Ramirez, TJ blank Puebla, 4-0; Toros poised for title sweep

Horacio Ramirez turned in his third consecutive sterling playoff start for Tijuana on Friday night, tossing seven-plus innings of five-hit shutout ball while Roberto Lopez had two hits and socked a homer as the Toros went on to whitewash Puebla, 4-0, in the Mexican League championship series.  A season-high crowd at 11,906 at Puebla's Estadio Hermanos Serdan saw their hometown Pericos drop their third straight game in the Serie del Rey, putting Tijuana on the cusp of a four-game sweep for the border city's first-ever professional baseball pennant.

Tijuana 4-7-1, PUEBLA 0-6-2 (Tijuana leads series, 3 games to 0)
W-H. Ramirez (1-0).  L-Outman (0-1).  A-11,906.  T-2:40.

As Hurricane Katia neared landfall on the state of Veracruz to the east, Puebla remained dry long enough for the visiting Tijuana Toros to top the defending champion Pericos, 4-0, to reach the brink of an LMB Serie del Rey sweep after losing in six games last season to the Parrots.  Former big league starter Horacio Ramirez, ten weeks away of his 37th birthday, turned in another stellar performance for skipper Pedro Mere's Bulls to post his third consecutive playoff win.

TJ opened the scoring in the top of the fourth inning after Ramirez and Puebla opener Josh Outman traded zeros through the first three entradas.  Cyle Hankerd was plunked by an Outman pitch to lead things off for Tijuana, then moved to second after a Jorge Cantu strikeout when Outman walked Dustin Martin.  Hankerd and Martin both advanced a base when Puebla first baseman Nate Freiman mishandled a Juan Apodaca grounder and was unable to make the out at first.  Johnson appealed the call, but replays upheld first base umpire Humberto Saiz' decision.  Hankerd then came in to break the scoreless tie on Alex Liddi's fielder's choice grounder up the middle.

The Toros extended their lead with a pair of runs in the fifth.  Roberto Lopez' one-out homer to left put the visitors ahead, 2-0.  Corey Brown then singled, stole second during an Outman walk to Hankerd, moved to third on a 6-4 forceout at second on a Cantu ground ball and plated a run on Martin's liner into left.  The final run of the night was pushed across in the top of the sixth as Liddi walked to open the inning, took second on Isaac Rodriguez' 1-3 comebacker to Outman on the hill and moved to third on an Outman wild pitch to Jose Guadalupe Chavez before scoring on Chavez' single to right to put the score at 4-0.

Ramirez carried his cushioned shutout two outs into the eighth, when Mere brought in Juan Sandoval from the bullpen after a walk to Pericos shortstop Alberto Carreon. Sandoval did what he's been doing since the opening series against Aguascalientes, closing out the eighth and turning in a scoreless ninth to mark his ninth consecutive postseason appearance without being scored upon, giving up two hits and striking out five over 9.2 innings.  Sandoval has pitched heroically in the playoffs for Tijuana, forming a terrific troika from the bullpen with middleman Mark Serrano and closer Jason Urquidez, both of whom were rested Friday.  While the Toros starters haven't always had it easy, those three relievers have been lights-out since the first round against the Rieleros.

But the true hero of the night was Ramirez.  Treated roughly at times by Seattle fans when he pitched for the Mariners in 2007 (one teammate was current Tijuana GM Jorge Campillo), going 8-7 in 20 starts but with a 7.16 ERA, the 6'1" lefty was rock-solid during his 7.2-inning stint, allowing no runs on five hits and two walks. Although Friday marked Ramirez' second straight outing with no strikeouts, the win was his third straight in the playoffs after beating Monterrey twice in the LMB North finals.  The Californian also registered four shutout innings at Aguascalientes in an August 17 no-decision.  His postseason ERA is now 1.13 in 24 total innings.

Outman took the loss for the Pericos, but the former Oakland starter/Colorado middleman did not pitch all that badly, giving up three earned runs in 5.1 innings on six hits.  However, the 32-year-old lefty had control problems for his second start in a row with four walks, making it nine Annie Oakleys (look it up) over his last 10.1 innings.  Lopez and Hankerd both had two hits for the winners, with the former homering and the latter doubling.  Six different Puebla batters had one hit apiece as Carreon and Cesar Tapia each hit two-baggers.

