LEONES TOP SULTANES IN 7 FOR SPRING '18 PENNANT

Yucatan Leones designated hitter Luis Juarez

Luis Juarez belted a two-run homer and Sebastian Valle cracked a solo shot to lead the Yucatan Leones to a 4-3 win over the Monterrey Sultanes last Thursday in Merida to win Game Seven of the Mexican League's Serie del Rey championship series for their Spring 2018 season.  With their win in front of 14,372 fans at a nearly sold-out Parque Kukulcan, Yucatan copped their first LMB pennant since 2006 and fourth since the team's inception in 1954 (the current team is the third incarnation of the Leones).  Juarez was named Most Valuable Player of the finals.

The title set opened Wednesday, June 20 with a 6-1 Yucatan win at home as Juarez pounded a pair of homers, followed one night later by a 3-0 Yucatan shutout with Samayoa combining with three relievers for the whitewash.  The set shifted to Monterrey for the next three games, all won by the Sultanes: 9-2 on June 23 as the hosts posted a seven-run eighth inning to break a 2-all tie, a 4-3 Monterrey win on June 24 that featured a Yadir Drake solo homer and 3-1 on June 25 with starter Jose De Paula tossing 6.2 frames of one-run ball.  The series shifted back to Yucatan for Game Six last Wednesday, with the Leones posting a 4-2 triumph behind Everth Cabrera's tiebreaking double in the fifth as the home team won all seven games of the finals for the first time in Mexican League championship series history.

The Leones worked their way to the flag by posting a 40-17 regular season record to top the Liga before beating Leon in five games in the South Division semifinals and Quintana Roo over seven games in the rain-delayed South finals.  It was a typical Yucatan team built around pitching as the Lions led the 16-team circuit with a 3.95 earned-run average, with veterans Jonathan Castellanos (5-3, 2.43) and Jose Samayoa (6-4, 2.57) leading the mound staff while Yoanner Negrin coming in at 6-1 over elevens starts.  Negrin, the MXL's Pitcher of the Year in 2016, won Game Seven.  The Leones were in the middle of the pack offensively, although Juarez (.370 with 13 homers and 54 RBIs) and Jesus "Cacao" Valdez (.364/8/44) both enjoyed standout campaigns during the 57-game regular season under manager Roberto Vizcarra.  In his first season in Merida, Vizcarra earned the second title of his LMB managerial career after winning with Quintana Roo in 2015.

Monterrey reached the Serie del Rey by knocking out both Monclova and Tijuana in the LMB North semis and finals, respectively.  Both Sultanes series wins preceded the dismissal of manager Dan Firova from the Acereros and skipper Pedro Mere from the Toros.  For the Fall 2018 campaign, Monclova will be led by former MLB second baseman Carlos Garcia, who represented the Pittsburgh Pirates in the 1994 All-Star Game; taking the reins in TJ will be longtime helmsman Lino Rivera, who led Yucatan to the 2006 pennant and has also been a dugout boss in Monclova, Monterrey, Veracruz, Laguna and Campeche.  The Sultanes were led offensively by Ramon Rios (.353), Yadir Drake (.341), Chris Roberson (.340) and Ricky Alvarez (.302/13/49) while first-year manager Roberto Kelly's pitching corps was paced by Liga ERA leader Jorge Reyes (3-0, 1.97 in nine starts), Game Seven loser Marco Tovar (6-2, 3.51) and closer Wirfin Obispo (3-2, 2.30 and 10 saves).

Players and coaches for both teams will barely have enough time to catch their breath until the Fall 2018 schedule gets underway Tuesday night when all 16 MXL teams swing into action for the second 57-game regular season campaign of the year.


SOUTH POUNDS NORTH, 10-2, IN LMB ALL-STAR GAME

LMB South All-Stars celebrate win

Parque Kukulcan in Merida was also the site of the 86th Mexican League All-Star Game, held one night after the conclusion of the hometown Yucatan Leones' 4-3 Serie del Rey Game Seven win over Monterrey.  The Southern Division squad led by Yucatan manager Roberto Vizcarra laid a 10-2 licking on Monterrey skipper Roberto Kelly's LMB North team in a game that received scant attention in the media.  We'll do our best here at BBM to give you a reasonable recap.

