Yucatan holds off Monterrey, leads LMB South by 2 games

Alejandro Soto (pictured) tossed six innings of three-hit shutout ball and Ronnier Mustelier punched a two-run single to lead the Yucatan Leones to a 3-2 win over the Monterrey Sultanes Sunday night in Merida.  A near-sellout crowd of 11,142 at Estadio Kukulcan watched the Leones win the rubber match of the three-game set to raise their record to 12-8, good for a two-game lead over Oaxaca in the Mexican League Southern Division standings.  Monterrey dropped to 12-7 to fall a game off the pace behind Tijuana and Union Laguna in the LMB North.

Soto, a 6'5" lefty, came to Yucatan in a midseason trade with Oaxaca last summer in the midst of his ninth season with the Guerreros, struck out five without giving up a walk to earn his first win of the 2017 season after he'd been battered for nine runs on 13 hits in 7.2 innings over his previous two starts.  The Leones broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fourth when Jesus Valdez whacked a leadoff double against Monterrey starter Alfonso Sanchez and later scored on an Ivan Araujo sacrifice fly to put the hosts out in front. Mustelier's two-out singleton an inning later plated Kevin Flores and Leo Heras made it a 3-0 ballgame.

As it turned out, Yucatan eventually needed those two fifth-inning runs.  Reliever Jairo Asencio entered the game for the Leones in the top of the ninth needing three outs to close the win, but instead allowed two runs  by dishing up a Zoilo Almonte single that drove in Chris Roberson with the visitors' first run of the ninth.  Asencio got Luis Juarez to send a grounder to Flores at short for a 6-4-3 double play that scored Gilberto Carrera from third to bring the Sultanes to within a score, but Felix Perez' grounder to Leones first baseman Humberto Sosa ended the contest with no further damage done by the Monterrey order.

Roberson fell behind Oaxaca's Alan Sanchez in the LMB batting race over the week.  Sanchez ended the weekend with a .446 average in 20 games, with Robo six points back at a cool .440 and Saltillo's Luis Borges in third at .426.  Union Laguna's Ricky Alvarez socked four homers in three midweek games to pull into the Liga lead with eight longballs, one ahead of Tijuana's Alex Liddi and Mexico City's Jorge Vazquez.  The injury-plagued Vazquez is in his first year with the Diablos Rojos and so far, his acquisition from Quintana Roo in the offseason is paying dividends for Miguel Ojeda's team.  Alvarez also leads the loop with 34 RBIs in 21 games as the Vaqueros are winning games in the time-honored Liga tradition: Battering opponents into submission by scoring 168 runs over 21 games for an average of 8 runs per outing.  With batting like that, a pitching tee has a chance to earn a win.

Speaking of pitching, Mitch Lively of Leon, Laguna's Edgar Osuna and Saltillo starter Frankie De La Cruz all have perfect 4-0 records and ERAs under 2.00, with Lively's 0.72 mark leading the circuit.  Dustin Crenshaw of the Vaqueros has four wins in five decisions, but his ERA of 6.21 pretty much proves the last point made in the previous paragraph.  Josh Lowey of Monclova is tops in strikeouts with 35 over 32 innings, four up on Oaxaca's Irwin Delgado.  Durango closer Tiago Da Silva has continued his lights-out season for the Generales.  The Brazilian righty has converted saves in all eleven of his appearances out of the bullpen thus far, giving up just one earned run on April 13 in Campeche (but still getting the save).

Among the upcoming midweek series, perhaps the biggest will be in Oaxaca, when the Guerreros try to close the gap against Yucatan in a three-game set.  Next weekend will see the Monclova Acereros visit Torreon to battle Union Laguna.  The Durango Generales STILL have yet to play a home game this season after their scheduled series last week against Veracruz was moved to the port city because Estadio Francisco Villa is still not ready for occupancy.  The Leon Bravos had to wait one extra day after a power outage short-circuited their April 18 home opener against Mexico City.  The two teams split a doubleheader one day later as 4,852 fans filed into Parque Domingo Santana for Leon's first Liga home game since 1991.