Two more games (if Game Four is scheduled for Saturday night in Puebla as Pericos manager Tim Johnson sends Andres Meza to the mound against former big leaguer Sergio Mitre for the Toros.  Meza was 5-6 with a 5.06 ERA in the regular season, but shut Leon out over 5.1 innings in the first round of the playoffs and beat Yucatan in the LMB South title set clincher, 4-3, on August 31.  Mitre was a combined 5-3 and 3.10 in nine game (eight of them starts) for Leon and Tijuana.  The ex-Yankees reliever has pitched in three postseason games, going 1-1 with a 1.54 ERA, shutting out Aguascalientes over four frames of relief in a 4-0 Game Five win in the LMB North semis on August 18.

However, it remains to be seen as this is written whether Hurrican Katia allows either game to be played.  Baseball may be life to some, but life itself is bigger than baseball.  Between life and baseball, only one is a game. Cuidense, muchachos!

Toros clip Pericos, 5-3, to go up two game in Serie del Rey

Tijuana Toros catcher Juan Apodaca

Roberto Lopez had two doubles and two singles with one run scored while Juan Apodaca collected three hits, including a key solo homer, to lead the Tijuana Toros to a 5-3 win over Puebla Wednesday night in Game Two of the Mexican League's best-of-7 Serie del Rey championship finals at Tijuana.

The Toros now lead by a 2-games-to-0 margin heading into Friday's battle in Puebla.  Josh Outman is the likely starter for the Pericos while Tijuana manager Pedro Mere is expected to counter with Horacio Ramirez on Friday.  Saturday's Game Four will feature the Toros' Miguel Pena going up against Andres Meza for Puebla.

TIJUANA 5-12-0, Puebla 3-10-0 (Tijuana leads series, 2 games to 0)
W-M. Serrano (1-0).  L-H. Garcia (0-11).  SV-Urquidez (1).  A-16,231.  T-3:03.

The Toros took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third inning when Jose Guadalupe Chavez led the frame off with a sharp single to right off Pericos starter Jaime Lugo, followed two outs later by a line-drive homer over the wall in left-center off the bat of Cyle Hankerd.  Puebla responded with three runs in the top of the fifth to take the lead.  Jesus Arredondo and Ricky Rodriguez hit back-to-back, one-out doubles, with Arredondo scoring on Rodriguez' two-bagger to put the visitors on the board.  After Cesar Tapia grounded to Chavez at short for the second out, longtime second baseman Hector Garanzuay, in his first year with Puebla after being jettisoned from Monclova following eleven summers with the Acereros, lofted an Alex Sanabia delivery over TJ rightfielder Dustin Martin for a two-run homer to put Puebla up, 3-2.

Following a scoreless fifth for both teams, Tijuana tied the contest in the bottom of the sixth on Apodaca's solo homer to left, which would turn out to be Lugo's last pitch of the evening.  The Toros added two more runs in the seventh.  Roberto Lopez led off with a double and advanced to third on Corey Brown's groundout to Rodriguez at first.  At that point, Puebla manager Tim Johnson replaced reliever Henry Garcia with Adrian C. Ramirez, who intentionally walked Hankerd to pitch to ex-MLBer Jorge Cantu.  The former Marlin hit a sacrifice fly to Julio Borbon in center to score Lopez with the go-ahead tally.  Ramirez then walked Dustin Martin (unintentionally) before letting up an Apodaca single that scored Hankerd from second to give the Toros a 5-3 advantage.  Pericos closer Deunte Heath came in a little early, but got the final out to end the seventh with no further damages.

Tijuana setup man Juan Sandoval extended his string of scoreless playoff appearances to eight games with a 1-2-3 eighth inning (only allowing one single over 8.1 frames), but closer Jason Urquidez struggled in the ninth after the Toros went down runless in the bottom of the eighth.  After getting Rodriguez looking for a leadoff strikeout, Urquidez gave up back-to-back singles to Tapia and Garanzuay to put the tying runs on base.  Urquidez settled down after that, getting Sergio Perez to fly out to Roberto Lopez in left and slipping a third strike past Alberto Carreon to end the game with the save and a Toros win, putting Tijuana up in the series, 2 games to 0.

