final Four opener. 

MEXICAN LEAGUE RELEASES 2022 SCHEDULE

The Mexican League has released its 2022 season schedule. The LMB office announced that their next campaign will open on Thursday, April 21 in Tijuana when the defending champion Toros host the Mexico City Diablos Rojos. All 18 Liga teams will be in action one night later. Here’s a link to the entire Mexican League schedule for 2022: https://img.mlbstatic.com/milb-images/image/upload/milb/c1q8gubhaqm7q07pu1ns.pdf

As speculated, each LMB team will play 90 regular season games this year, the shortest full-season schedule the league has had since 1954, when the loop’s six clubs played 80 games each before joining the National Association one year later. The Mexican League is no longer considered part of the Minor League Baseball system. In all, a total of 810 regular season contests are scheduled between April 21 and August 7, with Mondays continuing a longtime tradition as travel days (although a press release from the league office states that Monday games will be played in 2022).

The four-tiered LMB postseason will open Tuesday, August 9 with the top six finishers from each division qualifying for a berth. Once again, the three first-round series winners per division will be joined in their Division Semifinals by a “lucky loser” team that won the most games in their opening-round defeat, a format used in the Mexican Pacific League for years prior to the LMP’s playoff expansion from six to eight teams in 2019-20. The Serie del Rey (or King Series) between respective division champions will be held between September 9 and 17 to cap the five-week postseason. All playoff series will follow a best-of-7 format.

The Mexican League All-Star Weekend, which was canceled in 2021, will return on June 17-19 in Monclova.

MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Ronnie Camacho, 1B

 

Ronaldo Camacho Duran was born October 26, 1935 in Empalme, Sonora. Although he was only 5'9" and 170 pounds at the height of his career, Camacho was nicknamed "The Rock" for both his reliable batting and glove work. He was one of the top power hitters in the Mexican League during the 1960's, winning titles twice each in homers, runs scored and RBIs between 1962 and 1969.

 

Camacho began his career as a 17-year-old second baseman in 1953, signing with the St. Louis Cardinals and landing in Fresno. He spent parts of four seasons in the Cards' system, batting .276 with 16 homers and 77 RBIs for Fresno of the Class C California League in 1954 and a year later was a member of a Fresno team which finished 104-43 and was #79 among the All-Time Top 100 teams in minor league history, according to a 2001 ranking commissioned by Minor League Baseball.

 

Camacho returned to Mexico for good in 1956 with Nuevo Laredo. After four seasons on the border, Camacho and the Tecolotes moved to Puebla in 1960, where he would shift to first base and spend most of the next ten years. In 1963, the Pericos won their first Mexican League pennant as Camacho led the loop with 39 homers and 108 RBIs after he led the LMB with 25 roundtrippers in 1962. After leading the Liga with 116 RBIs in 1969, "The Rock" moved to Yucatan for 1970 to begin a tour that saw him bounce around the circuit before retiring after spending the 1975 season with Aguascalientes.

 

In 20 LMB seasons, Camacho hit .272 with 317 homers and 1,273 RBIs.  He batted .300 four times, topped 20 roundtrippers nine times and cleared 100 RBIs four times, with career highs of 39 bombs and 116 ribbies.  He stands sixth on the Liga's all-time home run list and 8th in RBIs even though he retired 20 years ago.  Camacho managed six LMB teams between 1971 and 1979.

 

The right-handed hitting Camacho also played 13 seasons of winter ball in what is now known as Mexican Pacific League, hitting .256 with 139 homers playing for Guaymas and his hometown of Empalme.  He was the first Triple Crown winner of the league in 1958-59 and he set a still-standing record of 27 homers over 81 games in 1963-64. As a manager, he won LMP titles with Guaymas in 1966-67 and Mazatlan in 1973-74.

 

Ronnie "The Rock" Camacho was elected as a member of the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1983. He turned 86 on October 26 last year.