Postscript to last Friday's BBM: Mom passed away shortly after 5AM PDT this (Monday) morning after two weeks in a coma. I was in the hospital with her all night and she went quietly, peacefully and with dignity...quintessential Mom.  Thanks for all your prayers.  Glad I wrote this last night while sitting next to her.  I'm not sure if I'll post again before next Monday, but don't count against it.  I love baseball and I love Mexico and its great people and writing about the Mexican League will be good for my sanity and peace of mind.  Did you ever think you'd see the words "sanity" and "peace of mind" in the same sentence as "the Mexican League?"

Culiacan GM Padilla sacked, Tomateros players complain

Anyone who's read Jim Bouton's classic "Ball Four" is aware that ballplayers don't often hold general managers in high esteem.  While Bouton's lampooning of Seattle Pilots GM Marvin Milkes was just one reason that got him into considerable hot water with the baseball establishment, it's fairly common knowledge that an adversarial relationship can develop between a professional athlete and the person who ultimately determines their salary (especially in the era prior to free agency).

That's why the response of a dozen Culiacan Tomateros players, many of them current or former major leaguers, in the wake of the team's firing of general manager Ray Padilla (pictured) raised so many eyebrows last week.  Padilla spent twelve winters in the GM's chair for the Tomateros before being let go after the season.  Although original owner Juan Manuel Ley built the Mexican Pacific League team into one of the country's top baseball organizations from the late 1960's until his death a year ago at age 82, Ley's family successors at the helm of the team ultimately grew frustrated with Padilla's lack of on-field success this season after the club, which won the MexPac's first-half title before dropping off in the second half and being eliminated in the playoff semifinals.

With Culiacan hosting the Caribbean Series earlier this month, much pressure was placed on Padilla to bring the Tomateros a pennant and berth in the CS.  The results of impatient ownership led to manager Lino Rivera's firing after a slow start to the second half (remember, this is the team that WON the first half title), replacing him with veteran skipper Enrique "Che" Reyes, who'd been coaching in the organization.  When Reyes failed to bring the team a flag, Padilla's fate was all but sealed despite an LMP pennant and a Caribbean Series title game berth just two years ago under his watch.

A terse February 18 statement from the Tomateros office said, "Continuing with the process or re-engineering our club, it is announced that Mr. Reymundo Padilla is leaving his position of Sports Manager."  Padilla's ouster brought on an unusual reaction of support from his former players days later, as no less than twelve Tomateros jugadores signed a formal statement protesting the move and sent it to the press.  Here is a translated version of that letter:

Due to what happened last week, in which the Culiacan Tomateros Baseball Club reported that Mr. Ray Padilla stopped being the Sports Manager, the players of this organization want to express our feelings about it.

In the years that Mr. Padilla was in charge of the sports management of this club, he managed to form a great harmony in the group of players that today make up the roster of the Tomateros team of Culiacan. That is why we are very upset the news. Ray, as we all call him, had a unique work ethic, always showing us his support in good and bad.

We feel a great disappointment inside this group of players. We understand that the owners make their decisions, but many times they do it without consulting those inside the team, doing things that may damage the organization in the future.

We want to show our support to Ray, thanking him for all his support throughout these years in which we had the opportunity to work with him.

Without more to add, we said goodbye, even with this news and very hurt by the decision that was taken by the directors, which we do not agree with.


Among the twelve players who signed the statement are pitchers Oliver Perez and Hector Daniel "Danny" Rodriguez, infielders Oscar Robles, Luis Alfonso Cruz and Ramiro Pena, and outfielders Ronnier Mustelier and Joey Meneses. Perez, Robles, Cruz and Pena all have MLB experience (Perez, a Culiacan native, is entering his 15th big league season), Rodriguez is one of Mexico's top left-handed pitchers and Mustelier and Meneses were two of the Tomateros' top hitters this season.

Padilla's replacement in Culiacan has not been determined.

2017 Caribbean Series in review

Now that the Caribbean Series is over and the dust is settling, it's time to take a look back at the seven-day event in Culiacan, Sinaloa, where attendance was the highest among the past 14 editions of the CS, regarded as the Crown Jewel of Latin Baseball.