Lopez ended with a 4-for-5 night at the plate for TJ, doubling twice and scoring once, while Apodaca was 3-for-5 with a homer and three RBIs.  Garanzuay led the Pericos with three hits, including his two-run homer in the fourth.  Middleman Mark Serrano pitched a scoreless seventh for the win in his sixth consecutive appearance without allowing a run.  Garcia took the loss for Puebla after giving up the leadoff double in the seventh to Lopez, who eventually scored the game-winning run after Garcia had already exited.  Interesting to note that Tijuana's win in Tuesday's opener marked the first time a home team had won a game when the Toros and Pericos met in 2017.  During the regular season, the teams were 3-3 against each other after the Bulls swept a May three-game series in Puebla, with thee Pericos taking three in Tijuana in a mid-June set.  A crowd of 16,231 attended Wednesday's contest at Estadio Gasmart for a two-day total attendance of 31,336 in the Baja California Norte city.

The two teams will take Thursday off as a travel day before playing Game Three on Friday at Puebla's Estadio Hermanos Serdan.  One interesting subtext to this series has been the postseason attendance in the colonial city after owner Gerardo Benavides threatened to move the Pericos out of town for 2018.  The Parrots finished ninth on the LMB attendance tables with 3,186 fans per opening over 48 home games for a total of 152,923.  After averaging 7,226 for two wins during the first round sweep over Quintana Roo, Puebla fans came out in force for the LMB South championship series against Yucatan, with 33,623 attending the three home games against the Leones.

Benavides has played the role of carpetbagger owner after transferring over twenty players from last year's Pericos championship team to his hometown Monclova Acereros for 2017, but he'll have a harder time justifying a postseason move.  Juarez has reportedly been considered, but battles involving drug cartels in cities along the Mexico-Texas border have made baseball a tough sell in places like Juarez and Nuevo Laredo (rumored to be a potential 2018 destination for the Veracruz Rojos del Aguila, although questions about who actually OWNS the Aguilas have put any future plans on hold).

привет нашим российским хакерам

Six-run sixth highlights TJ's 8-2 win in Serie del Rey opener

Tijuana Toros leftfielder Roberto Lopez

Roberto Lopez lined a two-run double and then scored on Corey Brown's single to key Tijuana's six-run outburst in the bottom of the sixth inning, blowing open a 2-2 ballgame as the Toros went on to defeat the visiting Puebla Pericos, 8-2, Tuesday night  in the opening game of the Mexican League's Serie del Rey championship finals.  A crowd of 15,105 at Estadio Gasmart saw the Toros send ten batters to the plate against the defending LMB champions in the sixth, facing four pitchers in the frame.

TIJUANA 8-12-1, Puebla 2-5-2
W-J.J. Reyes (1-0).  L-J. Roenicke (0-1).  A-15,105.  T-2:53.

Puebla starting pitcher Josh Roenicke and TJ starter Miguel Pena carried a duel shutout into the bottom of the third, when the Pericos defense handed the Toros the first run of the game.  After leading off with a single and moving to second when Roenicke walked Alex Liddi, Juan Apodaca stood a few steps away from the bag towards third while Isaac Rodriguez when Pericos catcher Cesar Tapia uncorked a throw down to shortstop Alberto Carreon, who was covering second on the play.  Carreon dropped Tapia's throw, however, and Apodaca scampered safely down to third and later came in to score on a Lopez sacrifice fly to center field.  The Bulls added a run in the bottom of the fourth when Cyle Hankerd led off with a double, took third on a Jorge Cantu single and then scored on a Roenicke wild pitch to Dustin Martin to give Tijuana a 2-0 lead.

Pena was working on a one-hit shutout in the top of the fifth when the defending champs scored their first run of the game when Sergio Perez stroked a one-out single and then motored around the bases to hit paydirt when Carreon doubled to make amends for his third inning defensive gaffe.  The Pericos were able to knot the score up at 2-2 in the top of the sixth when leadoff batter Issmael Salas reached base when Tijuana second sacker Rodriguez muffed his ground ball, advancing to second on the play.  Jesus Arredondo's single sent Salas to third and another safety by Ricky Rodriguez sent Salas in with the tying run.

