YAQUIS TOP MOCHIS IN GAME 7, VS. JALISCO IN FINALS

After dropping the first two games of their Mexican Pacific League playoff semifinal series in Los Mochis, the Obregon Yaquis fought back and won the final two tilts of the set (also on the road) to beat the Caneros, 4 games to 3, reaching the championship series against Jalisco, who topped Mazatlan in five contests in the other semi matchup.  As might be deduced, however, the Yaquis didn't win the easy way.

Obregon Yaquis pitcher Francisco Rodriguez

Obregon was able to tie the series at two games apiece by winning last Monday and Tuesday.  In Game Three at Nuevo Estadio Yaquis, Jose Aguilar lined a single to center field off Andres Avila to score Yordanys Linares from second in the bottom of the tenth inning for a walkoff 4-3 win over the Caneros.  Obregon carried a 3-0 lead into the top of the ninth before Rudy Amador, Esteban Quiroz and Leandro Castro each socked solo homers off Yaquis closer Maikel Cleto to tie the game and set the stage for Aguilar's heroics in the next frame.  Obregon knotted the series one night later with a 2-0 shutout over the Caneros with Francisco Rodriguez and three relievers combining on a 3-hitter.  Rodriguez, who pitched for the Los Angeles Angels in 2010 and 2011, gave up two hits in 5.1 frames for the win as Victor Mendoza's two-run single in the bottom of the first against Mochis starter Danny Rodriguez provided all the scoring Obregon would need.  The Caneros regained the series lead on Wednesday with a whitewash of their own, a 4-0 triumph behind the pitching of Ariel Pena (who scattered three hits and struck out 10 over six innings) and three relievers.  Diory Hernandez' RBI double in the bottom of the fourth broke a scoreless tie and Saul Soto rapped a two-run single to give Los Mochis a 3-0 lead while Jonathan Jones added a leadoff homer one inning later for insurance.  Hernandez and Quiroz had three hits each for the winners while Dustin Martin had two of the Yaquis' five hits.

The series shifted to Los Mochis, where the Caneros needed just one win to punch their ticket to the finals.  They never got it, as Obregon won Friday's Game Six by a 4-3 count to tie the semis at three games each.  The Yaquis scored all four of their runs in the top of the first off Yoanis Quiala, who gave up a two-run double to Mendoza in a 32-pitch inning.  Los Mochis plated three scores of their own in the third off Yoanner Negrin with Quiroz providing the key blow with a two-run single.  Negrin settled down and eventually earned the win while Quiala absorbed the loss.  Santiago Gutierrez pitched six scoreless innings of one-hit relief in defeat for the Caneros after replacing Quiala in the second.  The Yaquis, who missed the postseason the previous two winters, advanced to the finals by winning Saturday's Game Seven, 6-2, as Rodriguez tossed 5.1 innings of two-run ball for his second win in five nights.  Obregon built an early 3-0 lead against Caneros starter Jaime Lugo, although the first two were unearned via a wild pitch and an error, and steadily pulled away.  Linares, Julio Valdez and Isaac Paredes combined for six hits, four runs and two RBIs to account for all the Yaquis' scoring as Obregon capped their series comeback with two consecutive wins away from home.

Jalisco Charros infielder Jose Amador

The Yaquis will face a well-rested opponent in the Jalisco Charros, who reached their first LMP title series in five winters after beating Mazatlan in five games.  After Jalisco won the first two games in Mazatlan, the Venados won a rain-delayed Game Three, 7-3, in Guadalajara.  The contest was tied at 2-2 Monday night before rain forced the game to be carried over to Tuesday, when Mazatlan posted four runs in the fifth as Ramon Rios and Asael Sanchez had run-scoring singles and Edson Garcia contributed a two-out, two-run single off Jalisco hurler Manuel Flores.  Rios finished with three hits (two of them doubles), two runs and two RBIs in what would be the Venados' lone win of the series.  The Charros' Japhet Amador powered a two-run homer off Irwin Delgado in the second. 