The South opened the scoring with four runs in the bottom of the second inning, highlighted by an RBI double from Quintana Roo's Carlos Gastelum and a run-scoring single by Oaxaca's Yuniesky Betancourt.  The game was put away for all intent and purposes in the bottom of the fifth entrada, when the South put another six runs on the board, starting with a bases-loaded walk to Emmanuel Avila (Mexico City) and followed by an RBI single from Avila's Diablos Rojos teammate Ivan Terrazas and an extra-base hit by yet another Mexico City player, catcher Hans Wilson to make the score 10-0.

The North finally got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the eighth, when Felix Perez (Aguascalientes) stroked a double to plate Enrique Osorio (Dos Laredos) while Perez later scored himself on a Maxwell Leon (Tijuana) single but the Nortenos had dug themselves too deep a hole by then.  A total of 20 pitchers were trotted out by both teams in the contest (none for more than one inning), which still managed to get played in fewer than three hours despite all the changes.  One-time Florida Marlins All-Star Henderson Alvarez (Quintana Roo) was the starter for the South but the win was credited to Alvarez' Tigres moundmate Dustin Crenshaw.  Monclova ace Josh Lowey was tabbed by Kelly as the North starter but the loss was hung on Tijuana lefty Carlos Hernandez.  Not surprisingly, the South had more hits than the North, 14 to 6.

A crowd of 12,963 was on hand in Merida for the contest as Terrazas was named All-Star MVP after going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and three more driven in (which doesn't necessarily jibe with the above scoring summary but we can only report on what we can find).  One night later, the Liga held its annual Home Run Derby and a new competition, the Double Play Derby.  Hometown favorite Luis Juarez, who'd already won the Serie del Rey MVP trophy two nights earlier for the Leones, was able to beat Monterrey's Ricky Alvarez in the Home Run Derby final round by a 10-to-1 margin.  Prior to that, Yucatan infielders Everth Cabrera and Diego Madera combined to win the Double Play Derby final over Monterrey keystone combo Ramiro Pena (SS) and Ramon Rios (2B) in a competition judged by points on speed and precision.  In addition, no less than 13 LMB team mascots took the field simultaneously to generally cavort around to the delight of youngsters in the stands while LMB awards from the 2017 season were handed out in a postgame ceremony.


LUIS SOJO NAMED NEW MANAGER IN MEXICALI

New Mexicali Aguilas manager Luis Sojo

The Mexican Pacific League's Mexicali Aguilas have named former New York Yankees infielder Luis Sojo as their manager for the 2018-19 season, taking over the helm from Pedro Mere.  Sojo last managed in the MexPac with the Los Mochis Caneros, who he led to a surprising appearance in the LMP championship series in 2016-17 before being jettisoned during the season last winter.

A native of Venezuela, Sojo debuted as an MLB player in 1993 with Toronto and went on to spend 13 seasons in the big leagues, winning one World Series with the Blue Jays his first year and four more times with the Yankees between 1996 and 2000, earning him the nickname "Lord of the Rings."  He was a successful winterball player as well, winning a record five batting titles over 21 seasons in the Venezuelan League, mostly with the Lara Cardinales, during which he hit .320 lifetime and picking up MVP trophies in 1989-90 and  1993-93.

As a manager, Sojo led the Venezuelan National Team at the World Baseball Classic in 2006, 2009 and 2013, taking third place in the WBC in 2009.  He also won a Venezuelan League pennant as helmsman of the Magallanes Navegantes in 2012-13.  Sojo is spending the summer working in the Yankees minor league system.

It's been an interesting year for the Aguilas, who'd brought Mere on board as manager only last November after sending former skipper Roberto Vizcarra packing after an uninspiring first half of the LMP season less than a year after Vizcarra had led Mexicali to the MexPac pennant and Caribbean Series championship.  Mere went on to take the Aguilas to the playoffs and a first-round series win over Mazatlan in six games before being swept in the semifinals to eventual champion Culiacan, leading to his pink slip.