However, what had been a fairly tight (if not the most aesthetically pleasing) game was blown wide open with the Toros' six-run sixth.  After Cantu opened the frame by grounding out, Martin drew a walk from Roenicke and then stole second while Apodaca was batting.  Apodaca then lined a single to left, scoring Martin from second while Apodaca scooted to second on Perez' throw to Tapia at home.  That was enough for Roenicke after 95 pitches, as Puebla skipper Tim Johnson brought in Mario Morales from the bullpen.  Morales got Liddi to fly to center for the second out of the inning before walking Rodriguez.  Exit Morales, enter Henry Garcia, who gave up a bases-loaded single to Jose Guadalupe Chavez, scoring Apodaca with the go-ahead run.  Exit Garcia, enter Julio Felix, who coughed up Lopez' two-run double and a Corey Brown single that scored Lopez from second to make it a 7-2 game.  Brown then stole second and scored on a Hankerd single to left, putting the Toros up by six.

After that, it was left to a combination of TJ relievers Carlos Hernandez, Pedro Villareal and Edwin Quirate to each contribute a hitless inning and close out the game, with pinch-hitter Jon Del Campo grounding out to Cantu at first for the final out of the contest.  Although Pena gave Toros manager a solid five-inning start, allowing one earned run on four hits and two walks, the win went to reliever Jo-Jo Reyes, who recorded the last two outs of the top of the sixth before his teammates put the final six runs of the game on the board in the bottom of the entrada. Roenicke absorbed the loss for Puebla, giving up four runs (three earned) on six hits and four walks in 5.1 innings of work, striking out seven.   Hankerd finished the night 3-for-5 at the plate, scoring one run and driving in another, while Lopez ended up with three RBIs for the game while Arredondo had two of Puebla's five hits.

Game Two is slated for Wednesday night in Tijuana.  Jaime Lugo will be on the mound for Puebla while Alex Sanabia, who allowed one run over 14 innings in two starts (both wins) against Monterrey is scheduled to take the hill for the Toros.  Thursday will be a travel day before the series resumes in Puebla.  While the Pericos seek to repeat their 2016 pennant with only seven players back from last year's champions, the Toros are looking for Tijuana's first Mexican League title.

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Pitching rules the night in Monterrey, Puebla clutch wins

Puebla closer Deunte Heath receiving high-fives after win

Although the Mexican League has gained a well-earned reputation as a hitter's league over the decades, both of Sunday's division championship series games were most influenced by the men on the mound.  Puebla starter Jaime Lugo scattered five hits over seven shutout innings to lead the Pericos to a 2-1 home win over Yucatan to take a 2-games-to-1 lead in their LMB South title series.  In the LMB North, Monterrey's Edgar Gonzalez combined with two relievers to limit Tijuana to two runs on seven hits in the Sultanes' 4-2 victory against the Toros.  Tijuana still leads that set, 2 games to 1.

Game Four in both series is slated for Monday night.  Yucatan will send Jonathan Castellanos to the mound in Puebla against Pericos starter Andres Meza while in Monterrey, Jorge Reyes will take the hill for the Sultanes against Sergio Mitre and Tijuana.


PUEBLA 2-10-0, Yucatan 1-5-0
W-Heath (1-0).  L-Fr. Rodriguez (1-1).  A-11,812.  T-2:37

Puebla's Jaime Lugo and Yucatan's Jose Samayoa locked up in a pitcher's duel into the seventh inning and the respective bullpens carried it to the end as the Pericos slipped past the Leones, 2-1, on a ninth-inning run Sunday night in Puebla.  A season-high crowd of 11,812 witnessed the proceedings at Estadio Hermanos Serdan in the colonial city.

Lugo and Samayoa swapped zeros until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Pericos catcher (and 2017 LMB batting champ) Cesar Tapia lined a Samayoa delivery over the left field wall for a home run to give Puebla a 1-0 lead.  The Parrots clung to their narrow lead through the seventh, but the Leones tied it up in the top of the eighth when closer Deunte Heath (who was replacing Lugo) was touched for a solo homer to left by Yucatan catcher Sebastian Valle.  Heath settled down to retire the side without any further damage and pitched a scoreless ninth, setting up late heroics by Tapia and Alberto Carreon.

