VALDEZ PITCHES LEONES WITHIN GAME OF LMB FLAG

Cesar Valdez pitching for Oakland in 2017

If there was any doubt remaining as to why Cesar Valdez is the odds-on favorite to be named the Mexican League Pitcher of the Year for 2019, the 34-year-old Dominican right-hander should have dispelled them after he pitched a shutout Sunday to lead the Yucatan Leones to a 3-0 win over the visiting Monclova Acereros in Game Five of the Serie del Rey in front of 14,917 fans at Merida's Parque Kukulkan.  The triumph gives Yucatan a 3-games-to-2 lead in the series.

Valdez threw 112 pitches (77 of them strikes) in holding the potent Steelers to four hits and a walk, striking out eight batters to run his playoff record to 4-0 after a 15-2 regular season in which he led the LMB in wins, ERA (2.26) and WHIP (1.06) in 23 starts.  Art Charles' two-out single in the bottom of the first inning off Monclova starter Adam Quintana drove in Jonathan Jones from third with the first run of the game. It would turn out to be the only tally Valdez would need but (just in case) Jorge Flores opened the third with a triple and scored on a Jones single to make it 2-0 and Alex Liddi's solo homer in the bottom of the eighth added one more insurance run for manager Geronimo Gil's squad.  Jones contributed two singles to the Yucatan offense as seven of the other eight Leones batsmen had one hit. Catcher Sebastian Valle had an 0-fer but called a solid game behind the plate for the winners.

Valdez' outstanding Sunday outing was far removed from his work during last Tuesday's Serie del Rey Game One in Monclova.  Although he was awarded a 5-4 win over the Acereros, the 2008 California League All-Star Game MVP and future major leaguer let in four runs over seven innings and gave up home runs to Jose Amador, Eric Young Jr. (a two-run shot) and Noah Perio to account for all Steeler scoring.  Valdez did strike out 13 of the 27 batters he faced.

Monclova evened the series Wednesday with a 9-3 comeback win over Yoanner Negrin, the 2016 LMB Pitcher of the Year.  Negrin was impressive in earlier playoff wins over Oaxaca and Mexico City and had a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh when the Acereros loaded the bases after striking out leadoff batter Bruce Maxwell.  At that point, Gil replaced the Cuban righty with Manny Parra, who gave up a two-run Young single up the middle and an RBI safety to Erick Aybar that gave the home team a 4-3 lead. The Acereros scored five more in the eighth, including a Ricky Rodriguez grand slam off Enrique Burgos, to put the game away.  Amador singled twice and doubled for three of ten Acereros hits as another sellout crowd of 8,500 watched at Estadio Monclova.

Art Charles (r) homered for Leones in Game 4

The title set shifted to Merida for Game Three on Friday, when Monclova took a 2-games-to-1 lead with a 6-3 road win.  Francisco Peguero went 3-for-4 with a double, scoring one run and driving in another as the Acereros collected 13 hits off Leones starter Jose Samayoa and five relievers.  Valle socked a solo homer off Monclova closer Carlos Bustamante in the bottom of the ninth but the contest was all but decided by then. Connor Herber earned his third postseason win by pitching five innings of two-run ball for manager Pat Listach.

Yucatan battled back to tie the series Saturday night with 3-2 victory.  Monclova took an early lead in the top of the first when leadoff hitter Perio doubled off Leones starter Dustin Crenshaw and came in one out later on a Peguero two-bagger.  The Acereros made it 2-0 one entrada later when Perio's two-out single off Crenshaw brought in Amador from second after the latter had doubled to open the inning.  From that point on, Crenshaw went unscathed through the sixth inning and benefitted from a three-run Yucatan fourth keyed by a two-run Charles homer against Monclova opener Geno Encina.  That would mark the last run of the game as Crenshaw, who earned the win, and three relievers held the Acereros scoreless over the last seven innings. A Californian who pitched collegiately at South Alabama and spent four years in indy ball before making his 2015 LMB debut with Laguna, the 6'5" Crenshaw has been one of the Liga's best pitchers since when healthy with a 29-14 record and 3.63 ERA in 61 starts.

The Serie del Rey now shifts back to Monclova for Tuesday night's Game Six.  All five games have been sellouts and another full house is expected at Estadio Monclova as the Acereros strive for the city's first Mexican League pennant since entering the league in 1974.  Negrin is expected to start for Yucatan while Jaime Lugo will take the mound for Monclova.

LOS MOCHIS, GUASAVE BALLPARKS READYING FOR LMP SEASON

Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada in Los Mochis

Two of the Mexican Pacific League's ten ballparks are undergoing upgrades in preparation for the upcoming 2019-20 season.  

State approval of renovations at Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada in Los Mochis was signed by Sinaloa governor Quirino Ordaz Coppel on October 7, 2017 with hope that the two-stage project would be completed by October 2018 after an initial investment of 50 million pesos for work that winter and 260 million pesos projected as the overall price. Sinaloa Public Works secretary Osvaldo Lopez Angulo envisioned a total remodel of the central portion of the stadium, which now has three seating levels (lower and upper box seats topped by luxury and press boxes), and other safety- and comfort-related amenities.  Instead, the facelift will be unveiled a year late with a pricetag of 400 million pesos, or about 20 million US dollars, not an unusual turn of events when it comes to ballparks, new or renovated. 

Estadio Emilio Ibarra Almada was first opened in 1947 when Los Mochis was admitted to the old Pacific Coast League, precursor to the modern LMP.  Initially known as Estadio Mochis, the facility seated 3,000 and had no lights. It has since undergone a number of renovations, the first coming in 1963 when seating was doubled to 6,000 and a lighting system was installed.  A second renovation took place in 1972, as seating was nearly doubled again to a capacity of 11,000 while being renamed after Ibarra, who brought pro baseball to Los Mochis in 1947 and helped inaugurate the ballpark that winter.  Ten years later, Hurricane Paul damaged the facility so badly that the Caneros were forced to play the first half of the 1982-83 LMP schedule on the road before playing home games without lights during the second half. The updated, modern facility is expected to be ready to host 12,000 spectators when the Caneros play their first home game on Saturday, October 12 against Guasave.

Speaking of Guasave, work at Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon has been hurrying along in advance of the revived Algodoneros' home opener against Los Mochis on October 13, one day after the two teams welcome the season at the Caneros' new digs.  Where renovations in Los Mochis have had almost two years to reach completion, Guasave has had less than a year to bring their stadium up to modern standards because the city was only granted re-entry to the Mex Pac last winter after the previous version of the Algodoneros were sold and moved to Guadalajara in 2014.