LMP PLAYOFFS SET: MAZATLAN, LOS MOCHIS MISS CUT

    The eight-team field for the first round of the upcoming Mexican Pacific League playoffs was in doubt all the way until the last week of the regular season, as nine of the LMP’s ten clubs were within close proximity throughout the second half of the 2021-22 campaign. However, all doubts as to who reaches the postseason were dispelled after two games played Tuesday night.

    The defending two-time champion Culiacan Tomateros had been candidates for elimination before they shut out the Jalisco Charros, 2-0, in Guadalajara behind a strong start by starter Manny Banuelos, the Mex Pac’s most recent Pitcher of the Week. At the same time, the Mazatlan Venados were being blanked in a 6-0 road shocker by Kyle Friederichs and tailenders Los Mochis, knocking the nine-time champions out of the postseason for the first time since their 26-40 season in 2013-14.

    It has to be a shocker for the Venados and their fans, who last February witnessed the Caribbean Series at Mazatlan’s Estadio Teodoro Mariscal (which Major League Baseball declared as the most beautiful place in the world to play baseball on its TikTok account) but now will have no more games at the 16,000-seat ballpark until next October. 

    On the other hand, Culiacan manager Benji Gil and his Tomateros are breathing a collective sigh of relief over avoiding elimination. Gil in particular has faced mounting criticism in Culiacan for failing to win the Caribbean Series in fourth try at the crown jewel of Latin baseball since 2015 by fans failing to note that to get that far, you have to win your league pennant. 

    Gil then received heat on a nationwide basis for managing Mexico to an 0-4 record at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, breaking protocol along the way by having Culiacan players who’d been chosen to the team pose wearing their Tomateros jersey in the Olympic Village.

    No such worries in Mexicali, where the Aguilas and interim manager Gil Velazquez have clinched the second half title after defeating first half champion Navojoa, 2-1, Tuesday night in Navojoa despite only collecting three hits on the night (including RBI singles by Victor Ruiz and Gilberto Vizcarra in the seventh. Even though Mexicali closer Jake Sanchez was touched for the Mayos’ lone run on two hits and a walk in the bottom of the ninth, he got the final out for his LMP record 26th save.

    After a 14-18 first half that ended in a ninth-place finish that cost then-manager Bronswell Patrick his job, Velazquez has led the Aguilas to a 21-13 ledger in the second half (two games up on 19-15 Navojoa with one game left) and a probable return to start the 2022-23 season with the Eagles, but let’s face it: the term “interim manager” is a redundancy in Mexicali.  

    Navojoa will be the top seed entering the playoffs whether they finish second or third in the second half. Skipper Matias Carrillo’s Mayos will finish with 19.0 playoff points for the season should they win Wednesday night, well ahead of Guasave’s projected 14.5 points. After a day off Friday, the quarterfinals will open on Christmas Day, The Mayos appear to be on a course to host defending champion Culiacan in the first two games, their “reward” for a first-place finish.

    Wherever playoff games will be held, veteran umpire Humberto “El Lobito” Saiz won’t be working any of them. Saiz was reportedly drunk and was physically removed from the field while working third base during the third inning of Sunday’s game in Mazatlan between the Venados and Navojoa after making obscene gestures at fans and confronting players and coaches. He was suspended indefinitely by the LMP on Monday. The son of Salon de la Fama umpire Victor “El Lobo” Saiz was also suspended by Mex Pac president Omar Canizales ten years ago for alleged drug use.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Second Half standings (through December 21)
Mexicali 21-13 (4.0), Navojoa 19-15 (10.0), Hermosillo 18-16 (5.5), Obregon 18-16 (7.0), Monterrey 17-16 (5.0), Guasave 17-17 (9.0), Jalisco 16-17 (8.0), Culiacan 16-18 (6.0), Mazatlan 15-19 (4.5), Los Mochis 12-22 (3.5)  First Half playoff points in parentheses