Ex-MLB hurler Francisco Rodriguez took over on the hill for Yucatan in the bottom of the ninth and immediately gave up a leadoff single to Tapia, who then advanced to second when Hector Garanzuay walked. Both runners moved up on Sergio Perez' bunt single and Carreon delivered the game-winning blow by smoking a Rodriguez delivery to left, bringing Tapia across with the walkoff run.

Tapia, Perez and Carreon each had two of Puebla's ten hits while Valle singled and homered for Yucatan. While Lugo pitched seven scoreless innings for the Pericos, allowing three hits and striking out five, the win went to Heath, who blew the save on Valle's homer but otherwise had a creditable two-inning appearance. Samayoa let in one run on five hits and one walk over six frames for the Leones, good enough to win most nights, but Rodriguez was tagged with the loss after giving up three hits, a walk and the game-winning run without retiring a batter in the ninth.


MONTERREY 4-9-0, Tijuana 2-7-1
W-Ed. Gonzalez (1-0).  L-M. Pena.  A-23,176.  T-3:04.

Although the pitching in this game wasn't as dominant as the contest in Puebla, former Arizona hurler Edgar Gonzalez turned in a strong performance Sunday in Monterrey as the Sultanes topped Tijuana, 4-2, in Game Three of their LMB North Division championship series.  The Toros still lead the set, 2-games-to-1, but a throng of 23,176 were in the Estadio Monterrey stands to see the Sultanes bounce back after two losses in the border city.

Gonzalez and Toros starter Miguel Pena were both working on shutouts through the first three innings before Tijuana scored the first run of the night in the top of the fourth when Corey Brown clubbed a Gonzalez serving over the wall in right-center field to put the visitors up, 1-0.  Pena was struck by three bolts of lightning in the bottom of the fourth when he gave up solo roundtrippers to Ramon Rios, Luis Juarez and Daniel Mayora to fall behind, 3-1.  Pena recovered to get the final two outs of the inning, but the wounds would prove mortal with Gonzalez shutting down the potent Bulls.  The Sultanes added an insurance run in the fifth when Rios doubled in Chris Roberson.

The Toros did score once more in the top of the sixth on Roberto Lopez' leadoff homer off Gonzalez, but that would prove to be the last hit of the night for Tijuana as Gonzalez, Nick Struck and Wirfin Obispo would combine to allow just one walk en route to recording the final twelve TJ outs of the contest.  The Toros ended the night with seven hits, but the longballs by Brown (who also singled) and Lopez were the only ones of any significance.  Rios had two doubles and a homer for the Sultanes, scoring twice for the winners, while Juarez and Luis Flores each had a pair of hits.

Gonzales tossed six innings of two-run, seven-hit ball for the win, striking out five in a solid performance while Obispo's scoreless ninth was worth a save.  Pena suffered the loss by allowing all four Monterrey runs on five hits in 4.2 entradas, striking out five and walking one.

Yucatan holds off Leon to reach South finals; TJ up 3 to 2

Diego Madero's two-run homer highlighted Yucatan's three-run eighth inning as the Leones outlasted the Leon Bravos, 5-4, Friday night in Leon to complete a four-game sweep in their Mexican League South Division semifinal playoff series.  Yucatan advances to play defending champion Puebla in the LMB South championship series.  The Pericos needed just four games to eliminte Quintana Roo in the first round.

In the LMB North semifinals, the Tijuana Toros pulled away from the Aguascalientes Rieleros, 11-4, Friday in Aguascalientes to take a 3-games-to-2 lead in that set.  The visitors kept the basepaths busy with eleven hits while drawing eight walks from Rieleros pitchers as leadoff batter Jose Guadalupe Chavez reached base four times, scored twice and drove in three runs.  The winner of this series will meet Monterrey in the LMB North finals.  The Sultanes swept Monclova earlier this week.

There'll be no action Saturday as the Toros and Rieleros travel to Tijuana for Sunday's Game Six.