Ironically, Vizcarra was fired in Mexicali three days after Sojo got his walking papers in Los Mochis and it's safe to say that the latter will be working with a short leash under Mexicali owner Dio Alberto Murillo, who has proven to be one of those "What-have-you-done-for-me-lately?" owners so ubiquitous in Mexican baseball.  It's worthy to note the name of the man Mere replaced in Tijuana as the Mexican League Toros' manager last year:  Luis Sojo.  You can't make this stuff up.

LMB Spring season ends, Pericos in Leon for play-in game

Estadio Domingo Santana in Leon

The first 57-game regular season of the Mexican League's unique two-season calendar in 2018 has concluded and the results are little different from last year's full 114-game schedule.  Of the eight teams that qualify for the playoffs (which will be a full, three-tiered affair as before), only one newcomer will be appearing in the postseason.  One other thing that hasn't changed is that a play-in game will be required to determine the fourth and final playoff berth in the South Division.

The Monterrey Sultanes had lost six of their previous seven games before pulling it together to win all three games of a weekend series at Monclova, outlasting charging Tijuana and finish first in the LMB North with a 37-20 record, three-and-a-half games ahead of the defending champion Toros.  TJ won their final four games (including a sweep at Dos Laredos) and seven of their last ten to come in second at 33-23, a half-game ahead of 33-24 Aguascalientes.  Monclova ended up in fourth with a 29-27 mark, avoiding a play-in game by coming in five games ahead of 24-32 Saltillo.  Durango, Union Laguna and Dos Laredos will join the Saraperos on the sidelines for the next month as the postseason plays out.  Monterrey will take on Monclova in one LMB North semifinal while Tijuana battles Aguascalientes in the other.

Similarly in the LMB South, Yucatan's season-long grip on first place came to its logical conclusion, with the Leones winning the final two games of a home series with Quintana Roo to wrap up the campaign with a Liga-best 40-17 record.  The Mexico City Diablos Rojos won eight of their last ten contests to finish second in the division at 36-19, three games behind Yucatan, to return to the postseason after a two-year absence as members of the North Division playing with a roster consisting entirely of Mexican players.  Despite dropping two of three in Merida, the Tigres were a solid third in the South at 33-21 and will play their ancient rivals from the capital city in the LMB South semifinals, starting later this week.

The only remaining point of contention is the matter of who will claim the LMB South's fourth and final postseason seed.  Leon stumbled a bit down the stretch, losing six of their last ten games, but still came in at 27-29 to hold fourth place.  However, Mexican League rules require a fourth-place team to finish at least three games ahead of their nearest competitor and 25-30 Puebla came within a game-and-a-half of the Bravos to force a single-game play-in contest Monday night at 8:15 ET in Leon to determine who'll play Yucatan in the opening round.  The Bravos defeated Veracruz in a similar game last August to qualify for the playoffs. 

All four divisional semis will begin Wednesday.

MEXICAN LEAGUE Spring 2018 final standings
North Division: Monterrey 37-20, Tijuana 33-23, Aguascalientes 33-24, Monclova 29-27, Saltillo 24-32, Durango 24-33, Union Laguna 23-34, Dos Laredos 18-39.
South Division: Yucatan 40-17, Mexico City 36-19, Quintana Roo 33-21, Leon 27-29, Puebla 25-30, Tabasco 24-33, Campeche 22-34, Oaxaca 22-35.


Toros' Rodriguez wins batting title, Hernandez wins pitching crowns

Tijuana Toros left-handed pitcher Carlos Hernandez

Although the defending champion Tijuana Toros ended up second in the LMB North after a sometimes-spotty regular season, they did have two individual players who shone brightly enough to finish atop multiple Liga batting and pitching categories in second baseman Isaac Rodriguez and starting pitcher Carlos Hernandez.

Let's start with the 27-year-old Rodriguez, an Hermosillo native who led all MXL batters with a .394 average after going 17-for-38 (.447) over his final ten games.  The Liga's 2016 Rookie of the Year, Rodriguez also led the loop in hits (89) while coming in second with 52 runs (trailing only Mexico City's Carlos Figueroa's 54 tallies) and a career-high 20 stolen bases (also second to the speedy Figueroa's 23 swipes).  The 5'8" 220-pound Figueroa may be more reminiscent of a bulldog than a greyhound, but the fellow Hermosillo product hit .475 with ten runs and six steals over his final ten contests to finish at .351 for the truncated campaign.