LMP OFFENSIVE LEADERS
Batting: Victor Mendoza (OBR) .349, Tirso Ornelas (NAV) .346, Ramon Rios (MAZ) .328
Homers: Kyle Martin (NAV) 17, Victor Mendoza (OBR) 10, Felix Perez (JAL) 10
RBIs: Jesse Castillo (GUA) 44, Joey Meneses (CUL) 44, 2 players tied with 43
Stolen Bases: Dairon Blanco (CUL) 21, Alonzo Harris (OBR) 17, 2 players tied with 16

LMP PITCHING LEADERS
Wins: Elian Leyva (HMO) 7, 5 pitchers tied with 6
ERA: Elian Leyva (HMO) 1.54, Wilmer Rios (HMO) 2.39, David Holmberg (NAV) 2.43
Strikeouts: Octavio Acosta (NAV) 66, Ryan Verdugo (HMO) 60, Many Banuelos (CUL) 56
Saves: Jake Sanchez (MXI) 26, Fernando Salas (HMO) 12, 2 pitchers tied with 11


NEW LMB MANAGERS NAMED IN PUEBLA, LAGUNA

    As the Mexican Pacific League prepares to open their first round of playoffs this weekend, their summerball counterparts are making offseason moves in anticipation of their 2022 season. Two Mexican League teams announced managerial hirings with a pair of familiar faces named to take over.

    The Puebla Pericos announced that Venezuelan Willie Romero will be their new skipper next season. Romero has a long history in Mexican baseball,  making his managerial debut during the 2012 campaign with Yucatan. Later, he directed the Monclova Steelers in 2013 and coached for Quintana Roo in 2014 before returning to Yucatan, where he was named Manager of the Year in 2015 and 2016, earning the same distinction in the LMP with the Navojoa Mayos in 2017-2018.

    Currently, Romero manages the Magallanes Navegantes in the Venezuelan Winter League after serving last summer in the LMB as a hitting coach for expansion Guadalajara under Benji Gil, as the Mariachis had the number one offense in the League. He also has experience coaching in American minor league baseball with the San Francisco Giants organization. Like Gil, Romero has been a winning manager while also a volatile sort who can raise the ire of umpires and opposing players, coaches and fans while raising blood pressure among directors of clubs he’s worked for. The Pericos, who finished 33-33 under Carlos Gastelum and Gerardo Sanchez last summer, promise to be entertaining under Romero one way or another. 

    Meanwhile, as expected, the Union Laguna Algodoneros have elevated bench coach Oscar Robles to manager after the tragic suicide of former skipper Omar Malave. A former MLB infielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego, Robles played in the Mexican League between 2009 and 2017, retiring after his birthplace Tijuana Toros won their lone LMB pennant that summer. He stayed on with the team as a coach in 2018 and was named manager midway through the season. Robles compiled a 110-66 record through the 2019 season before he was fired, as all managers in Tijuana are, because he failed to win a title either season.

    Robles has managed the past two winters in Guasave and is a major reason the Algodoneros have risen from a 26-37 expansion team in 2019-20 to a playoff contender with an overall 66-56 record in the Mexican Pacific League’s smallest market. He was named the LMP Manager of the Year last winter after leading the Cottoneers to a five-game improvement, a third-place finish in the overall standings and stretching their first round playoff series with eventual champion Culiacan to six games. 


MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Alfredo Ortiz, P (1963-87)

    Comparable to former Philadelphia Athletics star Bobby Schantz, Alfredo Ortiz overcame a slight frame (5’7” and 135 pounds) with pinpoint control and crafty pitching to become the best left-hander in Mexican League history.  

    Born January 12, 1944 in Medellin de Bravo, Veracruz, Ortiz played Class A ball in the Mexican Center League for three years prior to debuting with the Mexico City Diablos Rojos as a 19-year-old in 1963. He went on to pitch 25 years in the Liga, playing on five LMB pennant winners in Mexico City as he and righty Ramon Arano formed the best 1-2 pitching combo in Mexican annals.

