TIGRES WIN FIFTH STRAIGHT TO STRETCH LEAD IN LMB SOUTH

Veteran designated hitter Carlos Sievers (pictured) clobbered two homers and drove in five runs to pace the Quintana Roo Tigres to an 8-4 win over the Minatitlan Petroleros Thursday night in Mexican League action at Cancun’s Estadio Beto Avila.

Tigres second baseman Carlos Gastelum went 3-for-5 and scored twice while catcher Iker Franco whacked a solo homer to augment Sievers’ fireworks as Quintana Roo copped their fifth win in a row to lift their Liga-best record to 49-30, pushing the Tigres to a 5.5-game lead over second-place Veracruz in the Southern Zone standings despite having the lowest team batting average in the Liga at .277. QR’s team ERA of 4.30 is the LMB’s best, proving that pitching really does matter (especially when nobody else seems to have it).

Jose Ramirez (6-4) went seven innings and let in four runs for the win while the Petros’ Rafael Cruz (5-5) was rocked for five runs in the first (including homers by Sievers and Franco) before being mercifully yanked by interim manager Shamar Almeida with only one out on the board.

Almeida is the third manager in Minatitlan this season, replacing Francisco “Paquin” Estrada on May 21, a little over a month after Estrada took the reins from Victor Meza on April 19. Minatitlan dropped further into last place in the LMB South by falling to 33-47, including a 12-15 mark under Almeida (a native of Los Mochis).

MINATITLAN PETROLEROS (2010 record: 44-60)

The Petroleros were not one of the more interesting teams in the Mexican League last season, finishing 16 games under .500 and drawing just 74,529 fans in 53 games. However, under new manager Victor “El Loco” Meza, things in Minatitlan will be anything but boring in 2011. Meza, a longtime star in the Cuban National Series, was as renowned for his flamboyance and temper as for his playing ability. He won’t have an easy time lighting a fire under this team, though.

Minatitlan hit .298 as a team to finish eighth in that category, but they didn’t score many runs. 1B Carlos Rivera (.373/16/82) is the top returning batter, while CF Frank Diaz (.338/13/66) gives strong support and SS Rolando Acosta (.327/7/50) is one of Mexico’s most underrated infielders. The Petros will be helped if OF Amaury Cazana (.380 in 29 games) is able to play for a full season.

Minatitlan pitchers had a 5.63 ERA in 2010. Enrique Quintanilla (7-8/4.17) and Francisco Cordova (7-6/4.67) head the rotation and reliever Isidro Marquez (3-3/3.61/17 saves) broke Ramon Arano’s Liga record of 812 games pitched last June, but most Petros pitchers were of the “duck-and-cover” variety.

At least Meza’s players won’t dare sleepwalk through games. In Minatitlan, that’s progress.

-Copyright 2011

MINATITLAN HIRES CUBAN LEGEND MESA AS MANAGER FOR 2011

The Minatitlan Petroleros of the Mexican League have brought in Cuban manager Victor Mesa to lead the Oilers in 2011. Mesa replaces Salon de la Fama member Jesus Sommers at the helm. Sommers became the Petroleros skipper on May 1, replacing Manuel Cazarin.

Mesa takes over a Minatitlan team that has had its problems on the field and at the box office. The Petroleros finished the 2010 season with a 44-60 record, well out of the playoff picture. Despite coming in 16 games under .500, those 44 wins are the most ever for the Oilers since the team came to Minatitlan in 2007. The Petroleros also entertained just 74,529 fans at Parque 18 de Marzo de 1939, outdrawing only Nuevo Laredo among the 16 Liga teams.

In Mesa, the Petroleros have a manager who was a player and manager in Cuba’s highly-successful amateur baseball league. He led the league in stolen bases 14 times during his 15-year playing career, and was a mainstay on the Cuban National Team between 1981 and 1995. After retiring, he led Santa Clara to a record eight consecutive 50+ win seasons before moving to Mexico. Mesa, known as “El Loco” for his temper and flamboyance, managed Veracruz to a 27-35 record in 2010 before being fired.

MARQUEZ PITCHES IN LMB-RECORD 812TH GAME

Minatitan Petroleros reliever Isidro Marquez pitched in the 812th game of his Mexican League career, breaking Salon de la Fama member Ramon Arano’s old record of 811.

The 45-year-old Marquez came on with one out and nobody on base in the top of the ninth hoping to hold a 9-5 Petros lead over the Yucatan Leones. The righty got Raul Sanchez to fly out to Dennys Abreu in left field before striking out Fernando Valenzuela, Jr. swinging for the final out.

Marquez made his Mexican League debut with Tampico in 1985 and spent three years with San Luis Potosi before being picked up in 1988 by the Dodgers organization, where he pitched for five seasons. He also spent two years with the White Sox’ AAA farm club in Nashville, but the Navojoa-born Marquez has played the vast majority of his career in Mexico, almost entirely as a reliever.