Other season champions in batting categories include Aguascalientes first baseman Felix Perez, who homered five times over his final six games to surge past the troika of Jesse Castillo (Monclova), Luis Juarez (Yucatan) and Ricky Alvarez (Monterrey) for the home run title after the troika all remained stuck at 13 homers over the final week of the regular season.  Castillo, who the Cuban-born Perez replaced at first base with the Rieleros this year, did drive in 57 runs in 56 games to top Juarez on the RBI table by three.  Durango's Daniel Nunez sliced 23 doubles to lead in that category while Puebla's Michael Crouse and Ruben Sosa of Yucatan were tied for the lead in triples with five apiece.  Pericos first sacker Daric Barton won three batting-related crowns as the former Oakland starter turned in a .552 on-base percentage, .669 slugging percentage and 1.221 OPS after riding the Puebla-to-Monclova-to Puebla shuttle since February of last year.

Now let's look at Carlos Hernandez.  The 31-year-old Californian, a two-time Texas League all-star while toiling in the Athletics system, followed up a strong 2017 Mexican League debut with Tijuana (10-2 record, 2.67 ERA over a full season) with an equally-solid second year.  Hernandez went 8-2 in eleven starts to tie Monclova's Josh Lowey for most wins in the MXL, one more than Durango's Tiago Da Silva and Raul Valdez of Saltillo.  Hernandez also came in atop the WHIP table with a 1.02 figure, just .02 ahead of Valdez.  Lowey, who has arguably been the best pitcher in the Liga over the past four years, posted 79 strikeouts in 73.1 innings to easily win that crown while tossing one of three complete-game shutouts across the LMB this season, along with Valdez and Quintana Roo's ageless Pablo Ortega. 

Monterrey's Jorge Reyes is listed with the top ERA in the Liga at 1.97 in 45.2 innings pitched over nine starts, but veteran Jonathan Castellanos of Yucatan leads all pitchers with 57 or more frames with a 2.43 ERA for his 63 entradas of work.  The saves title was one by the 17 of Josh Lueke of Monclova, a former Rangers prospect who also spent time with the Mariners and Rays and spent the past two summers with Japan's Yakult Swallows before signing with Durango in the offseason.  Lueke was shipped from the Generales to the Acereros three weeks into the schedule.


Union Laguna considers sitting out 2018 Fall season, will play instead

Although the Mexican League has trotted out a "new look" this year with the two-schedule format, a new team in Nuevo Laredo (and Laredo) and new ownership in Durango, some old problems remain and one of those appears to be reaching critical mass in Laguna. 

The cities of Torreon and Gomez Palacios have had a long history of hosting LMB teams dating to 1940 with pennants in 1942 and 1950.  However, Laguna's Liga franchises have historically been underfinanced and often run with a seat-of-the-pants approach depending on who the owner du jour is.  As a result, the teams have rarely (if ever) been considered contenders and attendance has typically been middling at best while playing in an 85-year-old ballpark considered antiquated even by LMB standards in a Laguna region that is not considered a garden spot among free agents seeking to play ball south of the border.  In short, while baseball has a long tradition in Laguna, it's always been a tough go.  With all that as a background, the current Algodoneros owners were exploring whether to sit out the LMB's upcoming Fall season before issuing a press release last week stating that Mexican League games would be played at Estadio Revolucion between July and September after all. 

The owners of the Algodoneros are brothers Jose Juan Arellano, who also own the Yucatan Leones to rank among three so-called "time share" owners in the MXL, along with Alfredo Harp Helu (Mexico City and Oaxaca) and Gerardo Benavides ((Monclova and Puebla).  While Harp has been relatively benign as owner of the Diablos and Guerreros, Benavides' constant tinkering with his two teams by constantly transferring player after player between the two teams has drawn much derision in the baseball world and making him the poster child for the perils of syndicate ownership.  The Arellanos have fallen somewhat in between Harp and Benavides as meddling owners go, but their problems in Laguna (most of them self-inflicted) have resulted in what is becoming an untenable situation.