Jalisco then won the next two games at home, starting with Wednesday's 6-3 triumph thanks to a five-run bottom of the first (four scores coming with two out, two on an Agustin Murillo fly ball to right that was muffed by Edson Garcia, allowing Amador and Henry Urrutia to cross the plate.  Jalisco's Orlando Lara pitched six innings and allowed one run for his second win of the series while batterymate Gabriel Gutierrez socked a solo homer off Venados starter Konner Wade in support.  Sebastian Valle and Anthony Giansanti both went deep for Mazatlan.  The Charros closed out their semi in Thursday's Game Five, 10-6, as Jalisco overcame an early 2-0 deficit by scoring runs in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings.  Jose Amador (no relation to Japhet) paced the 15-hit Horsemen attack by going 3-for-5 with a pair of two-run homers while Murillo also belted a longball for the winners.  Valle and Giansanto homered again for Mazatlan in defeat while Rios added three hits and two ribbies.

After Obregon and Jalisco closed out their Final Four wins, both took part in a reinforcement draft Saturday.  The Yaquis took a pair of second basemen in Los Mochis' Quiroz and Mazatlan's Rios while the Charros took starting pitchers Manny Barreda from Culiacan and Los Mochis' Quiala.  Quiroz is perhaps more versatile than Rios, with about as many games at third base and shortstop as at second, and he would give Yaquis manager Sergio Gastelum more options.  Barreda was not chosen in the previous two reinforcement drafts despite finishing second to Jalisco's Elian Leyva, the LMP Pitcher of the Year, with a 2.65 ERA.  He started one game for the Anzoategui Caribes in the Venezuelan League semifinals last week, getting rocked by the Caracas Leones for four runs on six hits in 1.1 innings, but returned to North America after the Caribes were eliminated.

The MexPac championship series will open Monday night in Guadalajara at 9:15 Eastern as the Charros host Obregon.

MEXICAN PACIFIC LEAGUE Championship Series
Game 1  Monday, January 21 (9:15PM) Obregon at Jalisco
Game 2  Tuesday, January 22 (9:15PM) Obregon at Jalisco
Game 3  Thursday, January 24 (9:10PM) Jalisco at Obregon
Game 4  Friday, January 25 (9:10PM) Jalisco at Obregon
Game 5  Saturday, January 26 (9:10PM) Jalisco at Obregon*
Game 6  Monday, January 28 (9:15PM) Obregon at Jalisco*
Game 7  Tuesday, January 29 (9:15PM) Obregon at Jalisco*
*-if necessary.  All times Eastern.


MANNY RODRIGUEZ REPEATS AS LMP MVP, LEYVA PITCHER OF YEAR

LMP Most Valuable Player Manny Rodriguez

Jalisco Charros second baseman Manny Rodriguez has been selected as the Mexican Pacific League's Most Valuable Player for the second consecutive season and the third time in his winterball career.  The 36-year-old Guasave native earned 74 of 117 votes, or 63.25% of ballots cast by journalists covering the LMP.  Los Mochis outfielder Leandro Castro came in a distant second with 15 votes (12.82%), followed by league batting champ Francisco Peguero of Hermosillo with 13 votes (11.11%), Obregon slugger Jesus Valdez (11 votes, 9.40%) and Navojoa's LMP home run king Jovan Rosa (4 votes, 3.42%).

Rodriguez was eighth in the MexPac with a .313 batting average and led the loop with 52 RBIs, his 80 hits were one behind Hermosillo's Jasson Atondo, he tied Castro for third in the LMP with 13 homers and matched Los Mochis' Isaac Rodriguez with 41 runs scored (ten behind leader Alonzo Harris of Navojoa).  With his third MVP trophy, the Jalisco team captain now trails only the legendary Hector Espino, who won six such awards over his MexPac career.

LMP Pitcher of the Year Elian Leyva

The LMP league office has named other award-winners for the 2018-19 regular season, including Rodriguez' teammate Elian Leyva as Pitcher of the Year.  Although the Cuban-born Leyva did not receive a single MVP vote, the Charros' right-hander led or tied for the circuit lead in several pitching categories including wins (6), earned-run average (2.02), strikeouts (67) and WHIP (1.08).  He became only the fifth man in MexPac history to cop the Pitching Triple Crown and the last since Francisco Campos of Mazatlan turned the trick in 2003-04.  Leyva, who was called to rest last week by the Atlanta Braves before MLB spring training opens next month, easily outdistanced the POY field with 90.60% of votes cast on 106 of 117 ballots cast by cronistas, while Culiacan's Manny Barreda and Jaime Lugo of Navojoa each picked up four votes and another Mayos pitcher, Marco Carrillo, earned the final three.