Guasave's Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon

Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon is a much newer plant than its counterpart in Los Mochis, opening in 1970 with seating for up to 8,000 spectators.  However, the ballpark was not upgraded over the years and by the time it was 44 years old in 2014, it was showing its age and falling into disrepair as the undercapitalized team owners couldn't afford to make needed changes and the state government wasn't willing to pick up the tab.  Attendance had long been declining in Guasave and the team was eventually sold to a group led by Armando Navarro and Salvador Quirarte and moved inland to Guadalajara, where the renamed Jalisco Charros have become of of Mexican baseball's more recent success stories, hosting several international tournaments and winning last winter's LMP pennant.  After a five-year absence, the Mex Pac returned to Guasave when Mexico president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador fulfilled a campaign promise to bring baseball back to the Sinaloa agricultural center.

Mexico City Diablos Rojos owner Alfredo Harp Helu, who bankrolled a new ballpark of his own in the nation's capital, is paying for renovations at Estadio Francisco Carranza Limon, which will be expanded to 10,000 seats.  While there was speculation that Harp might own an LMP along with his Mexican League franchise, he said he had no such interest and another LMB owner, Arturo Aramburo (who owns the Durango Generales but is said to be looking to sell that franchise), officially bought the team over summer.  

The ballpark used by the new Algodoneros was in enough disrepair that the facility might not have been ready to host games next month.  LMP president Omar Canizales, who toured the stadium with Governor Ordaz last week, was quoted in Puro Beisbol as saying, "I am pleasantly surprised.  I had come a couple months ago and I was really a little worried, and when I realize what has happened in the last six weeks, I see a very important breakthrough.  

"They will be ready to sing 'Play ball' on October 13." 

MEDIUM: 30% OF 2019 LMB PLAYERS WERE MEXICAN-AMERICANS

Tijuana outfielder Beau Amaral

It's been two years since the Mexican League expanded its definition of what constitutes a "Mexican" player.  The issue is one reason the LMB underwent an offseason schism that threatened either a split into two separate leagues or cancellation of the 2017 season altogether.  An uneasy truce was eventually brokered and the new policy, in which a player with Mexican heritage who can qualify for a passport is considered "domestic" and does not count against foreign player limits per team, has played out for two years.  While it can be argued that making players with peripheral family connections to Mexico eligible has raised the overall level of play in the Liga, homegrown Mexican players are now having a harder time finding work in their own country.

A September 18 story by Joseph Bien-Kahn for the Medium website delves deeply into the topic.  According to Bien-Kahn, "If you had a Mexican ancestor and could qualify for a Mexican passport, you were Mexican in the eyes of the league."  Tijuana Toros press officer Armando Esquivel estimates that 30 percent of the Mexican League's 400 players (25 players per team) are Mexican-Americans, many of whom bring Major League Baseball experience south of the border.  One such player, Tijuana outfielder Beau Amaral, is a son of former major league infielder Rich and spent seven seasons in the Reds minor league system and part of 2018 with the Mariners' AA Arkansas affiliate before joining the Toros this year.  A Californian who played collegiately at UCLA, Amaral had a great-grandmother who was born in Mexico and thus is not considered a foreigner in the eyes of the LMB.

Indeed, Tijuana has come to specialize in finding players with tenuous literal relations to Mexico who still oxymoronically qualify as domestic imports, with Director of International Operations Arturo Marcano heading the effort.  "That's one of my areas of work: to look for pochos," Marcano told Bien-Kahn, "It's kind of like detective work."  Marcano is a hard-working man, as only six Toros players this season were born in Mexico, including just one pitcher.  He says, "It's not like we have a network of spies looking for pochos everywhere.  What we're doing is scouting players for the team."

Tijuana won their first LMB pennant in 2017 after embracing the philosophy and earning the enmity of Monterrey owner Jose "Pepe" Maiz, who played on Mexico's 1957 Little League World Series champions as a 12-year-old.  Maiz called the team who defeated his Sultanes in the LMB North Championship Series the Pocho Toros, a term that stuck among opposing fans and players who saw the influx of foreign-born players after eligibility rules were relaxed as taking away jobs from homegrown talent.  Although the Mexico City Diablos Rojos played the 2017 season without a single foreign player in protest and missed the playoffs. Other teams noticed that Tijuana won a pennant with 22 foreign-born players (including 16 Mexican-Americans) while Monterrey was eliminated in the semis and Mexico City took the postseason off altogether, and the Toros' philosophy was eventually adopted by organizations across the Liga.

Manny Barreda pitched 2017 no-hitter for Toros

The term pocho technically applies to foreign-born ethnic Mexicans (similar to the longer standing term chicano), but it can also be a derogatory one used toward ethnic Mexicans perceived to have "lost their way" culturally.  While players like Watkins won't hear it directed towards them, Mexican-Americans like pitcher Manny Barreda are frequently targeted.  Born and raised in Arizona, Barreda came to Tijuana in late 2015 after eight years in the Yankees system and one in the Brewers organization.  Except for an excellent seven-start stint with the Braves' AAA Gwinnett affiliate in 2017 (3-1 record with a 1.83 ERA), he's played for the Toros every summer since.  Barreda memorably tossed a 138-pitch no-hitter for Los Mochis of the Mexican Pacific League on November 28, 2016 and then repeated the feat for Tijuana on July 16, 2017, requiring 135 pitches for that 14-strikeout performance.

Although he and wife Karla have become more comfortable living in Mexico, Barreda's first full year in the LMB resulted in several hostile emails and a sense of isolation in a country where he had much stronger cultural roots than many players with far more tertiary ties.  Players of Mexican descent born and raised north of the border often find themselves in a cultural void on both sides of the border. Barreda explains to Bien-Kahn, "In the U.S., you're considered 'Mexican.' And when you come to Mexico, you're an American. You're a pocho. People like us, we don't have a place."  Minnesota Twins reliever Sergio Romo, who still pitches winterball for the Mexican Pacific League's Jalisco Charros, has voiced similar frustrations in the past.