It all seemingly started last June when star first baseman Ricky Alvarez, who was leading the LMB in RBIs as the centerpiece of the then-Vaqueros batting order, was traded from Laguna to Yucatan as part of an eight-player swap that left the Vaqueros gutted and their fans enraged.  Laguna had been drawing over 5,000 aficionados per game prior to the deal to rank among the league leaders in attendance, but the crowds plummeted afterward as fans organized a boycott of games in protest.  The franchise has never recovered since, and things were exacerbated when the Arellanos admitted that their top concern is indeed their Merida team.

The current campaign has seen a team name change from Vaqueros to Algodoneros, but that's the only apparent change.  The Cottoneers finished out of the playoffs after never showing signs of contention while the team drew a middle-of-the-pack 3,067 per opening to Estadio Revolucion as disaffected fans continued to find other things to do.  Speculation became rampant among Mexican baseball cronistas that the financially-plagued team, which has been for sale for months, sought to take the second season off for 2018 as the Arellanos tried to either right the sinking ship and make another go of it in 2019 or concentrate on finding a willing buyer.  Such a move would've created a scheduling nightmare with 15 teams necessitating someone ALWAYS having a three-day bye during a ten-week season.  Whether true or not, the Algodoneros front office saw fit to issue a press release late last week bravely announcing that the team would indeed be back on the field in July for another 57-game schedule, but doubts about the franchise's long-term viability continue unabated.

Although the fans of Laguna do not deserve to lose their team due to owners who've determined their team to be a proverbial "red-headed stepchild," the turmoil in Torreon does create an opportunity for a more-moneyed investor to purchase the franchise from the Arellanos.  MXL teams are typically worth US$3-5 million each, a bargain for a AAA franchise in which a similar team north of the border might sell for at least $20 million (Forbes magazine valued the Sacramento RiverCats at $38 million five years ago while six more International and Pacific Coast League clubs were determined to be worth over $30 million).  Remaining in Torreon and its 9,500-seat ballpark built before FDR was elected to his first term in Washington may be unworkable, however, and if potential buyers seeking to buy and move a Liga team to the USA (hello, Tucson) are thinking it might be time to make an offer, it is.

South playoffs uncertain as final LMB Spring week arrives

Tijuana Toros second baseman Isaac Rodriguez

The final week of the Mexican League's abbreviated Spring 2018 season is upon us and while most participants for next month's eight-team playoffs have been determined, the fourth and final positions in the South Division remain up in the air with six games left on the schedule.

In the LMB North, the Monterrey Sultanes have a 33-18 record to continue their season-long leadership in that division, although Aguascalientes (30-21) has won three straight to pass Tijuana (29-21) for second place.  Monclova (26-24) is in fourth, three games behind Tijuana and four-and-a-half games in front of Durango (22-29), setting up a first-round series with Monterrey while the Rieleros and defending champ Toros are jockeying for home field advantage in their likely division semi set.

Things are much more unsettled in the South, where three teams have a chance for first place while another three are vying for the final playoff berth.  Yucatan holds the best record in the league at 35-16 and have a three-game lead over Mexico City (31-18) while Quintana Roo (30-18) is on the Diablos' heels.  The Tigres visit Cancun next week in what may be the most important series of the 57-game season for both teams.  

Likewise, things are tight in a three-way duel for fourth place.  Leon (24-26) had a solid grip on fourth before dropping eight of their last ten games, allowing Puebla (23-26) to sneak to within a half-game.  Lurking behind the Bravos and Pericos is Tabasco (23-28), a team given no chance to make the postseason when the season opened but winners of seven of their last ten contests to creep to within a game-and-a-half of Leon.  It seems almost certain that the standings will be close enough at season's end to force a single play-in game between the fourth- and fifth-place teams.