LMP Reliever of the Year Casey Coleman

Culiacan closer Casey Coleman earned 99 of 117 votes (84.62%) to win Reliever of the Year honors after leading the LMP with 22 saves, breaking the Tomateros' old mark of 21 set by Jose Silva in 2007-08.  Coleman turned in a microscopic ERA of 1.24 while striking out 37 batters and walking only five over 36.1 innings pitched in 34 appearances.  The ex-Cubs pitcher, whose grandfather and father both pitched in MLB All-Star games during their respective careers, far outdistanced his nearest competitors; Mazatlan's Brandon Cunniff and Los Mochis's Jose Valverde (himself a former MLB All-Star) each picked up seven votes.

LMP Rookie of the Year Jasson Atondo

Continuing the trend of non-competitive awards balloting, Hermosillo second baseman Jasson Atondo received 92 of 117 votes (78.63%) to walk away as this winter's Rookie of the Year.  Besides leading the MexPac with 81 hits, Atondo finished second to teammate Francisco Peguero in batting with a .351 mark after topping the table for a number of weeks before a late-season fade.  Atondo also finished fifth in runs scored with 39.  Navojoa pitcher Jose Isidro Marquez, son of the Mexican League's all-time saves leader, finished second to Atondo with 10 votes (8.55%), followed by Los Mochis middle reliever Daniel Duarte's eight votes (6.84%) and seven votes (5.98%) for Obregon setup man Jesus Aguamea.

LMP Manager of the Year Sergio Gastelum

The voting was much closer for Manager of the Year, which was eventually won by Obregon's first-year skipper Sergio Gastelum, who received 40 of 107 votes to come in at 37.04%.  Gastelum led Oaxaca to a surprise appearance in the Mexican League's Serie del Rey last fall in his managerial debut before the Guerreros fell to Monterrey in the title set and his work with the Yaquis implies that his initial success as a dugout boss with the Guerreros was no fluke.  Gastelum replaced Oscar Robles early in the 2018-19 season with the Yaquis at 3-6 and went on to lead Obregon to a 34-23 record over the 57 games he managed as the Tribe posted the best overall record in the LMP regular season and qualified for the postseason for the first time in three years.  Hermosillo skipper Bronswell Patrick came in second to Gastelum with 29 votes (26.85%), Jalisco manager Roberto Vizcarra was third with 18 votes (16.67%) and Culiacan's now-former manager Robinson Cancel was fourth by picking up 12 votes (11.11%).  Los Mochis helmsman Victor Bojorquez, who has done some great work for the Caneros himself, placed fifth with nine votes (8.33%).


ACAYUCAN TOPS XALAPA FOR LIV CROWN; BOTH QUALIFY FOR L.A.S.

Acayucan Tobis outfielder Yadir Drake

The Acayucan Tobis defeated the Xalapa Chileros, 7-2, Sunday afternoon at Estadio Emiliano Zapata in Oluta (an Acayuca suburb) in the seventh and deciding game of the Veracruz Winter League championship series.  No details of the game were available at BBM's post time. 

The victory gives the Tobis their second consecutive winterball league title and third in the past four seasons.  Acayucan won the Veracruz State Baseball League pennant last year in that circuit's second and final campaign under the guidance of former Brewers pitcher Narciso Elvira, who founded the loop in 2016 after the original LIV shut down operations due to financial difficulties.  Elvira's LVEB also struggled to make ends meet before the reconstituted LIV returned this winter under the leadership of sisters Regina and Fabiola Vazquez Saut.  Many baseball veterans played in the league this winter after Elvira's circuit relied almost entirely on younger (and less-expensive) players for two years, although the LIV retained the LVEB's practice of scheduling games only on weekends.

The Tobis and manager Felix Tejeda, a former Dodgers farmhand and Campeche Piratas reliever, found themselves in a tough spot right off the bat by dropping the first two games of the series at home, losing a 7-5 contest to Xalapa on January 5 and allowing two runs in a heartbreaking 8-6 loss on January 6.  Acayucan fought back the following weekend by scoring five runs in the top of the ninth inning in a 11-5 road victory over the Chileros on January 11 but found themselves on the brink of elimination one day later after absorbing an 8-1 defeat.  The Tobis stayed alive and sent the series back to Acayucan by plating five runs in the first inning en route to a resounding 14-4 win in Xalapa as Heber Gomez blasted a grand slam while Yadil Mujica, Rogelio Noris and Eliseo Aldazaba combined for nine hits, five runs and three RBIs to narrow Xalapa's advantage in the best-of-7 set to one game.

