Japan Spring Training

February 8th, 2010

If you’d like to follow the spring training in Japan you can go to http://yakyubaka.com/.  The most interesting thing is reading about the number of pitchers each pitcher throws in the bullpen.  For many of the pitchers, throwing 100 pitches in one bullpen session in one day is not unusual.  Throwing 100 pitches each day until you reach 700 pitches for a one week period is just getting your arm stretched out.  Yasuhiro Ichiba threw 240 pitches during a bullpen session.

There was also a pitching coach that was not too pleased that one of the position players stroked a homerun off a rookie pitcher in a practice game.  The logic is why would you try to hit homeruns at this point in the spring and ruin the confidence of a rookie pitcher.  There is a time and a place for the appropriate event.

There are also stories of infielders taking about 200 to 300 ground balls during an infield practice.  That’s got to wear out a fungo bat but explains why the Japanese are much more technically proficient than the United States team.  Although fielding 300 grounders without focusing on improving your mechanics and fielding 300 grounders just because you want to field 300 grounders are two distinct ways to practice.  The first will make you better and the second will just allow you to field a lot of grounders.  The Japanese sometimes are famous for doing the repetition with no concept for why they are doing the repetition.

The Orix Buffaloes also had a trajedy when one of their players, Hiroyuki Oze jumped out of his hotel room and fell to his death.  So Taguchi is planning on having his uniform in the dugout for each game and then dousing the uniform with beer after the seson.  The Orix Buffaloes are traditionally bad, so expecting a playoff appearance is optimistic.      

Korean Catcher Passes After Ten Year Coma

February 8th, 2010

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2916327 reports that Korean catcher Lim Soo-Hyuk finally passed away after being in a coma for ten years.  He had collapsed at second base soon after the 2000 season.  Reports are that lack of immediate care after his collapse resulted in brain damage because of lack of oxygen to the brain.  At the time the KBO did not have ambulances at the stadium.  Lim’s parents sued the Lotte Giants and KBO for 800 million won, but ultimately settled out of court for 330,000 million won.  The KBO now has medical personnel and ambulances at all KBO games.

Lim was being cared for by his parents for all these years, but suffered difficulty in breathing and passed after being taken to the hospital.  He had a seven year career in the KBO, hitting .266 with 47 homeruns.  http://koreabaseball.blogspot.com/ originally linked this story.   

Dominican Republic Wins Series del Caribe

February 7th, 2010

Despite the screw up myworld made pitting the DR versus Puerto Rico on the last game of the Series del Caribe, the Dominican Republic did beat Venezuela to win the Caribbean World Series.  Puerto Rico did their job by downing Mexico and since they were the only team to beat the Dominican Republic, they were hoping the last place hosts would do so as well to create a tie in the standings.  But Venezuela wasn’t talented enough or willing to do Puerto Rico any favors.

In the opener Puerto Rico did their job by blowing past Mexico 8-2.  Leadoff hitter Jose Feliciano banged out three hits which drove in two runs and Angel Sanchez joined the hit parade with three of his own to score two.  The big RBI man on offense was Armando Rios, who drove in three runs with two doubles.  Mexico threw their ace Pablo Ortega but he was not effective, giving up seven hits and three runs in just four innings.  He had his ups and downs in this series, finishing with an ERA of 4.00 after leading the Mexican Winter League regular season in ERAs and wins. 

So with the win by Puerto Rico the Dominican Republic couldn’t just sleepwalk through their last game.  However, they were fortunate that Venezuela looked like they were sleepwalking through the finals, committing five errors in the game.  Ramon Santiago was the leader on offense scoring three runs on two hits and a walk.  Dario Veras pitched the last inning to pick up the save, retiring the side in order.  In fact, the four relievers that the Dominican Republic trotted out there did not give up a hit in their four innings of work.  Only Joel Peralta put a man on base via the walk.

So congratulations to the Dominican Republic and the Escogido Leones for their championship.  Myworld will put out our all Caribbean team tomorrow.

Dom Rep and Puerto Rico to play for the Championship

February 6th, 2010

Tomorrow will be the final round robin games of the Series del Caribe and with the Dominican Republic’s win over Mexico and Puerto Rico’s win over Venezuela, it leaves Sunday’s game between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico meaningful.  Even though the Dominican Republic is 4-1, Puerto Rico has won their last three games to go 3-2 and a win would leave the two tied.  The Dominican Republic beat Puerto Rico in the opener 2-1.

Escogido had homeruns from Fernando Martinez, Juan Francisco and Kevin Barker to trounce Hermosillo 7-2 and knock them out of the playoffs.  For Martinez and Barker it was the second homerun each in the Series.  Juan Francisco finished the game with three RBIs.  Heath Phillips pitched seven strong innings to get the win, giving up only three hits and striking out seven.  Luis Garcia, who for the second year in a row led the Mexican winter league in homeruns, went deep for the first time for Mexico in the first inning to give them a 2-0 lead.  Phillips was able to shut down Mexico for the next six innings to allow the Dominican Republic to batter Walter Silva for six runs on eight hits in four plus innings.  Joel Peralta continues to have an awesome winter with an inning of scoreless work.