Isaac Rodriguez of Tijuana is bouncing back from a mediocre 2017 season in a big way, topping the Liga with a .405 batting average, 83 hits and 46 runs scored while tying Mexico City's Carlos Figueroa for the stolen bases lead at 19 apiece.  The LMB's Rookie of the Year in 2016, the 27-year-old second baseman has to be in the mix for Most Valuable Player honors. There's now a three-way tie for the lead in homers as Monterrey's Ricky Alvarez is knotted up with Monclova's Jesse Castillo and Luis Juarez of Yucatan with 13 longballs each.  Castillo, who joined the Acereros after a big 2017 season with Aguascalientes, is tops with 54 RBIs.

Tijuana starter Carlos Hernandez is making it harder to consider anyone else for Pitcher of the Season.  The Californian leads circuit hurlers with eight wins and a 2.21 earned-run average, with his lone loss coming to Tabasco on April 11.  The two-time Texas League All-Star has allowed just four walks in 53 innings over ten starts for the Toros. Josh Lowey of Monclova has the strikeout trophy ready for engraving with 74 whiffs over 65.1 frames, 21 K's ahead of Raul Valdes of Saltillo.  Aguascalientes closer Anthony Carter's first year in Mexico has gone well, with 13 saves in 14 opportunities to lead the Liga while registering a 2.12 ERA in 27 trips from the Rieleros bullpen.

Yaquis pick ex-MLB infielder Oscar Robles as new manager

New Obregon Yaquis manager Oscar Robles

One year after his retirement as a player, former Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Oscar Robles has been picked to manage the Obregon Yaquis next winter in the Mexican Pacific League.  Robles went out a winner after playing for the 2017 Mexican League champion Tijuana Toros, for whom he is serving this year as a coach under manager Pedro Mere. The Obregon job will be Robles' first full-time managerial gig, although he won all three games he served as a fill-in for the Navojoa Mayos in 2007-08.

The 42-year-old Robles is a Tijuana native who played high school ball in San Diego before beginning his playing career at 18 as a third round draft pick of the Houston organization in 1994, spending five seasons in the Astros system before returning south of the border to play for Oaxaca and Mexico City between 1999 and 2004.  Robles used some of his signing bonus money from the Astros to buy a new scoreboard for his high school's baseball field. The Diablos sold Robles to Los Angeles for the 2005 season and he rewarded the Dodgers by hitting .272 with 44 runs in 110 games primarily at shortstop and third base.  

However, he only hit .152 in 29 games for the Dodgers in 2006 and ended up spending time in the Padres and Phillies systems before returning a final time to the Mexican League in 2009 for stints in Mexico City and Tijuana over the last nine seasons of his career.  While his major league batting average was a less-than-awe-inspiring .260 for 163 games in three seasons with the Dodgers and Padres, Robles was a very effective .339 hitter in 15 seasons in the LMB (topping the .350 mark five times. He also spent 21 winters playing for four teams in the MexPac.

Robles will replace Miguel Ojeda in Obregon after the Yaquis failed to qualify for the LMP playoffs for the second winter in a row.  His coaching staff will include bench coach Rafael Castaneda, first base coach Leo Valenzuela, third base coach Gerardo Sanchez, batting coach Sergio Gastelum and pitching coach Tavo Alvarez.

The Trouble with Toros

The image of the Tijuana Toros as the Mexican League's model franchise has taken a bit of a hit in 2018.  The first crack in the facade came during training camp, when former Los Angeles Dodgers coach Juan Castro left the franchise after first being hired in the winter as the Toros' director of baseball operations, let go without warning by team owner Alberto Uribe and then brought back as a coach, a job Castro left behind in MLB for when ended up as a disastrous two-month stint in Tijuana before he left in frustration and returned to his home in Phoenix.

Now there's an American fan expressing his own frustration with the Toros organization.  The fan, who wishes to remain anonymous for now, grew up in New York and saw Mickey Mantle play for the Yankees as a youth but now works as a photographer in San Diego, where he's become a Toros fan over the past two years...until now.  The following is the text from an email sent to Baseball Mexico after attempts to address a financial discrepancy that left the fan with no funds in his bank account left him as frustrated as Castro was:

I have been a big fan of this team for 2 years. I have Toros stickers on my car.  I have a Toros jersey and a Toros hat. And whenever I get a chance, no matter where I am (US or MX), I gloat about how great it is to be at a Toros game.  I have been to both Serie del Reys.