The Tobis tied the series at three game apiece Saturday with a 4-1 Game Six win in Acayucan's Estadio Luis Diaz Flores.  The Mexican League's 2017 batting champion, Yadir Drake, had a big night for the Tobis by driving in fellow Cuban Yadil Mujica with the game's first run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning, doubling in another run in the bottom of the third and launching a solo homer to left in the seventh.  Eleven-year LMB veteran Yancarlo Angulo produced Xalapa's lone run of the game in the top of the ninth by  Tobis starter Jorge Quinones got the win by pitching 5.1 shutout innings while holding the Chileros to two hits.  Rookie Daniel Lobata took the loss for Xalapa.

According to the Latin American Series website, both the Tobis and Chileros will move on to co-host the event's eighth edition.  The six-team, 18-game tournament is scheduled to be played in four ballparks in the state of Veracruz.  The LAS is considered one tier below the Caribbean Series among international winterball events.  The Tobis and Chileros will play league champions from Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama and first-time entrant Argentina.  Curacao, which sent their top team last year, is sitting out this winter's tournament, hence the invite to the LIV runners-up.

Three games will be played on opening day Saturday: Xalapa vs. Panama at Beisborama 72 in Cordoba (a former LMB ballpark) at 1PM local as well as a 2PM doubleheader at Veracruz' Beto Avila Park with Colombia vs. Nicaragua followed by Acayucan vs. Argentina.  The title game is scheduled for February 1, most likely at Beto Avila Park, another former Liga venue with the largest capacity of the four facilities at 7,782 seats. and the site of the first Serie Latinoamericana in 2013.  The 27-year-old stadium served as home this winter for the LIV's Veracruz Rojos, who narrowly missed the postseason.

JALISCO'S LEYVA NEARS LMP PITCHING TRIPLE CROWN

Jalisco Charros MVP candidate Elian Leyva

With six games to go in the Mexican Pacific League regular season, Jalisco Charros pitcher Elian Leyva has put himself in position to win the LMP's pitching Triple Crown (or even Quadruple Crown, if you want to add WHIP to W, ERA and SO) after turning in a standout performance in Culiacan Saturday night.

The 29-year-old Cuban has been primarily a reliever in a career that dates back to 2007-08 when he was an 18-year-old with La Habana of the Cuban National Series, but Leyva's first regular work as a starter has turned into a breakout performance after he blanked the defending champion Tomateros over 6.1 innings, striking out ten Culiacan batsmen in a 2-0 Charros win.  A Braves farmhand who split last summer between AA Mississippi and AAA Gwinnett, the 6'2" righty allowed just a Joey Terdoslavich double in the third and a walk to Jose Guadalupe Chavez in the bottom of the seventh before being taken out by manager Roberto Vizcarra after tossing 86 pitches.  MLB free agent Sergio Romo contributed a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his fourth save as Stephen Cardullo's second-inning groundout scored Henry Urrutia with the only run the Horsemen would need.

Leyva's win gives him a 6-2 record for the season, giving him sole possession of the MexPac lead for victories with ten other pitchers tied at five wins apiece.  By blanking Culiacan, he lowered his ERA to 2.05, well ahead of Culiacan's Manny Barreda (Saturday's losing pitcher) and his 2.63 mark as it'll take a miracle of Biblical proportions for Leyva to NOT win the ERA title.  As well, those ten whiffs bring Leyva's winter total to 66, six ahead of second-place David Reyes of Mexicali.  And, for good measure, Leyva's 1.07 WHIP figure is .08 up on Barreda's 2.15.  He also leads LMP pitchers in starts (13) and is tied with Mexicali vet Javier Solano for tops in innings pitched at 74.2 frames each.  That Leyva has toiled for one of the LMP's less-robust teams makes those numbers more impressive, although in fairness, the Charros are one of five teams three games apart on top the MexPac's second-half standings.  Pitchers don't often enter into MVP talks but when you have someone who could lead his league in six categories, including the Triple Crown, Leyva HAS to be in the conversation.

As mentioned, Jalisco is fighting desperately for a playoff berth after only collecting 3.5 points in the first half.  Hermosillo continues to top the second-half table at 15-8.  The Charros are second at 13-9 while Obregon (12-9) and Los Mochis (13-10) sit two games behind the leaders, one game ahead of fifth-place Culiacan (12-11).  Navojoa (9-14), Mazatlan (9-14) and Mexicali (7-15) round out the standings.  Culiacan and Mazatlan virtually assured themselves of playoff berths by finishing 1-2 in the first half and both Hermosillo and Obregon appear to be on their way to more games in January, leaving the two remaining postseason slots up for grabs among four teams.