Although the Mexicali Aguilas fell short in their 1-0 title game loss to Puerto Rico's Caguas Criollos, the MexPac champions placed five members on the CS All-Star Team (as voted on by media members), including all three outfield positions.  Gardeners Jason Bourgois, Chris Roberson and Ronnier Mustelier were joined by catcher Sebastian Valle and relief pitcher Jake Sanchez on the squad, as was Aguilas manager Roberto Vizcarra.  Caguas third baseman David Vidal was named Most Valuable Player after batting .417 with 3 homers and 5 RBIs in 26 at-bats.  Granma right-hander Lazaro Blanco was named top pitcher after going 1-1 with a 0.68 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 13.1 innings over two starts.  Former MLB starter Joel Pineiro, who was 104-93 for four teams between 2000 and 2011, threw a scoreless inning for Caguas against Granma on February 3.  The 38-year-old Pineiro was a member of Puerto Rico's last CS champion, Santurce, in 2000.

Caguas' Ivan De Jesus, Jr led CS batters with a .500 average, going 11-of-22 at the plate.  Vidal led in homers with 3 and tied with Granma's Carlos Benitez and Jose Castillo of Zuila in RBIs with 5 each.  Castillo's Zulia teammate, Freddy Galvis, led in stolen bases with 3.  Among pitchers, nobody had more than one win.  Mexicali's Hector Daniel Rodriguez was unscored upon in 9 innings over one start and one relief apearance while Vladimir Banos of Cuba allowed no runs in his 8 2/3 innings against Mexicali.  Blanco was tied by Hector Velazquez of Mexicali with 11 strikeouts while LMP Reliever of the Year Sanchez led with two saves.

Tournament organizers in Culiacan have to be happy with the attendance figures, as 131,432 fans clicked the turnstiles at Estadio Tomateros to set a modern record, even after the initial crowd total of more than 24,000 announced for Friday in the 19,177-seat ballpark was subsequently revised down to capacity level (phone call from the fire marshal, posiblimente?).  With some columnists speculating about the future of the Caribbean Series due to economic crises in Puerto Rico and Venezuela (site of next year's CS) and the uncertain status of Cuba, which is not a host nation, the event has been very popular in Mexico, where four of the past five tournaments that topped 100,000 in accrued attendance were in Mexico.  Not everyone was thrilled with the ticket situation, however.  Mexicali closer Sanchez complained during the week that ducats allotted to players for friends and family were to seats located in the left field bleachers.


CS SCORES and HIGHLIGHTS
Wednesday, February 1  (Attendance 19,177)
GM 1   Granma (CU) 4-7-2, ZULIA (VZ) 0-7-2
Lazaro Blanco and Livan Moinelo combine for seven-hit shutout
GM 2   MEXICALI (MX) 4-10-0, Caguas (PR) 2-5-2
Hector Daniel Rodriguez carries no-hitter into 5th; Chris Roberson homers

Thursday, February 2  (Attendance 19,177)
GM 3   Zulia (VZ) 4-8-0, CAGUAS (PR) 3-9-2
Jesus Flores' 2-run homer caps 3-run Zulia second; Omar Bencomo goes 5 frames for win
GM 4   MEXICALI (MX) 7-15-2, Licey (DR) 2-6-1
Chris Roberson has 4 hits and scores twice; Jason Bourgeois triples twice for 2 RBIs

Friday, February 3  (Attendance 19,177)
GM 5   GRANMA (CU) 6-12-0, Caguas (PR) 1-8-1
William Saavedra hits two singles and 2-run homer; Vladimir Garcia allows 1 run in 5 innings
GM 6  MEXICALI 5-8-1, Zulia (VZ) 1-7-2
Sebastian Valle belts walkoff grand slam; Barry Enright lets in 1 run on 1 hit in 5 frames

Saturday, February 4  (Attendance 14,973)
GM 7   CAGUAS (PR) 10-11-0, Licey (DR) 2-5-2
Rusney Castillo socks 2-run HR in first; Ivan De Jesus 3 hits, 3 runs, 2 RBIs
GM 8   ZULIA (VZ) 8-15-0, Granma (CU) 3-10-2
Freddy Galvis and Ronny Cedeno combined for 6 hits, 3 runs and 3 RBIs

Sunday, February 5  (Attendance 19,177)
GM 9   ZULIA (VZ) 4-7-2, Licey (DR) 3-8-0
Ronny Cedeno's RBI double, Rene Reyes' 2-run HR in 8th put Caguas ahead for good
GM 10   GRANMA (CU) 4-11-0, Mexicali (MX) 0-6-0
Vladimir Banos pitches 8.2 shutout innings; Alfredo Despaigne cracks 3-run HR