    Ortiz averaged 15 wins a year between 1966 and 1975 for the Red Devils, with an outstanding 1969 campaign in which he went 23-9 with a 2.26 ERA, including five shutouts and 27 complete games. Even when he pitched for poor teams he was effective, as Ortiz turned in a 2.77 ERA despite a 2-13 record for Tabasco in 1977. His last big year was in 1979 as he went 16-10 with a 2.44 ERA for Nuevo Laredo, although he did pitch six shutouts for Tabasco in 1982 and went 10-7 with a 3.70 ERA and just 20 walks in 139 innings as a 40-year-old in 1984. Ortiz wrapped up his career in 1987 by pitching three games for Puebla.

    For his career, Ortiz went 255-210 (second in wins to Arano) with a 3.13 ERA and 51 shutouts, fifth on the all-time list in the latter category. Despite his lack of size, Ortiz was a workhorse, tossing 256 complete games among his 3,841 innings. Not a power pitcher by any means, he was a master of location who struck out 1,824 batters (eighth all-time) while walking just 830 batters over 25 seasons.  He reached double figures in wins 14 times while turning in an ERA below 3.00 ten times. Ortiz could also swing a bat well enough to appear as a first baseman at times when he wasn’t on the mound and hit .261 with 11 homers for the Diablos in 405 at-bats between 1967-69.

    Ortiz was almost as successful in 19 winter seasons in the Mexican Pacific League, although he set a still-standing LMP record with 23 strikeouts in a 13-inning game in January of 1965. The man nicknamed “Zurdo” (or “Lefty”) was 104-96 (7th in all-time wins) with a 2.98 ERA (17th) and 925 strikeouts (11th) for his winterball career.  He went 0-1 for Hermosillo in the 1971 Caribbean Series, the first time a Mexican team appeared in that competition after leading the LMP with 13 regular season wins.

    Ortiz was a player-manager for Tabasco, Cordoba and Veracruz as well as a bench manager with the Mexico City Tigres and Aguascalientes.  He also managed the Mazatlan Venados to the LMP title and the Caribbean World Series in Venezuela during the 1976-77. 

    Nicknamed El Zurdo de Oro (“The Golden Southpaw”), Alfredo Ortiz was selected to the Salon de la Fama in 1993. He still played amateur baseball in Mexico City into his 60’s, taking turns at first base and the outfield as well as on the mound. He turns 78 next month.

LEANDRO CASTRO NAMED MEXICAN LEAGUE MVP

    Tijuana Toros outfielder Leandro Castro received 65% of the votes en route to winning the Mexican League's 2021 Most Valuable Player award last week. The 32-year-old Dominican easily beat out Henry Urrutia (Saltillo), Niko Vasquez (Guadalajara), Leo Heras (Guadalajara) and Alex Liddi (Yucatan) for top honors.

    Castro missed only one of the Toros' 65 regular season games and led the LMB with 93 hits and 72 runs batted in, finished second with 159 total bases, third with 36 extra-base hits and a .646 slugging percentage, sixth in batting (.378), tenth with a .433 on-base percentage and twelfth with 14 homers.

    Castro has a .311 Mexican League career batting average and has cranked it up a notch since coming to Tijuana from Saltillo in 2019. He batted .361 that summer, which was his Liga best before this year's .378 after the 2020 campaign was called off due to the pandemic.

    The 5'11” 175-pounder has an overall .288 average with 202 homers and 231 stolen bases over 1,612 games after 15 years of summer and winter action. Castro signed with Philadelphia in 2007 as an 18-year-old free agent and spent that summer with the Phillies' Dominican Summer League team, batting .278 with six homers in 59 games. 

    He went on to play eight seasons in the Phils' system, reaching AAA Lehigh Valley in 2013 and 2014, where he hit a combined .257 with 14 homers, 27 steals and 105 RBIs over two years with the IronPigs. Castro played independent ball in the Canadian-American Association and American Association in 2015 and 2016 before signing with Leon of the LMB for the 2017 season.