Hermosillo infielder Jasson Atondo leads the LMP with a .357 batting average and is a virtual lock for Rookie of the Year.  Second at .351 is Atondo's teammate Francisco Peguero, the LMB's Fall MVP and bound for Japan after recently signing with the Chiba Lotte Marines for 2019.  Navojoa's Jovan Rosa leads the loop with 14 homers, one more than Jalisco's Manny Rodriguez, after going deep in Los Mochis Sunday night.  Rodriguez, another MVP candidate, is hitting .323 and has 50 RBIs, eight more than Rosa's 42.  Navojoa second baseman Alonzo Harris stole three bases in four games last week to go to 25 swipes on the winter and now leads Culiacan's Rico Noel by ten steals.

There IS an LMB pitching leader not named Elian Leyva.  Culiacan's Casey Coleman, grandson of Joe and son of Joe Junior (both former MLB All-Star pitchers), picked up just one save last week to bring his season total to 21, still good enough for a six-save bulge over his nearest competitor, Mexicali's Jake Sanchez.  Navojoa hometown boy Jose Isidro Marquez, son of longtime reliever Isidro Marquez, leads in the oft-forgotten category of holds with 13 despite getting lit up for two runs in a third of an inning Saturday in Los Mochis.  The younger Marquez' ERA is still a solid 2.08 because he'd only given up three earned runs over his previous 27 outings for the Mayos.


ACAYUCAN WINS LIV REGULAR SEASON CROWN, PLAYOFFS BEGIN

Past LIV bat champ Rigoberto Armenta

The Acayucan Tobis won 18 of their 21 regular season games to finish first in the reborn Veracruz Winter League's regular season, earning the top berth in the LIV's four-team playoff.  The 18-3 Tobis came in three-and-a-half games ahead of 14-6 Cordoba.  The Xalapa Chileros finished 13-7 to place one game behind the Cafeteleros in third place while the 8-12 Jaltex Astros outlasted the 8-13 Veracruz Rojos for the fourth and final postseason berth.  Bringing up the rear of the six-team LIV, considered a Class AA winter circuit within Mexico's baseball framework, were the hapless Ursula Galvan Caneros, who lost all 20 of their games after batting .191 as a team in support of a pitching staff that turned in a collective 7.12 ERA.  The Caneros were outscored 175 runs to 41 for the season, or an average score of 8.75-2.05 per contest.

The Tobis were champions last winter of the Veracruz State Baseball League and represented Mexico at the Latin American Series in Managua, Nicaragua, falling to the host Chinandega Tigres in the title game.  After the original LIV suspended operations following the 2015-16 season, ex-Brewers pitcher Narciso Elvira formed the LBEV to fill the void by stocking its teams with young prospects from within Veracruz playing weekends (10 games the first season, 12 games last season).  The LBEV struggled through two winters before giving way to the newly-reconstituted LIV this season.  Many Mexican League veterans (including ex-Pirates prospect Rogelio Noris, Yancarlo Angulo and Marco Quevedo) are presently wintering in Veracruz, where the weekend-only schedule was carried over, but youngsters still dominate the rosters.

Cordoba's Jose Luis Felix had a standout year at the plate, batting .478 over 19 games to easily win the batting title while Acayucan's Rigoberto Armenta was tops with eight homers and 21 RBIs.  The Obregon-born Armenta was the LIV's 2014-15 batting champion with the Santa Rosa Gallos.  Angel Araiza of Acayucan led all pitchers with six wins and Tobis moundmate Ivan Zavala was given the LIV's ERA title with a flawless 0.00 ERA despite starting once and pitching 17 innings over Acayucan's 21 games.  Xalapa hurler Eduard Reyes' 32 strikeouts in 29.2 innings led the circuit.  One interesting player is outfielder Yusuke Inoguchi, who hit .333 over eight games for luckless Ursula Galvan before being traded to Veracruz (.417 in six contests for the Rojos) and finally landing in Acayucan (.333 in six games) for a season average of .365 to finish fourth in the LIV.  The 33-year-old Inoguchi, who's played ten years of independent ball in Japan and two more the USA with the American Association's Sioux Falls Canaries in 2012 and 2013 (batting .287 and .281), has said he'd consider playing next year in the Mexican League if offered a contract.