Perhaps the biggest losers with the new regulations are the Mexican-born players who would have played in the LMB in the years prior to 2017.  Previously, Mexican League teams could only carry four foreign-born players, including Mexican-Americans, so only 64 total imports were on the 16 active team rosters.  If Marcano's estimate is accurate, that number is now 120 and could be higher. Not being able to play in their national circuit has hurt these players economically because the average pay in the both the Liga and Mex Pac for homegrown players is said to generally be in the $3,000-$5,000 per month range, a lot of money in a nation where the International Monetary Fund estimated the per capita income in 2017 to be equal to 9,377 US dollars per year. Minor league baseball is not a lucrative undertaking north of the border but in Mexico, many players extend their careers as long as possible because few jobs at home pay the kind of money they can earn in the LMB and LMP.

The notion of limiting the number of foreign-born players may be an unfamiliar one outside Major League and Minor League Baseball (where such practices are illegal), but it is a common practice in almost every other country in the world as a means to allow domestic talent a chance to play.  With the apparent impending ouster of president Javier Salinas and return to power of the so-called Old Guard owners who opposed relaxing player eligibility rules, a return to the old standards may well be discussed during the offseason.

HARBER LIGHTS OUT, ACEREROS REACH SERIE DEL REY

Monclova pitcher Conor Harber

Monclova starting pitcher Conor Harber pitched 6.2 innings of two-hit shutout ball and Francisco Peguero's solo homer highlighted an Acereros' three-run fourth inning as the Steelers went on to win, 3-0, in Tijuana Sunday night to take the Mexican League North Division Championship Series, 4 games to 3.  That outburst in the fourth was all the support Harber needed in earning the win while allowing only a Junior Lake single in the first and a Luis Alfonso Cruz safety in the fourth among 25 Toros batters faced (unfurling 98 pitches along the way).  With two out in the bottom of the seventh, Harber walked Yelson Asencio and Monclova manager Pat Listach brought in Al Albuquerque. A Detroit Tigers' 2011 Rookie of the Year who pitched all or parts of seven MLB seasons, Albuquerque got pinch-hitter Logan Watkins to pop out to Acereros second baseman Erick Aybar to end the entrada and struck out the side in the eighth before closer Carlos Bustamente had a 1-2-3 ninth for the save.

After the Toros had copped the first two games in Tijuana, the series shifted to Monclova for last Tuesday's Game Three.  The home team cut TJ's series lead in half with an 11-2 shallacking as Jose Vargas and former MLBer Eric Young, Jr. belted two-run homers for the Acereros.  Young hit .315 with two homers in 27 games after Monclova signed him in late July, but only batted .143 (7-for-47) over his first ten playoff games for the Steelers.  Former Rays MiLB reliever Spencer Jones tossed one scoreless inning and got the win.

One night later, Jose Amador's solo homer in the bottom of the eighth inning broke a deadlocked score as Monclova evened the series with a 4-3 Game Four win.  Vargas (his second two-run blast in as many games) and ex-Angels shortstop Erick Aybar both went deep for the Acereros off Toros starter Terance Marin in the bottom of the second as Bustamante tossed a scoreless ninth for the save.  Ricky Alvarez had a two-hit night for Tijuana, doubling in one run and scoring another.

The Acereros took the series lead with their third straight home win last Thursday, 7-2, as former Oakland catcher Bruce Maxwell hit a two-run homer in the first inning off Tijuana starter James Russell and another two-run roundtripper in the third off reliever Aaron Kurcz.  Alvarez drove in both Toros runs on singles in the third and fifth frames.  Wilmer Rios, who came on in relief after Monclova starter Danny Rodriguez injured his hand while issuing a game-opening walk to Maxwell Leon, was awarded the win for tossing 2.2 innings of one-run ball before giving way to Jones in the third.  A third straight sellout crowd at Estadio Monclova (8,500 per night) watched as their heroes joined the Toros in the trek back to Tijuana for Game Six.

The Toros won Saturday night when they held off Monclova, 5-4, in front of 16,973 fanaticos in the border city ballpark.  Tijuana took the lead in the bottom of the second on Asencio's two-run homer, but the visitors knotted the contest back up when Chris Carter returned the favor in the top of the fourth.  The Bulls went back in front in the bottom of the fourth on Asencio's RBI single, then opened a 5-2 lead in the seventh on run-scoring singletons by Javier Salazer and Lake.  Peguero singled in Beau Amaral and a bases-loaded walk to Maxwell pushed across Alex Mejia to bring Monclova to within one run before Kurcz (who'd walked Maxwell, his first batter) struck out Amador and Vargas, both swinging, to end the game and force Sunday's Game Seven.

Acereros third baseman Rodolfo Amador

Monclova will advance to the Serie del Rey against Yucatan, starting Tuesday night in Monclova after winning home field advantage for the title with a better overall season won-lost record than the Leones.  This will be the third trip to the championship series for the Acereros, who are celebrating Monclova's 45th season in the Mexican League.  They fell in 2008 to Oaxaca and in 2015 to Quintana Roo.  Conversely, the Leones won their fourth LMB pennant over 65 years in last year's Spring season.

The Acereros have one of the Liga's scariest offenses, belting out a .326 team average with 196 homers over 120 games and featuring with such hitters as Peguero (.386/31/106), Maxwell (.325/24/112), Chris Carter (.293/49/119) and Rodolfo Amador (.326/19/102).  Monclova will need all the runs they can get because their pitching staff doesn't remotely compare to Yucatan's.  With ace Josh Lowey out since May, the only pitcher with more than 11 starts has been Rodriguez, who opened 22 times en route to an 8-6 record with a 4.73 ERA.  The 36-year-old lefty has been a big game pitcher in the past, but was 1-2 with a 9.00 ERA in four playoff starts before getting hurt Thursday and landing on the Reserve List one day later.


YUCATAN SWEEPS MEXICO CITY FOR LMB SOUTH CROWN

The Yucatan Leones defeated Mexico City in Games Three and Four in Merida last week to complete a four-game Mexican League South Division Championship Series sweep of the hard-hitting Diablos Rojos.  Yucatan, who knocked out defending LMB South champs Oaxaca in five games in the first round, now advances to the Serie del Rey and Tuesday's Game One.

Yucatan pitcher Dustin Crenshaw

The Leones won the first two games of the series in Mexico City before the two teams shifted to Parque Kukulkan in Merida for Game Three last Tuesday. Yucatan took away a 7-5 victory as Luis Juarez and Jorge Flores each cracked two-run homers. Juarez' roundtripper in the third off Arturo Lopez reversed a 2-1 Diablos advantage and the Lions never looked back, with Dustin Crenshaw giving up two runs in 5.2 innings for the W.  Japhet Amador drove in four runs on three singles for Mexico while Carlos Figueroa had three hits and scored twice.