Yucatan 5-7-0, LEON 4-14-3
W-Barraza (1-0).  L-W. Silva (0-1).  Sv-Belisario (2).  A-6,894.  T-3:15.
A pitcher's duel between veteran hurlers Jonathan Castellanos of Yucatan and Leon's Walter Silva through seven innings ended with both teams combining for seven runs over the final two entradas as Yucatan held off Leon, 5-4, in front of a season-high crowd of 6,894 in Leon.  Leon took a 1-0 lead in the third when Junior Lake doubled in Eduardo Arredondo from second, but Yucatan tied it up in the fifth after leadoff hitter Jose Aguilar reached base on a fielding error by Bravos third baseman Miguel Terrero and eventually scored on a bloop single by Leo Heras.  The score remained knotted at 1-1 until the top of the eighth, when Ivan Araujo singled one out before Madero took Silva deep with a line-drive homer to left for Yucatan.  Ricky Alvarez later doubled in Juan Francisco off reliever Fredy Quintero to give the visitors a 4-1 lead.  Leon scored twice in the eighth on RBI singles by Torrero and Brandon Macias, but Yucatan went up 5-3 in the ninth when Sebastian Valle scored on a Gerardo Sanchez wild pitch to Heras.  Niko Vasquez doubled in Dan Johnson in the bottom of the ninth to bring Leon to within a run, but Yucatan closer Ronald Belisario got the final two outs for the save and win.  The Bravos actually outhit the Leones, 14-to-7, but only hit 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and left 12 men stranded on base.

Tijuana 11-11-0, AGUASCALIENTES 4-9-1
W-Mitre (1-0).  L-L. Castro (0-2).  A-6,645.  T-3:43.
The top four batters in the Tijuana order combined for eight hits, four runs and nine RBIs as the visiting Toros broke a 4-4 tie with a single run in the top of the fourth and pulled away from Aguascalientes, 11-4, Friday in Aguascalientes.  Leadoff hitter Jose Guadalupe Chavez was the primary pest for TJ, going 2-for-4 with a pair of walks, scoring twice and driving in three more runs.  Roberto Lopez scored the eventual game-winning run for Tijuana in the top of the fourth when he reached base on a fielder's choice grounder to Rieleros pitcher Linder Castro, advanced to second on a passed ball by catcher Carlos Rodriguez and came in when Corey Brown's grounder found its way to left field.  The Toros then scored twice in the sixth and four times in the seventh (with Lopez punching a two-run double) to put the game away.  Former Yankees pitcher Sergio Mitre replaced starter Carlos Hernandez in the third inning and tossed four innings of one-hit shutout ball for the TJ win.  Castro, who relieved Rieleros starter Francisco del Rosario in the third, gave up a pair of runs in 2.2 innings to take the loss.

Diablos-Guerreros team wins third Academy AA League title; Toros sweep Monterrey, win streak at 16

2017 Liga Academia AA champs Diablos-Guerreros

It took fourteen agonizing innings to do it, but a team of combined prospects from the Mexico City Diablos Rojos and Oaxaca Guerreros topped the Campeche-Quintana Roo squad, 4-3, last week in El Carmen (near Monterrey) to clinch their third consecutive Mexican League Academy Class AA League title and sixth straight crown when the winter Academy Rookie League seasons are factored in. The Diablos-Guerreros had a 55-30 record to top the Academy AA League standings, which included eight teams sharing prospects belonging to two LMB teams each.

Diablos-Guerros pitcher Luis Rodriguez, whose rights belong to Mexico City, was named MVP after going 6-2 with a 1.06 ERA (how did this guy lose TWO games, let alone one?) while striking out 108 batters and walking 22 over 76.1 innings. A Rodriguez moundmate, Juan Carlos Lopez, led the circuit in wins with a perfect 9-0 mark and strikeouts with 110 in 88 frames to go with his 1.62 ERA.  Durango-Veracruz' Jesus Vega was the top batter with an even .400 average, Juan Sanchez of Tigres-Campeche led in homers with 10 and Monterrey-Aguascalientes' Bryan Sosa's 69 RBIs were tops. Remigio Diaz was named Manager of the Year after leading the Monclova-Puebla squad to a 47-40-1 record and a fourth-place finish.