Acayucan team president Regina Vazquez Saut began the current season as league president before stepping down and being replaced at the helm by older sister Fabiola Vazquez Saut.  Both are prominent politicians with the Industrial Revolution Party (or PRI) who have represented Veracruz in the Mexican Congress.  The best-of-three LIV semifinals were slated to open last weekend as Acayucan was matched up against Jaltex and Cordoba took on Xalapa.  The winners will meet January 5 for the first game of a best-of-five championship series.  The Latin American Series is set for Parque "Beto" Avila in Veracruz, beginning January 26.  Champions from the four traditional LAS winterball pennant-winners from Mexico, Colombia, Nicaragua and Panama are being joined by Curacao Winter League champions Santa Maria Piratas and Argentine Baseball League title-winners Cordoba Condores.


MONTERREY COPS ACADEMY ROOKIE LEAGUE PENNANT

Monterrey's Academy Rookie League champs

A team of Monterrey Sultanes prospects won the Academy Rookie League championships this fall at the Mexican League Baseball Academy in El Carmen, Nuevo Leon, a suburb of Monterrey.  The Sultanes were one of six teams in the circuit and the only member to not have players provided by two LMB clubs.  Statistics were only provided through games of November 27, when the Sultanes were 19-2-9 (ties are declared after nine innings) to stand two-and-a-half games in front of second-place Yucatan-Laguna, who were 17-13-1 at the time.

According to the LMB Academy's website, Monterrey clinched the title on December 3 after topping Yucatan-Laguna, 3-1, as Alejandro Delgado tripled and later scored on a Jimmy Chavez sacrifice fly to break a 1-all tie in the sixth inning. Delgado stroked another triple and went on to score the game's final run on a Kevin Herrera single late in the match.  After an on-field celebration, Sultanes manager Ruben Estrada credited his first-year players with turning their season around after losing the first five games of the season.

The Sultanes rookies had marked another landmark event the previous week when starting pitcher Luis Martinez and four relievers combined on a 1-0 no-hit win over Mexico City-Oaxaca on November 28 in a contest during which Hector Delgado's fourth-inning solo homer provided the only score all afternoon.

The academy was the brainchild of the late former Mexico City Tigres owner and Salon de la Fama member Alejo Peralta and was officially opened March 25, 1996.  Since then, the facility has served as both home and training ground for thousands of young Mexican ballplayers seeking to play Major League Baseball or in the LMB.  Among the future big leaguers to cut their teeth at the Academia are Houston closer Roberto Osuna, Oakland reliever Joakim Soria, former Yankees infielder Ramiro Pena.  Longtime Sultanes shortstop Heber Gomez (retired from the LMB but sixth in the Veracruz Winter League this winter with a .338 batting average for Acayucan) was a member of the first group of players gathered in El Carmen while star slugger Japhet Amador started his pro career as a teen at the Academia.

Final seasons: Alfredo Amezaga, Oscar Robles, Heber Gomez

Three longtime infielders whose careers have taken them on different paths are all playing their final seasons of professional baseball this season in the Mexican League, two of them on the same team.  Alfredo Amezaga and Oscar Robles are wrapping up with the Tijuana Toros while Heber Gomez is finishing his career with the Saltillo Saraperos.

Alfredo Amezaga Becerra, who turned 39 in January, was born in Obregon, Sonora but as a boy moved to Florida, where he graduated from high school and junior college before being taken by the Anaheim Angels with the 401st selection of the June 1999 draft, one pick ahead of Albert Pujols.  The switch-hitting shortstop made his Major League Baseball debut with the parent club on May 24, 2002 against the Minnesota Twins.  Amezaga eventually bounced from Anaheim to Denver and Pittsburgh before landing back in Miami as a free agent in 2006.  Establishing himself as a utilityman (primarily an outfielder) with the Marlins, he spent four years with the team until a knee injury put an early end to his 2009 season, after which Florida let him go.  Amezaga eventually returned to both Colorado and the Marlins for stints in 2011, his final MLB campaign, and spent time in the Cubs and Dodgers systems before coming to the Mexican League in 2013 to play for Quintana Roo.

Amezaga won LMB pennants with the Tigres in 2013 and 2015 before being shipped to Tijuana earlier this month.  Amezaga hit .247 with 12 homers over nine big league seasons between 2002 and 2011 and had a .276 average with 12 homers in four Mexican League seasons through 2016.  Amezaga has also spent nine winters in the Mexican Pacific League, eight in his birthplace Obregon playing on three title teams for the Yaquis.  He also represented Mexico in the 2009 and 2009 World Baseball Classics.