So I want to go to last Saturday's game (April 21).  The website would not allow me to buy a ticket so I went to MacroPlaza, which is where I bought tickets last year.  After dealing with Friday afternoon traffic, I walk into the Toros shop and they tell me they no longer sell tickets and I must go to the stadium.  So I drive to Gasmart Stadium. I go to the ticket booth and request 2 tickets, $469 pesos. I like to sit right about 3rd base and close. By the way, I am a big baseball fan...my Dad took me to games at Yankee Stadium when I was a kid. I am old enough to have seen Mickey Mantle play his last 2 seasons.  I have no cash on me (my first mistake), so I use my debit card. The kid doing the transaction seemed new but I did not interfere with his job. His manager was nearby but was not very interested in what this kid was doing. Again it is not my business, so I leave and I go to Soriana's to go food shopping because my fridge is empty.  

I go to the cashier to check out  and my card is denied. But I know that I have money in that account so after contacting Soriana's management to see if it was a problem with their system, I decided to contact my bank.  And guess what? The kid had charged me $469 DOLLARS instead of pesos, so now I am overdrawn, and the overdraft fees roll in. I start a claim with my bank to work on getting my money back.  Mind you, I do not have a dime to my name now and the bank said the investigation can take up to 10 days.

So I take a deep breath and brave the Friday evening traffic in Tijuana.  I get home and start trying to contact the Toros organization. First I send a message through the Toros website.  I have not seen a reply to that yet after 7 days. Then I try the Facebook page and the response is dismal at best.  It was basically (paraphrase from memory), “We are sorry that you had this experience, and I hope it works out with your bank.”   I send a message that I will be at the game that night if they wanted to contact me.

At the game I walked into an "office" of sorts. I meet a kid that works for the organization. He seems very confused and said to meet him after the game.  The game begins and I start to feel sick, like the flu. I leave after the 4th inning and go home. I send the kid a message telling him that I am sorry but I felt sick.  That was Saturday and I have not had a response yet. In the meantime I have rice and beans in my cabinet so until today, when my bank released some of the funds, it had been that for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  

By Sunday my illness is not getting better so I drive to my hospital and they prescribe antibiotics.  Only problem is that I have no money to buy them. I finally bought them today. In the meantime my automatic payment for my cell phone bill is denied with a $35 charge, my YMCA payment denied with a $10 charge, etc. etc.  

Now I must say this.  The fact that they have "stonewalled" me up to now is not a surprise (relating to their complete and utter lack of empathy).  I have had 2 other very specific incidents with them in the past relating to their lack of empathy so this surprised me, and yet it did not surprise me.

By the way, I have had several other "encounters" with the Toros organization.  One was re: a promo they made 2 yrs ago. It was a video with actors portraying Nazis, including Hitler ( it appeared that the Nazis were the Toros).  The were standing over a large map and making a strategy to "wipe out" their opponents. Being a Jew that has lost family to the Holocaust, I was offended and I let them know this.  They responded with sort of a "what's the big deal?" attitude. I tried to explain why it’s a big deal but they did not see my point. I then sent an image, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, of a male forearm with "6,000,000" written on it. They answered, "What is the point of this?” and I told them what the point was, and is.

Another issue was the use of the word "puto" in the stadium, especially against the opposing team.  I asked if they knew anything about good sportsmanship. They did not answer that. And I mentioned the fine by FIFA against the Mexican National Team for the use of this word.  No response on this. And children, in the stadium, are chanting it with the adults. This is a family gathering at the games..so why???

The last issue was with their #1 mascot named Chango.  Chango does a lot of interacting with the crowd but the one thing that he constantly does (that I think is inappropriate) is his very sexual "pelvic thrust.”  He does it a lot and the young kids try to copy him. They never answered me on this issue.

It sounds like there are a few answers for the Toros to come up with.  Regarding the ticket charge issue, to quote Judge Marilyn Milian from TV's People's Court program, "PAY the man!"  Concerning the Nazi references, where to begin? The fan says he's considering contacting the Anti-Defamation League about it.