According to Fernando Ballesteros of Puro Beisbol, the Mexican League has operated at least one academy since 1983 as a complex dedicated to housing hundreds of domestic prospects for the purpose of teaching and developing baseball skills, a number of which dot the map in Latin American baseball-playing countries (including ten in Mexico alone).  While the El Carmen complex is the longest-running and most important of the LMB-linked five academies, Ballesteros said in his May 15 Zona de Contacto column that it is also perhaps the most "obsolete" (as stated by one Liga official), adding that instructors there don't feel motivation commensurate with their salaries.

The Tijuana Toros operate an academy of their own from which the team has been able to sell the rights of several prospects to Major League organizations, there's another in the state of Sinaloa that reportedly has the "endorsement" of MLB but lacks an established funding mechanism and faces an uncertain future and similar academies are operated by Gerardo Benavides in Monclova and brothers Juan Jose and Erick Arellano in their hometown of Mazatlan for their Yucatan and Laguna LMB prospects.

Brothers Adrian and Edgar Gonzalez, along with father David, opened the Gonzalez Sports Academy near the California-Mexico border in 2010 and generated controversy by seeking to negotiate contracts with big league teams directly, bypassing the Mexican League (which recently was endorsed by MLB as exclusive rights-holders for Mexican prospects).  That effort landed in a courtroom in 2013 after the Majors ruled that one Gonzales prospect's rights actually belonged to the LMB Diablos Rojos and while Ballesteros' May column referred to that academy as still operational, the GSA website was shut down by a hacker and their Facebook page has had no activity since some photos were updated in early February.


TOROS SWEEP MONTERREY TO STRETCH WIN STREAK TO 16 GAMES

Tijuana Toros outfielder Dustin Martin

Former AAA All-Star Game outfielder (in 2010 for Rochester) Dustin Martin has had a hard time getting untracked in 2017, but he showed why he is still one of the most dangerous batters in a loaded Tijuana lineup by belting a pair of two-run homers to aid the Toros' 7-3 win over visiting Monterrey Thursday night at Estadio Gasmart in the border city.  The triumph handed Tijuana their fifth consecutive series sweep, this one against the Mexican League North Division leaders' closest challengers, while extending their season high win streak to 16 games.

The 33-year-old Martin, a former Mets, Twins and Diamondbacks farmhand who was also a New York-Penn League All-Star in 2006 and Florida State League All-Star in 2007, hit .325 with 19 homers, 33 stolen bases and 88 RBIs for Tijuana last year.  Thus far in 2017, he's batting .254 with 14 homers, 23 steals and 67 ribbies in 96 games.  Thursday night's performance showed that any opposing pitcher who downplays the Sam Houston State product to concentrate on the likes of Corey Brown, Alex Liddi or Cyle Hankerd in the playoffs may pay for their oversight.

Despite Martin's longball heroics, the key blow may have been a bases-clearing double by Roberto Lopez (batting ninth) in the second inning that gave the Toros a 3-0 lead that Martin extended in the sixth with his first two-run blast.  Monterrey narrowed the TJ lead to 5-3 when ageless Rafael Diaz came in from the bullpen in the eighth and allowed three Sultanes runs on four hits before Juan Sandoval was sent to the mound to record the final out of the entrada, but Martin's second bomb in the bottom of the eighth provided the final margin of victory for the home team.

A packed house of 17,980 looked on at Estadio Gasmart (capacity 16,811) Thursday night, bringing total attendance for the three-game set to 49,416.  More important, the potent Toros battered Monterrey's pitching staff, which came into the series with a team ERA of 3.87, for 24 runs on 35 hits over the three games.  Heading into Friday's series opener at Aguascalientes, the 70-28 Toros now lead 63-34 Monterrey by six-and-a-half games in the LMB North standings with 12 games left in the regular season.

Toros stay alive; Serie del Rey moves to Tijuana

Roberto Lopez had a sub-.200 playoff batting average entering Monday night's Mexican League Championship Series Game Five in Puebla, but the Tijuana first baseman broke out of his slump in a big way to lead the Toros to a 9-2 win over the Pericos, staying alive in the Serie del Rey and sending the series back to the border city for Game Six on Wednesday.  The Toros trailed 2-1 before pushing eight runs across the plate in the top of the ninth, silencing the packed stands at Estadio Hermanos Serdan.