Monday, February 6  (Attendance 19,177)
SF 1   Caguas (PR) 9-11-0, Zulia (VZ) 6-16-1
David Vidal hits 3rd CS homer; Rusney Castillo collects 3 hits, 2 RBIs
SF 2   MEXICALI (MX) 1-5-0, Granma (CU) 0-2-1
Miguel Pena, Hector Daniel Rodriguez and Jake Sanchez combine on 2-hit shutout

Tuesday, February 7  (Attendance 20,454)
FINAL Caguas 1-7-1, MEXICALI 0-4-1 (10)
Yadiel Rivera doubles, scores go-ahead run in 10th; Miguel Mejia 2 IP, 0 R in relief for win


2017 CS ALL-STARS
1B - William Saavedra, Granma (Cuba)
2B - Carlos Benitez, Granma (Cuba)
3B - David Vidal, Caguas (Puerto Rico)
SS - Freddy Galviz, Zulia (Venezuela)
LF - Jason Bourgeois, Mexicali (Mexico)
CF - Chris Roberson, Mexicali (Mexico)
RF - Ronnier Mustelier, Mexicali (Mexico)
C -  Sebastian Valle, Mexicali (Mexico)
DH - Ivan De Jesus, Caguas (Puerto Rico)
SP - Lazaro Blanco, Granma (Cuba)
RP- Jake Sanchez, Mexicali (Mexico)
MGR -  Roberto Vizcarra, Mexicali (Mexico)
MVP - David Vidal, Caguas (Puerto Rico)


CS ATTENDANCE TOTALS (2004-17)
2004    90,000* Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
2005  102,000* Mazatlan, Mexico
2006    86,103* Maracay/Valencia, Venezuela
2007    28,583* Carolina, Puerto Rico
2008    90,000* Santiago, Dominican Republic
2009  101,500* Mexicali, Mexico
2010    71,405* Isla Margarita, Veracruz
2011    42,500* Mayaguez, Puerto Rico
2012    30,000* Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
2013  112,000* Hermosillo, Mexico
2014  113,517   Isla Margarita, Venezuela
2015  112,000   San Juan, Puerto Rico
2016    24,319   Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
2017  131,432   Culiacan, Mexico
2018     TBD      Barquisimeto, Venezuela
*-Six-day event from 2004 through 2013

Mexicali nips Cubans, 1-0, reach CS final vs. Caguas

Miguel Pena (pictured) built a shutout over the first five innings and Hector Daniel Rodriguez carried it another three before Jake Sanchez closed the deal as the Mexicali Aguilas shut out Cuba's Granma Alazanes, 1-0, Monday night as another sellout crowd of 19,177 looked on at Culiacan's Estadio Tomateros.  The win punches Mexico's ticket to a fifth consecutive Caribbean Series championship game, this one against Puerto Rico's Caguas Criollos on Tuesday night.

However, this win didn't come easily for the Mexican Pacific League champions, whose recent offensive struggles continued after a hot start.  Mexicali now has 11 hits combined over their past two games after collecting 33 safeties in their first three contests.


MEXICALI (MX) Aguilas 1-5-0, Granma (CU) Alazanes 0-2-1

Starting with Sunday's 4-0 loss to Granma, Mexicali's scoreless string against Alazanes pitching reached 13 innings before the Aguilas broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth on Monday.  Cuban expat Ronnier Mustelier led off with a walk against Granma starter Lazaro Blanco, scurried to third when Sebastian Valle's bunt single drew a bad throw by Cuban third baseman Yunior Paumier and then came in to score on Agustin Murillo's single to left.  It was as close to home as anyone would get the rest of the night.

Blanco settled down and resumed his duel with Aguilas starter Pena, who gave up no runs on two hits in five innings before making way for Rodriguez.  The Culiacan native, who won Mexicali's opening game against Caguas on Wednesday, picked up the shutout and carried it through the eighth.  For his part, Blanco lasted through the seventh, allowing just one run on four hits for an excellent start.  Livan Moinelo took the mound in the bottom of the eighth for Granma and blanked the Aguilas.  It then came down to closer Sanchez, the MexPac Reliever of the Year who has allowed one earned run all winter, to close out the win and clinch a berth against Caguas in Tuesday's finale.