    Castro bounced between the Bravos, Dos Laredos and Saltillo before coming to Tijuana in the middle of a 2019 season during which he hit .361 with 27 homers for the Saraperos and Toros in 111 total games. He's currently in his sixth winterball season in the Mexican Pacific League, where he played five seasons with Los Mochis before being sent to Obregon last year and traded to Mexicali prior the current schedule (the Aguilas returned him to the Yaquis after three weeks). Castro was consistently a top batter for the Caneros but after 30 games in 2021-22, he was only hitting .193 with one homer and seven RBIs before being placed on the reserve list last week.

    In other Mexican League awards for 2021, Guadalajara's Benji Gil was named Manager of the Year, Mariachis hurler Masaru Nakamura was voted Pitcher of the Year, Fernando Rodney of Tijuana topped balloting for Reliever of the Year, Veracruz outfielder Yasiel Puig won the new Defensive Player of the Year award, Jesse Castillo of Guadalajara was named Comeback Player of the Year and Oaxaca catcher Juan Carlos Camacho won Rookie of the Year honors.

HERMOSILLO WINS 6 OF 9, TAKES LMP SECOND HALF LEAD

    After a tepid first half in which they went 16-16 to finish seventh in the Mexican Pacific League standings, the Hermosillo Naranjeros are off to a fast start in the second half of the regular season schedule. The Orangemen have won six of the their first nine games to take the lead in the LMP standings, one game ahead of five teams who share identical 5-4 records: Mexicali, Monterrey, Mazatlan, Obregon and first-half champion Navojoa.

    The Naranjeros are led by manager Juan Navarrete, a Salon de la Fama second baseman who defied the odds to reach a second season under impatient Hermosillo owners who've gone through dugout bosses like Elizabeth Taylor went through spouses in search of the team's first pennant since 2013-14. 

    Navarrete has enjoyed having one of the Mex Pac's best pitching staffs this season, including starters Elian Leyva, Wilmer Rios, Ryan Verdugo and Juan Pablo Oramas along with closer Fernando Salas and middleman Heriberto Ruelas. Hermosillo is allowing a league-low 3.60 runs per nine innings (compared to an LMP average of 4.30 R/9 average). Leyva, Rios and Oramas have combined for 12 of Hermosillo's 22 wins on the season.

    Offensively, the Naranjeros have been a middle of the pack team (.266 average with 26 homers and 4.46 runs per game), but they've had some batters who've stood out. Outfielder Nick Torres is sixth in the circuit with a .329 average and is tied for second with seven homers, veteran third baseman Luis Alfonso Cruz is tenth in the batting race at .312 and is tied for sixth in RBIs with 28 and centerfielder Jose Cardona leads the LMP with 34 runs scored amid a well-rounded season during which he's hitting .291 with five homers and nine steals. At this point of the campaign, Navarrete has Hermosillo looking good enough at the plate and on the mound to be a factor in the postseason if they play to their capabilities.

    Leaguewide, Navojoa's Tirso Ornelas (.386) has a clear lead over teammate Samar Leyva (.353) and Yadir Drake of Guasave (.351) in the batting derby. Another Mayos batter, Kyle Martin, isn't hitting homers at the same pace he started out at, but he socked a longball on Sunday to raise his season total to 10 over 29 games, three ahead of four other LMP batsmen. One of those four, Jalisco's Julian Ornelas, leads with 34 RBIs while four competitors are tied for second at 31 ribbies apiece. Dairon Blanco of Culiacan has reached 20 stolen bases after playing 29 games, eight more than Tomateros teammate Sebastian Elizalde and Ramon Rios of Mazatlan.