Oscar Robles Arenas was born in Tijuana in 1976 but, like Amezaga, crossed the border as a youth and graduated from high school in San Diego in 1994, by which time he'd set a career hits record for prep players in the San Diego area (which had earlier produced another pretty fair batsman named Ted Williams) and had his jersey number retired...as a pitcher.  Robles was drafted by the Astros in the third round that June and used part of his signing bonus to purchase a scoreboard for his high school's baseball field.  He spent five summers in the Astros system as a middle infielder and reached as high as Class AAA before his last season with the organization in 1998.

Robles eventually landed in Mexico City in 2000, playing one game for the Diablos Rojos before being shipped to Oaxaca.  After three strong seasons on loan with the Guerreros, Robles returned to the nation's capital and was hitting .390 for the Diablos in 2005 before the Dodgers purchased his contract.  He ended up playing 110 games in Los Angeles that summer, hitting .272.  However, Robles was back in the minors the next season and was let go by the Dodgers in 2007.  After spending time with San Diego that year and later in the Phillies system, he returned to the Mexican League for good in 2009, playing for the Diablos and Oaxaca (both teams are owned by Alfredo Harp Helu) before ending up in Tijuana in 2015.  Robles hit .260 and homered five times in three MLB seasons and his 17-year Liga career includes a .317 average and 114 homers.  Robles has also played 12 winterball seasons with Navojoa, Mexicali and Culiacan, batting .289.

Heber Gomez Contreras (b. 1977 in El Carnizal, Veracruz) has taken a less-travelled path than either Amezaga or Robles.  He is one of the earliest products of the Mexican League's baseball academy near Monterrey to make good, debuting with the Tabasco Olmecas in 1996.  Except for a ten-game stint with Chattanooga in 2001, Gomez has remained in Mexico throughout his pro career.  He played for the Olmecas through the 2002 season, after which he was traded to Monterrey.  That began a 14-year stint with the Sultanes during which he became one of the Liga's premier shortstops and earned the nickname "Super Heber" among fans and scribes.  Never a power hitter (Gomez' 13 homers with Tabasco in 2000 was the only time in his career that he's reached double figures in roundtrippers), the six-footer earned his reputation as a strong fielder, timely hitter and steady veteran who could be counted upon in the clubhouse as well as the playing field.

Gomez has also been a constant MexPac presence with Mazatlan, spending the past twelve winters with the Venados, who retired his number 34 in 2015.  His career numbers in 22 Mexican League seasons include a .288 batting average on 1,857 hits (including 98 homers).  Gomez' winterball totals show a .271 average with 25 homers, but this is a guy whose value can't be quantified by digits.  That's why it was a shock to many observers when the Sultanes shipped him to rival Saltillo in the offseason, making the current season the first time since 2002 that there's been any letter but "M" on his cap.  He's batting .241 after 15 games with the Saraperos this year.  After the season, Gomez plans to return home to Veracruz, where he already has business interests with his father, and says he'll likely put baseball in his rearview mirror.

Composing this post has been somewhat bittersweet for me.  When I started writing a Viva Beisbol column about Mexican baseball for OurSports Central in 2005 (those stories are archived on the OSC site), all three of these players were entering their respective early baseball primes on both sides of the border.  Although I started doing this as a one-season creative outlet while I was "between" radio jobs in Wenatchee, Washington, something about baseball in Mexico put a hold on me and even though I've taken a couple breaks from VB and BBM, the grip remains.  Also in 2005, my mother was still skiing and traveling at age 78 and generally kept a schedule in retirement that someone 20 years her junior would've have had a hard time keeping up with.  I know I sure had a hard time keeping track of where she was at times.

As some of you who've been reading my posts and newsletters for a few years know, I went on a hiatus in 2012 from Baseball Mexico in part because Mom's health had taken a turn for the worse and it was more important to devote more attention to helping her.  After she was given 1-2 weeks to live by an assessment nurse later that year, I was preparing to say goodbye to the best mother and role model anyone could ask for.  Instead, she pulled off a miracle and (at 85) came back from her illness, in some ways becoming healthier than she'd been before.  I've had four years with Mom that I never expected, and I thank God for such a blessing.  Well, as I write this, Mom is now 90 and comatose after being admitted to the hospital last week with what has been diagnosed as brain seizures.  There will be no second miracle and I'm preparing to say goodbye once more knowing this is not a drill.