Yucatan brought out the brooms in last Wednesday's Game Four, completing the sweep with a 4-1 triumph over the Red Devils in front of a second sellout crowd of 14,917 at Parque Kukulkan.  Jose Samayoa and three relievers combined to hold the visitors to four hits. Alex Liddi gave the Leones an early lead with a two-run homer in the first, but David Vidal made it a 2-1 game in the top of the second by singling in Amador from third.  Liddi responded in the bottom of the frame with a two-run double to end the game's scoring early.  From that point, Samayoa (one run on four hits over 6.2 innings) and the bullpen held the potent Diablos scoreless to vault Yucatan into the Serie del Rey for the second time in three seasons.  Samayoa got the win while Mexico City starter Patrick Johnson, who gave up both of Liddi's two-run hits, absorbed the loss.  Liddi later added a single and ended the night 3-for-5 for the winners.

Leones infielder Alex Liddi (c)

The Leones have shown unusual (for them) power this year, as eight batters reached double figures in homers, led by Leo Heras' 15, en route to 126 bombs during the regular season.  Among the leaders in the power surge has been June free-agent signee Liddi, an ex-Seattle corner infielder who hit .344 with 12 homers and 66 RBIs in 59 games. The Italian National team stalwart has hit .359 with three homers and 11 RBIs in nine playoff games for Yucatan.  The Lions have always relied on good pitching and while 2019 was a down year for hurlers across the LMB, the Merida club did finish second to Tijuana with a team ERA of 4.45 (the Toros turned in a 4.41 mark) while giving up both the fewest homers (100) and walks (311).  Manager Geronimo Gil comes off the elimination of his former team and will bring four solid starters into the Serie del Rey: Cesar Valdez (15-2/2.26), Yoanner Negrin (13-6/3.22), Samayoa (9-5/4.05) and Crenshaw (5-1/2.72 over seven starts).

While the Diablos headed back to the nation's capital in disappointment, it's been a good year for baseball in Mexico City.  The March 23 opener of the new Estadio Alfredo Harp Helu kicked things off as the San Diego Padres beating the Diablos Rojos, 11-2, as a full house of 20,000 looked on.  Baseball devotee Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador became the first Mexican president since Miguel Aleman in 1947 to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at an LMB ballpark opener.  The next afternoon saw another sellout witness a 9-6 Padres win, although 2018 Southern League batting champion Kevin Medrano became the first Diablos player to homer in the new facility.  Mexico City also hosted the Mexican League All-Star Game (another sellout) while the Diablos drew 389,641 fans over the regular season for an average of 7,216, good for fourth in the Liga. Mexico City led the league with a .330 team batting average en route to an overall 67-49 record, best in the LMB South.


EL TITAN: "IF I RETURN TO LMP, I RETURN WITH VENADOS"

Adrian Gonzalez in his earlier Mazatlan days

Perhaps as a reply to rumors that he might play winterball in Culiacan this season, five-time Major League All-Star Adrian Gonzalez has tweeted that he would prefer the same team he's always played Mexican Pacific League ball with: the Mazatlan Venados.  A four-time Gold Glove first baseman with two Silver Slugger awards during his 15-year MLB career, Gonzalez tweeted last Friday: "I really doubt that I can play with the Tomateros.  Great team with a lot of history.  But I've always said it.  If I return to LMP, I return with Venados."

According to an ElFildeo.com writer only identified as Otero (maybe longtime Laredo Morning Times sports editor and former Baseball America scribe Salo Otero?), "Much has been said, specialted and written about Adrian Gonzalez, whether he is retired or not from baseball, if he will play in the LMP in the 2019-2020 campaign, if he will do so with the Charros de Jalisco, even if he is also going to play with Mexico in the Premier12 tournament."  For the record, while the 37-year-old has only played in the LMP for Mazatlan, he does not appear on a protected roster for any of the Mex Pac's ten teams and is free to make a deal with any team of his choosing.

Will he or won't he? And where?

The San Diego-born "El Titan," Gonzalez spent a few years growing up across the border in Tijuana, where he and older brother Edgar learned baseball from their father, former Mexican National Team member David Gonzalez.  With Edgar manning second base, the Gonzalez brothers played side-by-side with Mazatlan a number of times during the '00s before becoming the first Mexican brother duo to play together in MLB with San Diego in 2009.  Adrian went on to play for Boston, the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets before recurring back issues shelved him last season after he hit .237 with six homers before the Mets released him in June 2018.  In his MLB career, Gonzalez batted .287 on 2,050 hits, including 317 homers and 1,202 RBIs over 1,989 games.  He has not played in a game since going 0-for-3 on June 10, 2018, when the Mets hosted the crosstown rival Yankees at Flushing Meadows.

TJ WINS 8 STRAIGHT TO TIE MONCLOVA IN LMB NORTH

Tijuana Toros pitcher Hector Ambriz

The Tijuana Toros have reeled off eight consecutive wins (and 9 of their past 10 games) to pull into a dead heat with Monclova atop the Mexican League North Division standings.  The Toros overcame a 6-3 deficit to pull out a 7-6 home victory over former LMB South leader Oaxaca at Estadio Gasmart on Sunday.  The Toros scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to knot the contest up at 6-6 and finally took the lead one frame later when an errant pickoff attempt by Guerreros reliever Luis Vasquez allowed Isaac Rodriguez to streak in from third base with the eventual game-winning run.  Daniel Moskos then came in from the TJ bullpen and recorded a 1-2-3 ninth on nine pitches to seal the triumph and secure the Toros' second straight series sweep after new manager Lino Rivera's men took three games from visiting Puebla in a midweek series on the border.