    Hermosillo's Leyva won his fifth game to tie Carlos De Leon of Hermosillo for the wins lead while ten other hurlers are tied for third with four wins each. Leyva's 1.17 ERA is tops for pitchers, ahead of moundmate Rios at 2.08 and Obregon's Arturo Lopez (2.11). There's a three-way deadlock for the strikeouts lead at 40 apiece between Obregon's Lopez and Luis Escobar along with Octavio Acosta of Navojoa. Mexicali's poor first half didn't appear to affect closer Jake Sanchez, whose 15 saves leads the LMP to augment his 1.93 ERA while Hermosillo's Salas is second with 11 and Carlos Bustamante of Navojoa has 10.

    Attendance is up across the Mex Pac after a disastrous pandemic-fueled season in 2020-21. While the numbers aren't at their usual pre-Covid levels, a total of 1,155,655 fans have clicked the turnstiles through 205 games thus far for an average of 5,637 per opening. That would be enough to lead every minor league north of the border in 2021 but is well below the typical 9-10,000 average in previous LMP seasons. 

    Hermosillo leads the ten-team loop with 187,323 fans over 22 home games for an average of 8,515 per game while Culiacan is right behind at 175,456 over 22 openings, or 7,975 per game. Guasave ranks last at 44,044 in attendance for a 2,318 average while Mazatlan (usually one of the better draws in the Mex Pac) has only had 54,375 visitors at Estadio Teodoro Mariscal, an average of 2,862.

MEX PAC ROAD TRIP (Stop #8): Culiacan, Sinaloa

    This week, we pay a visit to Culiacan, the eighth Mexican Pacific League site on our virtual ten-city road trip. Culiacan is a two-hour drive lasting just over 100 miles south from Guasave (our last stop) on Highway 15 and is set a few miles inland from the Gulf of California. While Mazatlan is better-known among North Americans, Culiacan is a thriving city and the state capital of Sinaloa. The name “Culican” is an old native word which means “place where they adore the God Coltzin.”

    A municipality of just over a million residents, Culiacan was a small village when Spanish conquistador Nuno Beltran de Guzman founded the villa of San Miguel de Culiacan on September 29, 1531. From the end of the sixteenth century and throughout much of the 1700’s, San Miguel de Culiacan served as an important staging area for the Spanish conquest of the Mexican West. However, independence from Spain was eventually won for Mexico in the early 1820’s, and Culiacan was granted the status of “city” in 1823. At that time, Sinaloa’s state capital was in Mazatlan, but was eventually shifted to Culiacan in 1873.

    As with most of the Mex Pac cities, Culiacan is an agricultural center, surrounded by some of the most arable land in Mexico of which the major crop is tomatoes. While Culiacan has a reputation as a tough town, it is also, in fact, a thriving and busy place with a fine State university in the city center, a lovely 19th Century cathedral sitting three blocks away from the ubiquitous Mexican mercado, there are beaches on the Gulf a few miles away in Atlata and El Tambor, and Ernesto Millan Escalante Park features gardens, pools, an open-air Hellenic theater and the longest water slide in northern Mexico. The Centro Cultural Genaro Estrada contains two theaters, several museums and a café, and is a centerpiece for the arts.

    Something else worth a try is catching an LMP game at Estadio Tomateros, which cost an estimated 305 million pesos (about US$20.8 million during construction) before opening in time for the 2015-16 season. At 20,000 seats, Estadio Tomateros is one of the largest ballparks in minor league baseball and rates among the best in Mexico. Culiacan has been a baseball hotbed for decades and the Tomateros are annually among the leaders in Mex Pac attendance, drawing 16,000 per game during pre-pandemic seasons. Unlike most baseball stadiums in Mexico, Estadio Tomateros is not owned by the government by by the team itself.

    The Tomateros have given their fans a lot to cheer about over the years, with 13 Mex Pac pennants since their 1965 formation: Six of those under manager Francisco “Paquin” Estrada, who also brought home two Caribbean Series titles, while ex-MLB infielder Benji Gil has managed the Guindas to four more titles since 2014-15, including the last two. Players who've wintered in Culiacan include Salome Barojas, Esteban Loaiza, Aurelio Lopez, Oliver Perez and Vicente Romo (all Major League Baseball pitchers).