Marquez has a career 95-81 record with 268 saves in 20 LMB seasons. This season, he is 3-1 with a team-high six saves and a 3.22 ERA in 43 trips to the mound from the Minatitlan bullpen.

PETROS BRING IN HALL OF FAMER SOMMERS AS MANAGER

The Minatitlan Petroleros fired Miguel Cazarin as manager last weekend, replacing him with Salon de la Fama infielder Jesus “El Guapo” Sommers. The Oilers were 14-24 and in sixth place in the LMB South when Cazarin was let go after a 7-3 home loss to Veracruz on Friday, but won their first two games under Sommers on Saturday and Sunday heading into Monday’s travel day.

The 60-year-old native of Guaymas, Sonora was enshrined in Monterrey in 2002 after a 27-year playing career that ended with an LMB-record 3,004 hits and 488 doubles. Sommers hit .291 over 2,908 games for 13 teams (!) between 1970 and 1996, topping the .300 mark nine times. He also spent 25 winters playing for eight teams in the Mexican Pacific League, where Sommers stands seventh on the all-time list with 1,073 hits and fourth with 175 doubles. He is the son of former Negro League player Lonnie Sommers.

MEXICAN BASEBALL ROAD TRIP (Stop #19): Minatitlán, Veracruz

Minatitlán is a city in the southeastern part of the Mexican state of Veracruz, located on the railway and on Highway 121. It is a sister city of Minatitlan in the state of Colima (on the other side of the country), and is one of the smallest cities in Mexican League baseball.

In 2005, the metropolitian area had a population of 152,907. The Minatitlan municipality has an area of nearly 1,600 square miles and includes many small outlying communities.

Much of the city sits on reclaimed marshlands, and many new homes built on this reclaimed land have a tendency to sink as much as several feet before settling. Much of the surrounding undeveloped land is marshy, especially toward the northeast en route to Coatzacoalcos. There is a large Zapotec Indian population in Minatitlan. They are easily recognizable in their traditional Zapotec clothing. Most speak Spanish, but their traditional Zapotec language is still in common usage among them.

One of Mexico's six oil refining facilities is located in Minatitlan. The refining complex processes about 300,000 barrels a day and produces diesel, fuel oil, and gasoline. The local economy basically depends on the petroleum industry, but corn, fruits, sugar, and rice are also cultivated in the area.

Culturally, Minatitlán is home to a religious Candlemas festival in early February; a carnival running between the end of February and early May features folk music and dancing, cockfighting, horse racing and fireworks; a celebration of the so-called “Petroleum Expropriation” in late May centers on music, sports and fireworks; while similar events take place during the annual San Juan Bautista Festival on June 24.

The Minatitlán Petroleros (or “Oilers”) have an interesting history. The team spent several years in Cancun, where they were known as the Langosteros. The Lobstermen were one of the less successful Mexican League franchises, advancing to the Southern Zone Championship Series just once (in 1997). The damage Hurricane Wilma wreaked on the ballpark in Cancun after the 2005 season forced the team to move to Poza Rica, where the team was renamed the Petroleros. However, the team and city had a falling out on their ballpark lease, resulting in the team moving to Cordoba in the midst of the 2006 season and being renamed the Cafeteros. After finishing the schedule, the club once again re-settled in Minatitlán for the 2007 season and reclaiming the Petroleros nickname.

Last year’s edition finished a Liga-worst 34-73, winning just 13 of 54 games in the second half of the season.

NEXT ROAD TRIP STOP (#20): Oaxaca, Oaxaca

DIABLOS TRADE FOUR PLAYERS TO MINATITLAN FOR AMADOR

The Mexico City Diablos Rojos have traded four players to the Minatitlan Petroleros for first baseman Japhet Amador (pictured), who played for Guasave this winter after sharing the Mexican League’s Rookie of the Year award with pitcher Juan Pablo Oramas last summer. The 23-year-old Amador, who began 2009 with Veracruz, hit .306 with 21 homers and 79 RBIs last year.

In return, the Petroleros landed a pair of major league veteran pitchers and two infielders from the Diablos: Francisco Cordova, who was 4-2 for Quintana Roo last year, spent five seasons with Pittsburgh between 1996 and 2000, compiling a 42-47 record for the Bucs; Ricardo Rincon went 1-1 for the Diablos in 2009, and spent 11 seasons with five MLB teams to turn in a 21-24 career mark as a reliever; shortstop Rolando Acosta hit .327 in 59 games for Mexico City last season; and third baseman Efren Espinoza was a .316 hitter for Oaxaca in 2009 before coming to the Diablos from the Guerreros.