While the Toros have been a middle-of-the-pack offensive team thus far in the LMB's Fall season, the pitching staff has been solid, turning in a 3.04 ERA over Tijuana's 14-4 start to trail only North co-leader Monclova's 2.83 mark among the Liga's 16 teams.  It's been a true staff effort, as the highest-ranking Toros starterer among ERA leaders is 0-1 Hector Ambriz, a former MLBer who's 20th at 3.38 after three starts.  Former MLBer Tom Wilhelmsen leads the squad with five saves in eight outing, although his own 3.86 ERA is a bit higher than the rest of the team.  Wilhelmsen hasn't pitched since earning a save against Spring champ Yucatan in Merida on Sunday, July 15 after joining the team just before the opening of the MXL's second season, but is still listed on the Toros' active roster.  For his part, Moskos has been unscored upon in 10.1 innings over 11 appearances while fellow reliever Jesus Pirela has a 1.74 ERA out of the bullpen.  Centerfielder Justin Greene's .411 average is fifth in the league batting race and leftfielder Junior Lake, a newcomer who came from Leon in exchange for reliever Cesar Carrillo on July 10, is among the circuit's leaders with 16 runs over 16 games despite a .220 average.

Meanwhile, in the LMB South, Lake's former Bravos teammates have won six in a row to surge into the division lead with a 10-6 record, one game up on equally-surprising Campeche (10-8).  There'll be a guest story below on Leon's comeback win over Union Laguna Sunday, but skipper Luis Rivera's men moved up the ladder by virtue of home series sweeps over Durango and the Algodoneros last week while last Monday's leader Oaxaca fell to the mythical BBM curse by being swept in road sets at Monterrey and Tijuana after being our headline story (the pressure no doubt got to the Guerreros). 

The Bravos have shown a nice balance between batting and pitching thus far.  Centerfielder Eduardo Arredondo is batting .396 to rank eighth in the batting derby and Felix Pie, a former MLB outfielder, has a .317 average, but Leon is fourth (.296) in the MXL through a team effort at the plate.  Starter Dustin Crenshaw, who went from Laguna to Quintana Roo before arriving in Leon in March after being released by the Tigres, leads the mound staff with a 2.55 ERA to augment his 2-0 record.  Recent arrival Joe Colon, who pitched for Cleveland's 2016 American League champions, has yet to allow a run in eight outings and has four saves to show for it since coming to the Guanajuato team on July 5.

Quintana Roo third baseman Brian Hernandez leads the LMB with a .452 average, Monclova's Cesar Tapia is tops with seven homers after knocking out a longball Sunday against Campeche, Eric Aguilera of Union Laguna has 22 RBIs to lead Felix Perez (Aguascalientes) and Ricardo Serrano (Yucatan) by one and Perez' Rieleros mate Tony Campana heads the stolen bases list with ten.  Josh Lowey (Monclova) has been joined by Acereros reliever Carlos Fisher, Tiago da Silva (Durango) and Edgar Gonzalez (Monterrey) as three-game winners.  Another Monclova hurler, Andre Rienzo, has an Liga-best 0.49 ERA in four starts, Puebla's Enrique Oquendo has the most strikeouts with 28 in 20.2 innings and Wirfin Obispo of Monterrey has eight saves to top that list.

The biggest midweek series of the MXL will commence Tuesday when Monterrey (11-7) visits Monclova (14-4), followed by a big one between the Acereros and Tijuana (14-4) at Estadio Monclova next Friday through Sunday.


GUEST GAME STORY: LEON TAKES 10-8 WIN OVER LAGUNA

Bob Broughton is a Canadian expat now living in the Mexican state of Guanajuato.  Bob is a baseball nut who oversees the CourtesyRunner.com website, which is primarily devoted to NAIA college baseball but also has included stories on the Caribbean Series and his adopted Mexican League team, the Leon Bravos.  It's a good, lively site worth looking at.  The following is his writeup of Sunday's exciting 10-8 Bravos win over visiting Union Laguna in which Leon maintained first place in the LMB South:

Leon Bravos outfielder Felix Pie

The Bravos de León (10-6) defeated the Algodoneros (Cotton Farmers) de Unión Laguna (7-11) 10-8 at Estadio Domingo Santana in León on July 22. This was the Bravos' sixth straight win, and they are in first place in the South Division of the Mexican League.

The game was scoreless for the first three innings, with the Bravos getting a double play in the top of the third inning, and leaving the bases loaded in the bottom of the third. The shutout ended with an RBI single by 3B Eudor Garcia in the top of the fourth, and his single loaded the bases with nobody out. Bravos starter RHP Eder Llamas struck out the next batter, and the following batter hit a ground ball that resulted in a force out at home. Llamas was relieved by RHP Marco Quevedo, and he was greeted by a grand slam home run by CF Jonathan Jones. The Algodoneros added another run in the top of the sixth on an RBI single by C Daniel Mercado. They led 6-0 going into the bottom of the sixth, and it looked like the Bravos' winning streak was coming to an end.

The Bravos ended the shutout in the bottom of the sixth when LF Felix Pie scored on a ground out by DH Julio Perez. The next batter, 3B Joe Munoz, hit an RBI single. Munoz was followed by C Israel Nunez, who hit a single (good dive into first base), putting runners on first and second. Algodoneros starter RHP Saul Castellanos was relieved by LHP Roman Pena, and Pena got out of the inning with two fly outs.

Pena was relieved by RHP Humberto Montiel in the bottom of the seventh, and all hell broke loose. 2B Niko Vasquez got it started by reaching on an error, then scored on a single by CF Cedric Hunter. Hunter stole second on a call that was reviewed, but the next batter, Pie, hit a home run, and the score was 6-4. Montiel was relieved by RHP Alejandro Chavarria (Indio, CA) without recording an out. Chavarria walked the first batter he faced, and the second one, Perez, reached on an error. Munoz bunted the runners to second and third, and Nunez hit a double to bring them home. The next batter, SS Marco Jaime (Phoenix, AZ), hit another double to score Nunez, and the Bravos led 7-6. Chavarria was relieved by RHP Jose Barajas, and the only out recorded by Chavarria was the bunt by Munoz. Barajas was greeted with an RBI double by 1B Eduardo Arredondo. Vasquez flied out for the second out of the inning, and Hunter hit a single for his second RBI of the inning. Barajas struck out Pie to end the inning, with the Bravos leading 10-6.

The Algodoneros got within striking distance in the top of the eighth with a two-run home run by Mercado. The Bravos responded by sending in LHP Marco Ramirez. He recorded two ground outs and a strikeout to end the inning. He started the top of the ninth with a ground out and a walk. Another ground out put a runner on second, and a passed ball put him on third. Another walk put the tying run on first, and the Bravos bullpen was busy. However, Garcia flied out to end the game.

RHP Ulises Lopez, who recorded the final out of the seventh and gave up the home run by Mercado, got the win. Chavarria got the loss. Nunez, the ninth hitter in the batting order, finished 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Arredondo finished 3-for-5 with a double and an RBI. For the Algodoneros, Garcia finished 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI, and three runs scored.