That's what makes this one so HARD to write because it's all about saying goodbye.  Mexican fans are going to have to say their goodbyes (in a baseball sense) to three players who've played a combined six decades of this beautiful game.  Goodbyes are never easy when they're given to people we've come to love, no matter the context, but they must be made. We can never replace those nearest to our hearts, but the memories we have of them, whether they're of making a chicken dinner or making a double play relay, are what will keep them alive in our hearts, minds and souls long after they're gone.  Just as Mom will always be a part of my life for the rest of my own days, the likes of Alfredo Amezaga, Oscar Robles and Heber Gomez (a personal favorite of mine) will always be a part of the fabric of baseball in Mexico.  The records will always remain to verify their past presence, but the numbers will never convey what they've meant.  That's life and that's baseball.

As a postscript, I am not going to stop writing about Mexican baseball.  At worse, there may only be one Monday column per week while this is all going on in my personal life, but when I came back to produce BBM in 2015, it was for good.  I ain't goin' nowhere.

Vet SS Heber Gomez recalls Academy experience

Veteran Monterrey Sultanes infielder Heber Gomez is readying for his 21st summer of playing in the Mexican League.  The native of El Carrizal, Veracruz struggled during his Liga debut as a 19-year-old in late 1996 with a six-game audition for the Tabasco Olmecas, batting just .154 with two singles in 13 trips to the plate as the overmatched youngster struck out five times.

Despite his inauspicious beginning, Gomez persevered and has since built a reputation as a steady glove at short and an opportunistic batsman, one with a good eye who rarely strikes out with the patience to draw a walk.  Over 1,757 career games, including the past 13 seasons in Monterrey, the 38-year-old has collected 1,886 LMB hits for a .289 average (topping .300 four times) with 351 doubles, 73 homers, 883 runs scored and 738 RBI's plus an OBP of well over .300.  He batted .275 in 95 games last year for the Sultanes.  Gomez has also spent ten of the past eleven winters with similar results in Mazatlan, where the Venados retired his number 34 last November. While not a perennial All-Star, he's been a consistent player and contributor on winning teams.

It all had to start somewhere and for Gomez, it was at the Mexican League Academy in Carmen, near Monterrey.  The Sultanes hold their training camp at the so-called University of Baseball, where Gomez recently reflected back to when he arrived in Carmen as a teen in 1996, the year the facility opened.  "Those were two very intense months at the Academy," he's quoted as saying in a story on the Liga website.  "I remember very well that after training, we had to water the fields, raking and clearing rocks."

Gomez was one of the first products of the Academy to advance to the Liga, along with catcher Saul Soto and shortstop Domingo Castro, both of Aguascalientes.  Castro hit .333 while Soto batted .331 for the Rieleros in 2015.  "We got to be the first generation and didn't have the things the boys have now," recalls Gomez.  "They've got air-conditioned rooms and service for laundry, which we had to do ourselves.  What's been the same for years is the dream the guys have of making their debut in the Mexican League, but now they have a better gym, better fields and better equipment."

Shortly before his number was retired by the Venados four months ago, Gomez was asked how long he hoped to keep playing in Mazatlan and replied he'd like to play another two or three years.  However, he added, when he retires as a player he'll probably be done with the game altogether.  "I don't see being either a manager or coach.  I don't have plans to stay in baseball.  I want to return to Veracruz.  I have some investments there with my dad and want to be in business."

When that time comes, it's not hard to envision Heber Gomez approaching business the way he's approached baseball the past two decades:  Focused and prepared to make sure the job gets done right.

LET’S TURN TWO: RECORD TEN DOUBLE PLAYS RECORDED IN SINGLE GAME

A long-standing Mexican League record was obliterated last Thursday in Chihuahua when the host Dorados smoked the Monterrey Sultanes, 7-1. The two teams combined for ten double plays on the night, far surpassing the old LMB record of seven twin-killings set in a 1949 game between Nuevo Laredo and Mexico City and equaled in a 1978 contest between Saltillo and Laguna.

Chihuahua turned six double plays in the game while Monterrey came up with four. Sultanes shortstop Heber Gomez (pictured) had a very long night, grounding into a trio of twofers while Chihuahua catcher Hector Hurtado hit into a pair of DPs.