Lopez (pictured) cracked a double and homer in the ninth inning to the plate for the Toros, driving in three runs and scoring twice as Tijuana shaved Puebla's series lead to 3-games-to-2.  The Pericos had won the first two of three games played in Puebla, all before sellout crowds of 12,112.

Starting pitchers Horacio Ramirez of Tijuana and Orlando Lara of Puebla traded zeros until the top of the third inning, when Roberto Lopez crashed a solo homer to center off Lara to give the visitors a 1-0 nod.  The score stood until the bottom of the fifth, when Willy Taveras slashed a triple off Ramirez and later came in on Daric Barton's two-out single up the middle to tie things up for the host team.  The Pericos took the lead one frame later when Ruben Rivera led off the sixth with a single, moved to second on a groundout and scored on Rudy Amador's seeing-eye single into center to give Puebla a 2-1 advantage.

The score held until the crazy top of the ninth, during which the visitors sent twelve batters to the plate and put those eight runs on the scoreboard.  Dustin Martin, who's having a Playoff MVP-worthy finals for Tijuana, led off the inning against Puebla closer Chad Gaudin with a triple past a diving Nyjer Morgan in left field  Martin scored on third baseman Amador's throwing error on a Carlos Valencia grounder to knot the game at 2-2 and the Toros eventually filled the bases for Lopez, whose two-run double broke the deadlock for good.  Gaudin registered his first out of the inning when the sixth batter faced, Miguel Torrero, grounded out to second.  After Gaudin got Jose Guadalupe Chavez to ground into a fielder's choice out as Puebla shortstop Alberto Carreon threw Alex Romero out at the plate for the second out, the bottom really fell out for the eleven-year MLB vet.

Throwing to pinch-hitter Emmanuel Valdez, Gaudin uncorked a wild pitch that brought Lopez rumbling in from third to make it a 5-2 Toros lead, then let up a Valdez double to center that scored Chavez.  Puebla skipper Cory Snyder deduced that Gaudin maybe just didn't have it after eight batsmen and four runs and brought in Benny Suarez.  It only took nine pitches and consecutive walks to Olmo Rosario and Martin for Snyder to figure that Suarez might not have it either, calling in Julio Felix from the bullpen to face Edson Garcia, who'd pinch-run earlier and stayed in the game defensively in center field.  While working on Garcia, Felix unleashed a wild pitch of his own to move Valdez in from third to bring the score to 7-2.  Garcia then drilled a liner into right to bring in Rosario and Martin, making it a 9-2 TJ  lead before Valencia mercifully ended the onslaught by grounding out to second.  It was then left to Toros closer Jason Urquidez to post a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth against the shell-shocked Puebla batsmen to end the game and send the Serie del Rey back to Estadio Gasmart.

Urquidez pitched the last 2.1 innings, allowing no hits and whiffing three Pericos for the win.  Gaudin was tagged with both a blown save and the loss for Puebla.  Both teams put up eleven hits on the night, with Chavez and Lopez each contributing two hits for Tijuana while Taveras and Amador split six hits for Puebla, five of them singles.  Lara scattered seven hits but let in just one run over 6.2 innings for the Pericos; Ramirez lasted into the sixth and had a tougher time, coughing up all 11 hits and both Puebla runs but five relievers (including Urquidez) allowed no hits or runs the rest of the way.  The game was delayed by rain for over an hour, stretching the contest past 12:30am local time.

After a travel day Tuesday, the two teams will convene Wednesday night in Tijuana at 10:30pm ET.  Game Seven, if needed, would be played Thursday, after which many players won't have time to either celebrate or drown their sorrows.  Training camps in the Mexican Pacific League are already opening for the coming winterball season...another reason to love baseball in Mexico.

Tijuana 9-11-1, PUEBLA 2-11-2 (Puebla leads series, 3 games to 2)
W-Urquidez (1-0). L-Gaudin (0-1). HR-Lopez (R). T-3:30. A-12,112.