Jones (Vacaville, CA) played college ball at Long Beach State, was in the Blue Jays organization 2010-14. Garcia (El Paso, TX) was a JUCO All-American at El Paso CC, was a fourth round draft pick by the Mets in 2014. He was in the Mets organization through 2017. Castellanos (Jalostotitlan, Jalisco) was in the Dodgers organization 2015-2017. Pena (San Diego, CA) was drafted in the ninth round by the Indians in 2005, was in the Indians organization through 2010. Barajas (Las Vegas, NV) was in the Orioles organization 2008-10.

Pie (La Romana, Dominican Republic) played 425 Major League games, for the Cubs in 2007-08, the Orioles in 2009-11, and the Pirates in 2013. He had a career batting average of .246. Munoz (Hacienda Heights, CA) was drafted in the second round by the Diamondbacks in 2012, was in the Diamondbacks organization through 2016. Vasquez (Oxnard, CA) was drafted in the third round by the Cardinals in 2008, was in the Cardinals organization through 2012, then the Reds organization in 2012. Hunter (Decatur, GA) was drafted in the third round of the 2006 draft by the Padres, played in six Major league games for the Padres in 2011, and 13 games for the Phillies in 2016. Lopez (Cananea, Sonora) played college ball at Central Oklahoma, played some independent league ball and played in Australia.

The third base umpire for the game was Luz Gordoa, the first female umpire in the Mexican League.


MEXICO OPENS 1-2 AT CENTRAL AMERICAN & CARIBBEAN GAMES

Mexico's Octavio Acosta pitching to Nicaraguan batter 

The Mexican National Team was expected to have a fairly easy go of things at the Central American & Caribbean Games in Barranquilla, Colombia.  After all, manager Enrique "Che" Reyes had the only fully professional team in the baseball portion of the event (although Cuba typically sends teams of top "amateurs" to such tournaments) and it was thought they'd make short work of the eight-team field.

Instead, the Verdes Grande dropped their first two games before picking up a Sunday win to end the weekend at 1-2 with four games to play.  The Mexicans opened play last Friday with a 5-0 shutout loss to Cuba as veteran Lazaro Blanco combined with two relievers on a four-hitter.  Alan Espinoza had two of Mexico's hits with a single and double but starter Javier Solano was roughed up for all five Cuban runs on ten hits over 4.2 innings before being replaced by David Reyes as 2,500 looked on at Estadio Edgar Renteria.

Losing to Cuba can't be considered a shocker but Saturday's 9-1 defeat at the hands of host Colombia can.  Mexico actually had a 1-0 lead until the Colombians tied the score in the bottom of the fifth inning as starter Jose Samayoa was cruising along, but Samayoa and his teammates suffered a nightmarish sixth as Colombia posted five runs to take a 6-1 lead.  The home side plated another three tallies in the eighth on a bases-loaded single by Cristian Cano to put the game away for good.  Mexico's seven hits on the day were recorded by as many players, with Alberto Carreon and Luis Juarez each rapping doubles, but Sebastian Valle's RBI single in the top of the fourth brought in the only Mexican run of the night as 10,000 mostly-Colombian spectators were sent home happy.

Mexico finally broke into the win column Sunday by topping Nicaragua, 5-0, scoring three runs in the bottom of the first and never looking back.  Amadeo Zazueta and Jose Alvarez both singled and doubled for the winners while Ricardo Rodriguez had two singletons, but it was Octavio Acosta's solid 5.1 innings on the mound that set the tone for what ended up as a three-hitter shared among Acosta (who got the win) and three relievers.  After Saturday's great crowd, only 800 hearty souls showed up for this one in Barranquilla. 

Mexico's four remaining round-robin games will come Tuesday against Puerto Rico, Wednesday against Panama, Friday against Venezuela and Sunday against the Dominican Republic.  Puerto Rico has a 2-0 record, including an unexpected 8-1 win over Cuba, to lead the standings along with 2-0 Colombia, who preceded their win over Mexico with a 3-1 triumph over Nicaragua. 

There was a controversy before the tournament when two-time Mexican League MVP Jesse Castillo was dropped from the Mexican roster without explanation.  Initially it was thought that Castillo's LMB team in Monclova refused to allow him to make the trip to Colombia, but Castillo himself said that was not the case and all but dared Liga president Javier Salinas to give the real reason why.  Castillo was suspected by some to have tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs, but that contention has not as yet been proven. 

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.

Leon win streak snapped at 11; Bravos fourth in LMB South

Leon Bravos pitcher Dustin Crenshaw

Danny Vasquez' two-run single in the top of the second inning gave Campeche a 4-3 lead in Leon and the Piratas pulled away to an 8-3 Mexican League win over the Bravos Sunday afternoon at Parque Domingo Santana.  The defeat ended an eleven-game win streak for the surprising Bravos, who have moved into the fourth and final playoff slot in the LMB South with a 22-17 record, three games behind third-place Mexico City but four games up on defending division champion Puebla with three weeks remaining in the Liga's Spring 2018 season.

Leon had posted their eleventh straight victory Saturday night with a 5-3 triumph over the visiting Piratas when consecutive RBI singles by Junior Lake and Quincy Latimore in the bottom of the seventh broke a 3-all tie and gave Eder Llamas the win out of the bullpen.  Llamas was one of seven relievers to follow starter Dustin Crenshaw, who tossed 5.1 innings for the Bravos and gave up two runs (one earned) on six hits and no walks, striking out two Campeche batsmen.  Leon was 11-16 when they began their skein on Tuesday, April 24 with a 5-1 win at Tabasco despite batting only 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Manager Luis Carlos Rivera's team is second in the league with a .322 batting average (trailing only Durango's .329) while the Bravos' 48 homers tops the loop.  Leon has three batters in the top ten: outfielder Felix Pie (sixth at .392), shortstop Amadeo Zazueta (eighth at .381) and second baseman Niko Vasquez (ninth at .376) while Pie is tied for third in homers with nine.  The Bravos' pitching has been middle-of-the-road with a 5.08 ERA, ninth in the 16-team league, although Crenshaw has done well so far with a 3-1 record and a 3.30 ERA over eight starts, winning the first game of the streak in Villahermosa and picking up another W five nights later in Campeche.  Leon barely snuck into the playoffs last year in their debut season, but with Puebla fading badly (losing nine of their last ten) and only 21 games left in the abbreviated regular season, the Bravos are sitting pretty.