BBM 2017 Summer Awards: Pitcher of the Year

Veracruz Rojos del Aguila pitcher Nestor Molina

There were a number of strong pitching performances in the Mexican League during the 2017 season.  Yucatan's Jose Samayoa was a surprising 11-2 while finishing second with a 2.29 ERA, Tijuana's Carlos Hernandez (10-2, 2.67) and Miguel Pena (11-2, 2.77) led the circuit's top mound staff while 2016 Pitcher of the Year, Yoanner Negrin of Yucatan (11-4, 2.93), had a second straight standout season.  However, the choice for our 2017 Summer Bammy Pitcher of the Year Award came down to two hurlers.

Mexico City's Octavio Acosta, who won only a combined three of eight decisions over the previous two campaigns for Oaxaca in 2015 and the Diablos Rojos, turned in a career year this summer.  The onetime Mets minor leaguer led the league in wins while posting a superb 14-1 record for a team that missed the playoffs for the second year in a row, finished tenth with a 2.99 ERA and registered 102 strikeouts to come in sixth in that category.  The Guasave native's lone loss in 2017 came back on May 21, when defending champion Puebla topped Acosta and the Red Devils, 7-4, at Estadio Fray Nano in the capital city.  It was a career year for the 27-year-old righty, but not quite enough to edge out an even more spectacular season-long performance by Veracruz ace Nestor Molina.

Like Acosta, not much was expected from Molina when the 2017 campaign dawned.  The Valencia, Venezuela product had turned in a combined 7-4 record for Oaxaca and Tabasco with a 4.94 ERA last year before going 2-0 and 2.95 in a late-season, four-game stint with the Braves' AA Eastern League affiliate Richmond under manager Miguel Ojeda, who ironically served as Acosta's skipper this year in Mexico City.  Although he had his moments in 2016 (winning seven games for either the Guerreros or Olmecas in one season is no mean feat), nothing prepared the Mexican League for what was to come this season.

Pitching for one of the Liga's most underpowered lineups, Molina had to bring his "A" game every five nights and while he faded a bit in the late going, he was otherwise up to the task.  After showing an 0-1 record following his second start on April 8, Molina would not lose a second game until dropping a 1-0 heartbreaker to Tabasco on July 27 in Villahermosa.  Over the 15 weeks between defeats, the 6'1" right-hander won eleven straight decisions and lowered his ERA to a microscopic 1.41 after tossing six scoreless innings in Tabasco during a 3-2 win.

Although only two of his final five starts in the regular season could be considered "quality," Molina finished with a league-leading 1.89 ERA and was tied for second in wins with Aguascalientes starter Yohan Flande with a 12-3 record.  Molina also led the LMB with a 1.08 WHIP, his 124 strikeouts were second to Monclova's Josh Lowey's 148 while his three complete games topped the loop.

One cursory glance at Veracruz' everyday lineup might bring a sense of wonder that they were able to qualify for the postseason, even if it was a single play-in game home loss on August 11 to Walter Silva and fifth-place Leon in the weaker LMB South.  Molina was not one of the seven Rojos del Aguila pitchers sent to the mound in that contest by manager Eddy Castro, who surprised some by surviving the entire season at the helm in Veracruz (where in-season firings had become as common as shrimpboats in the port city's harbor).  The Eagle Reds finished fourth in the LMB South with a 48-57 record.  While that may be the definition of backing into the playoffs, they wouldn't have had a sniff of playing beyond the regular season without Molina.

With all due respect to Octavio Acosta, whose great year while backed by one of the the Liga's top offenses (the Diablos posted a team .301 batting average), Molina was performing miracles with a lineup that came in 15th with a .271 average and finished near the bottom in nearly all offensive categories.  Whether the Rojos del Aguila remain in Veracruz for 2018 or move to the Texas border, Nestor Molina should give his team a chance to win no matter where they're playing or who's in the field behind him.

BBM PITCHER OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS
Summer 2010    Bobby Cramer, Quintana Roo
Winter 2010-11  Jose Silva, Culiacan
Summer 2011    Francisco Campos, Campeche
Winter 2015-16  Javier Solano, Mexicali
Summer 2016    Yoanner Negrin, Yucatan
Winter 2016-17  Jake Sanchez, Mexicali
Summer 2017    Nestor Molina, Veracruz