Sanchez opened the ninth by getting Roel Santos to tap a comebacker to the hill, which Sanchez threw to first for the out.  The Cal Baptist product then walked Victor Mesa on a full count, breaking the string of 24 consecutive Cuban batters retired in a row by Pena, Rodriguez and Sanchez.  Pinch-hitter Guillermo Aviles grounded to second baseman Isaac Rodriguez, who flipped the ball to shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt to force Mesa at second, but Betancourt's relay to C.J. Retherford was ruled not in time to beat Aviles to the bag.  That brought Mexicali manager Roberto Vizcarra out of the dugout and an appeal was made, but the call was upheld with Aviles safe at first on a fielder's choice and two out.  Sanchez went back to work and caught Alexander Ayala looking for strike three to complete the shutout for his second CS save, sending the Aguilas into the championship game against the Puerto Ricans.  Mexicali opened their first round schedule with a 4-2 win over Caguas on Wednesday.

Pena got the win with his first start of this CS.  Pena, Rodriguez and Sanchez combined to limit the Cuban batting order to two hits and one walk, striking out ten Granma batters (Rodriguez had five in three innings).  Blanco gave up one run on four hits with five whiffs over seven innings in a tough-luck loss.  Chris Roberson singled and drew two walks for Mexicali as the Eagles gathered just five hits.  Mesa singled and Ayala doubled for Granma's lone hits of the night.

Hector Velazquez will get the start against Caguas in Tuesday's CS title game.  The LMP's choice for Pitcher of the Year went five innings and struck out seven Licey hitters in Mexicali's 7-2 win over the Tigres last Thursday.


Caguas (PR) Criollos 9-11-0, ZULIA (VZ) Aguilas 6-16-1

Caguas jumped out to a 4-0 first inning lead and David Vidal socked his third Caribbean Series homer as the Criollos surprised Venezuela's Zulia Aguilas, 9-6, Monday afternoon in the first CS semifinal of the day.  The victory gave the Puerto Rican champs, who'd barely snuck into the Final Four after losing three of their four round-robin games (including a 4-3 loss to Zulia last Thursday), a berth in Tuesday's title game against Mexicali.

Aguilas starter Mitch Lively, who spent time in the Mexican League with Reynosa and Laguna last summer, was knocked out of the box with two out in the first after allowing four runs, including RBI singles from Rusney Castillo and Yadiel Rivera. The Criollos built on their lead with two more runs in the top of the third and single scores in the fourth and fifth frames to go up 8-0.  Zulia plated their first run in the bottom of the fifth when Jose Castillo came in from third on Alex Romero's groundout.  Both teams scored a run in the sixth to put the Puerto Ricans lead at 9-2, which the Criollos maintained until the Venezuelans scored four times in the bottom of the eighth.  Ronny Cedeno doubled in two runs and Castillo singled in two more to bring Zulia within three runs of Caguas.  The Criollos threatened in the bottom of the ninth when Romero, Jesus Flores and Denis Phipps led off the frame with consecutive singles off reliever Ricardo Gomez to load the bases, but Gomez bore down and struck out Ali Castillo, got Freddy Galvis to fly out to center with no baserunners advancing and then struck out Cedeno swinging to end the game.

Criollos opener Orlando Roman pitched with a cushion from the get-go and went on to register five innings, letting in one run while scattering seven hits and three walks, striking out seven.  Lively took the loss after allowing four runs on four hits and two walks in two-thirds of an inning.  Henry Ramos led Caguas with three hits (including a triple) and scored once while Vidal homered, singled and drove in two runs.  Castillo and Jose Pirela each had three hits for Zulia (who outhit the winner, 16-to-11), with Castillo driving in a pair of runs and Pirela doubling twice.  Pirela and Aguilas manager Lipso Nava were both ejected for arguing with home plate umpire Jair Fernandez after Pirela ended the bottom of the eighth by popping out to Caguas first sacker Ruben Gotay in foul territory.

Caribbean Series championship game

Tuesday, 6 February 2017

Caguas (PR) at Mexicali (MX)

7:00pm MST (0200 UTC)