While Leon has zoomed past Puebla for fourth in the LMB South, there remains a spirited three-team battle for the division lead, with Yucatan (27-12) holding a one-game lead over another surprising team, Quintana Roo (25-12) while Mexico City (25-14) is two games out of first.  The Tigres, who were not expected to contend this year under new manager Tim Johnson, have won eight of their last ten to vault past the Diablos Rojos into second heading into a crucial three-game set against Leon opening Tuesday in Cancun.  In the LMB North, Monterrey (26-13) won two of three games in Dos Laredos over the weekend to maintain a 3-5-game lead over defending Liga champs Tijuana (22-16).  The Sultanes topped the Tecolotes, 8-4, Sunday at Uni-Trade Stadium in Laredo as DH Yadir Drake came one homer shy of hitting for the cycle, scoring twice and driving in two more runs.  Aguascalientes (22-17) and Monclova (20-18) hold the final two Zona Norte playoff berths with none of the division's other four teams within five games of the .500 mark.

First-year Durango first baseman Dustin Geiger, a former Cubs and Marlins farmhand, leads the Mexican League with a .408 batting average, six points ahead of Puebla first sacker Daric Barton.  Monterrey's Ricky Alvarez is tops with 13 homers and tied with Tijuana's Cyle Hankerd for the RBI lead at 41 while Hankerd's Toros teammate Justin Greene's 18 stolen bases leads the league despite Greene only playing twice since April 24.  Pitcher Carlos Hernandez (also of Tijuana) pitched six innings in the Toros' 7-1 home win over Saltillo Saturday to post his sixth victory of the Spring, best in the LMB.  Yucatan's Jose Samayoa's 2.17 ERA leads all starters, Josh Lowey of Monclova looks like a lock for another strikeout title with 58 (17 more than his nearest rival) and former MLBer Josh Lueke of the Acereros has ten saves to top Liga closers in that category.

Coming up this week is a huge series in Tijuana, where the Toros host LMB North-leading Monterrey in a three-game set starting Tuesday.  Next weekend's top series will be in Cancun when the Tigres host Mexico City in a renewal of Mexican baseball's oldest rivalry, which has been spiced up by the Rookiegate scandal and Tigres owner Fernando Valenzuela's open frustration over the Liga office's "What Me Worry?" response.


First MLB no-hitter in Mexico tossed during series in Monterrey

Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler

As if there wasn't enough history being made last weekend in Monterrey, where Major League Baseball played its first regular season games since 1999, Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Walker Buehler combined with three relievers to toss the first MLB no-hitter outside the USA and Canada on Friday night in the Dodgers' 4-0 win over San Diego at Estadio Monterrey.  Five no-hitters had been spun in Montreal or Toronto previously.

Buehler, a 23-year-old righty who was the Dodgers' 2015 first-round draft pick, pitched the first six hitless innings for Los Angeles, striking out eight and walking three to go to 2-0 on the season.  He was followed in order by relievers Adam Cimber, Kazuhisa Makita and Phil Maton, each of whom contributing a hitless frame to seal the no-no for the Dodgers, who then lost the last two games of the series.  San Diego evened the set Saturday with a 7-4 triumph behind two-run homers by first baseman Eric Hosmer and catcher Rafael Lopez, then took Sunday's rubber match by shutting out the defending National League champs, 4-0, as starter Eric Lauer combined with three relievers to scatter eight hits while Hosmer homered once more with a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth.

While Buehler and his bullpen mates stole the lion's share of attention for the series on Friday night, it ended up being three games that Padres third baseman Christian Villanueva would probably just as soon put in the taillights.  Villanueva, a Guadalajara native who has received much early notice as a potential Rookie of the Year candidate, went 0-for-11 over the series and committed two errors in the field Sunday.  Villanueva has gone 1-for-20 in May to bring his season batting average, which stood at .355 on April 22, down to .265 after Sunday's contest.

The series, which sold out in less than two hours, was well-received by fans and media alike as a total of 65,116 attendees in 22,000-seat Estadio Monterrey.  The success of the Mexico Series brought out calls for a future MLB team south of the border, either in Monterrey or Mexico City.  MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said during Friday's ESPN2 broadcast that both Mexico and Montreal are potential candidates for expansion teams, but some Mexican baseball columnists quickly pointed out that the country's political and financial instability would be tough obstacles to overcome and that it's a lot harder to get people to attend 81 home games as opposed to a single three-game series.


Mazatlan Venados tab Joe Alvarez as new skipper

New Mazatlan Venados manager Joe Alvarez

The Mazatlan Venados front office decided after last winter that one season with Daniel Fernandez as manager of the Mexican Pacific League team was enough and that a change was needed at the helm.  After a months-long search, the Venados last week introduced Cuban-born Joe Alvarez as their pilot for the 2018-19 LMP campaign.

The 61-year-old Alvarez will make his LMP managerial debut with Mazatlan this October, but he is no stranger to the MexPac after previously serving as a coach with the Obregon Yaquis under Eddie Diaz.  However, Alvarez' Mexican baseball bonafides have been mostly been built in the Mexican League.  After winning Gulf Coast League pennants in 1986 and 1987 managing the Dodgers' Rookie league entry and a Florida State League title with Vero Beach in 1990, the former minor league infielder spent time in the Rays and Phillies organizations before taking over in Puebla on an interim basis in 2014 after Houston Jimenez was fired during the season.  Alvarez then guided the Pericos to second place in the LMB South and won playoff series against Campeche and Quintana Roo before falling to Mexico City in the Serie del Rey for the Liga pennant.

He went on to serve as a coach with the Korea Baseball Organization's SK Wyverns before returning to Mexico last summer as manager in Durango, leading the Generales to a .500 record playing the first month on the road while their ballpark was undergoing renovations.  The team eventually fell victim to injuries and front office mismanagement and finished seventh in the LMB South with a 43-66 record.  Alvarez could hardly be blamed for the Generales' misfortunes, but he was not rehired after the 2017 season.

Alvarez, who was born in Manzanillo, Cuba but attended high school in New Jersey before making his pro baseball debut in 1974 in the Yankees organization (later playing in the Astros and Orioles systems), takes over a Mazatlan team that finished the regular season with a 37-31 record and qualified for the postseason under Fernandez before falling to defending MexPac champion Mexicali in the first round, four games to two.

Pitchers Osuna, De La Cruz, Crenshaw each record 5th wins

Although April only ended Sunday and the Mexican League is just over four weeks into its 2017 season, three Liga pitchers have already attained their fifth wins of the young campaign.  Union Laguna moundmates Edgar Osuna (pictured) and Dustin Crenshaw are joined by Saltillo starter Frankie de la Cruz as the LMB's co-wins leaders heading into the month of May.

Osuna and Crenshaw are two reasons the Vaqueros  are in a virtual three-way tie with Monterrey (17-8) and Tijuana (18-9) for first place in the LMB North with an 18-9 record.  Although Laguna's battering-ram offense led by 1B Ricky Alvarez (.390 with 8 homers and 40 RBIs) and 2B Anderson Hernandez (.390) has given their pitching staff a lot of cushion, the 5-0 Osuna has more than held up his end of the bargain by winning all five of his starts and leading the LMB with an ERA of 1.61 over 28 innings.  The 29-year-old lefty from Mazatlan won his most recent start last last Thursday by holding the potent Monclova offense scoreless on five hits in five innings in a 6-5 win at Estadio Monclova during which rookie manager Ramon Orantes left Vaqueros closer Esmailin Caridad in for the entire bottom of the ninth as the Acereros posted all five of their runs on six hits and had a man on first with one out before Antonio Lamas tapped into a game-ending 1-6-3 double play.

Crenshaw has needed the Union Laguna offensive support more in compiling his 5-1 record in six starts, although he did toss a five-hit shutout against visiting Durango last Friday in a 9-0 whitewash in Torreon, of course (since the fading Generales still have yet to play a home date).  Crenshaw's season ERA of 4.74 isn't the most impressive but when you have a lineup averaging .315 and 7.85 runs per game, you've got some elbow room to work with.  Crenshaw has exhibited good control by issuing just five walks in 38 innings.  The 6'5" righty attended South Alabama and spent four years in indy ball and was 14-2 for St. Paul of the American Association before joining the Vaqueros last season (going 8-2 with a 2.20 ERA in 12 starts).

Meanwhile, de la Cruz has spun his magic for a Saltillo team that was 13-12 before Sunday's game in Aguascalientes.  The 33-year-old Dominican right-hander is in his 16th year of pro ball, spending MLB time along the way with Detroit, Florida, San Diego and Milwaukee between 2007 and 2011.  The well-travelled de la Cruz has also pitched in Japan and Italy (turning in a 3-4 record and 2.65 ERA in Nettuno last summer) before signing with the Saraperos one day before their season opener.  He put together five quality starts out the chute for Saltillo and his 2.08 ERA was eighth on the Liga table before he was pounded for eight runs (seven earned) on 11 hits in five innings in a 10-5 loss in Aguascalientes.  He's now at 3.40 per nine.

While three teams are locked into the LMB North lead, 16-10 Yucatan has opened a two-and-a-half game advantage over 14-13 Puebla in the LMB South while 13-13 Oaxaca is three games back.  Both Liga newcomers have struggled of late, as Durango has lost seven of their last ten games to fall to last in the North at 11-16 while Leon's 2-8 mark over their most recent 10-game stretch dropped the Broncos into seventh place in the South with a 10-17 record.

Monterrey centerfielder Chris Roberson has regained the Mexican League batting table lead with a .443 average, two points up on Saltillo second baseman Luis Borges.  Tijuana outfielder Corey Brown has homered in five straight games and six of his last seven to take the Liga lead in that category with 10 on the season, just ahead of Toros teammate Alex Liddi's nine longballs.  Brown is also second in the circuit with 38 RBIs, trailing only Laguna first baseman Ricky Alvarez' 41.  Saltillo outer gardener Justin Greene still leads the LMB with 10 stolen bases (Laguna outfielder Ethan Chapman and Tijuana's Dustin Martin both have seven), but Greene hasn't swiped a bag in his last five contests.

As mentioned, Osuna, Crenshaw and de la Cruz each have five wins going into the May calendar while Osuna tops the loop in ERA.  Oaxaca's Irwin Delgado, a 5'9" lefty from Mexicali, struck out eight Quintana Roo batters over 6.2 innings in a Friday night win at home against the Tigres to surpass Monclova's Josh Lowey for the strikeouts lead by a 39-35 margin (de la Cruz is third with 31).  Durango closer Tiago da Silva saw his string of eleven saves in as many appearances at the start of the season snapped, but his eleven saves still top the list by three over Jairo Asencio of Yucatan.

Among the eight month-opening series scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday, the biggest will take place in Torreon when Union Laguna hosts Monterrey in a battle of LMB North co-leaders.  The Sultanes then return home to Estadio Monterrey for a weekend set with the other current co-leader, the Monclova Acereros.  The most-anticipated series of the week may be in Durango, where the vagabond Generales may finally play their home opener against Monclova Tuesday after spending the entire first month of the season living out of their suitcases while renovations on Estadio Francisco Villa have lurched on.  Manager Joe Alvarez' showed much pluck at the schedule's outset but have shown signs of road wear recently.  Here's hoping the Generales finally get to play in front of fans in Durango and start living normal lives (in a baseball sense).  As easy as it's been to poke fun of the people running the team, it's been hard to watch players and coaches endure the odyssey they've faced through no fault of their own.  How do you not root for these guys?

Mexican League standings as of May 1, 2017
NORTHERN DIVISION: Monterrey 17-8, Tijuana 18-9, Laguna 18-9, Mexico City 15-12, Monclova 14-13, Saltillo 13-13, Aguascalientes 13-14, Durango 11-16
SOUTHERN DIVISION: Yucatan 16-10, Puebla 14-13, Oaxaca 13-13, Campeche 11-16, Veracruz 11-16, Quintana Roo 10-15, Leon 10-17, Tabasco 8-18

LMB Schedule for May 2-4, 2017
Monclova at Durango, Monterrey at Laguna, Mexico City at Saltillo, Tijuana at Aguascalientes, Puebla at Tabasco, Veracruz at Quintana Roo,  Campeche at Leon, Oaxaca at Yucatan

LMB schedule for May 5-7, 2017
Aguascalientes at Mexico City, Laguna at Durango, Monclova at Monterrey, Saltillo at Tijuana, Campeche at Puebla, Oaxaca at Quintana Roo, Veracruz at Yucatan, Tabasco at Leon