In the second game, Puerto Rico avenged their loss to Venezuela with a 7-1 trouncing.  The host team Venezuela’s only victory of the series so far has been the win over Puerto Rico.  Thier last two games were 3-2 losses to the Dominican Republic and Mexico, knocking them out of the playoffs in front of the home town crowd.  Danny Valencia and Jesus Feliciano each hit solo homeruns in the fifth inning to put Puerto Rico over the top.  Efrain Nieves and Juan Padilla (from Puerto Rico) pitched five innings of shutout relief to give Puerto Rico the victory.

So the Dominican Republic will play Puerto Rico for the championship tomorrow.  Last year the Series del Caribe was clinched on Saturday by Venezuela, making Sunday’s games meaningless.  This time there will be a championship to play for, but with Venezuela out of it, will the fans show up to watch.  Host Venezuela hopes to escape finishing at the bottom of the standings by beating Mexico.  

Nicaraguan Nailbiter

February 6th, 2010

Myworld felt a little guilty sipping a Tona at a baseball game in 80 degree weather as my neighbors on the East Coast snuggled in the blizzard of 2010.  When I left I joked that it would make me feel better that while I was in Managua that a huge snowstorm would hit the area.  My apologies for those on the east coast if that statement made the event come true.

The game was played in Managua at the Dennis Martinez stadium.  We parked in the “parking lot” that had room for just 20 or so cars.  As I found out later, there were only 200 or so people at the game, so a large parking lot may not be needed.  This was an amateur game played between Rivas and Boer.  The professional winter league had ended in late January with Leones winning the championship over Granada.  While the professional league only has four teams, the amateur league is filled with 14 teams, so there are quite a few more players.  Perhaps because this was the amateur season could explain the low attendance.  Parking was paid after the game concluded and it cost us 20 cordoba.  When you consider that 20 cordoba equals one dollar it was a bargain.  

There are really no concessions other than the vendors that walk the aisles and the families that have their stands in front of the bleachers.  The seating was comfortable with plenty of leg room, but then we paid 40 cordoba each for our tickets, or the equivalent of $2.  It appears that they had torn out a number of rows of seats, so that left plenty of leg room and lots of space for the vendors to pass.

The stadium is in a bit of disrepair.  The roof that covers the bleachers has many tiles missing and it is held up by rust and iron.  The scoreboard was automated, giving the runs, hits and errors, but don’t expect any video.  While there is an announcer, don’t expect to hear anything he says.  The person spinning the music over the loudspeakers sat with us in the stands, his turntable hooked to the speakers that hang over the back stop.  Don’t expect any foul balls as wire mesh envelops he stadium.  This is so the foul balls do not enter the stands.  Balls are precious in Nicaragua and when a group of kids tried to run onto the field during batting practice to take some balls the players ran after them.

The only food of any recognizable substance was some pizza that a couple women were selling.  Vending looked to be a family affair, with daughters and sons helping their mothers and grandfathers with selling whatever people were willing to buy.  I bought some peanut brittle from a girl that was selling sweets.  There were other vendors selling things like popcorn, chips, mango pork rinds and fruit baskets.  The most annoying vendors were the ones selling the noise makers because they had to blare on the horns every two minutes to grab your attention.  

Last night’s game ended in a pitcher’s duel with Boer winning 1-0.  Today’s game looked like it would do the same, except this time the Rivas pitcher appeared the more dominant.  He didn’t give up his first hit until the fifth inning.  Since the scoreboard did not have a lineup and he never batted, my eyes could only see the name Estrella on the uniform.  Or at least it looked like Estrella.  

Rivas scored the first run in the third inning when leadoff hitter Rodriguez stroked a double into the gap in left centerfield.  They made it 2-0 after a 2-out error in the sixth by Boer’s thirdbaseman made it 2-0.  Meanwhile, the Rivas pitcher Estrellas was cruising, striking out the side in the sixth in a game he finished with seven strikeouts.  In the eighth Boer finally got to him, a Vargas double scoring one run and a seeing eye single up the middle by Holman scoring another.  The crowd finally had a reason to get excited and there was a little more excitement in the stadium, with stamping of feet and clapping of hands and the blowing on the noise horns.  Of course, that could have been all the Tonas talking and the rally giving fans a reason to shout.

Boer had a good opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, but stranded runners on first and third.  Vargas hit a tough ground ball to short that was a bit in the hole, but the shortstop Lopez was able to make the play.  Rivas then allowed a botched play by leftfielder Hernandez, who allowed a 2-out single that bounced in front of him to skip by him.  Jimenez advanced to second on the error and then scored on a Corea single.  Hernandez came in the game late as a pinch hitter and struck out.  When it came his turn to bat next he was pinch hit for.  

Boer made a comeback in the bottom of the tenth with a walk and single putting the first two hitters on.  Holman tried to bunt, but it was pushed too hard to the third baseman, who threw to third where the shortstop was covering for the first out.  It was up to the Boer 3-4 hitters to do the job.  Castro hit a routine fly to right and McCray ground to third and the game ended with Rivas winning 3-2.  It was my first game in Nicaragua, but hopefully, it will not be my last.

There didn’t appear to be any major leaguers playing the game today.  The hitting was not impressive and it wasn’t the pitching that made them weak.  Except for Homan, all the hitters were righthanded.  Homan was a switchhitter.  The best player may have been the Rivas shortstop Lopez, who made a couple nice defensive plays and took the centerfielder deep in his last at bat.  He was intentionally walked in one at bat and hit by pitch in another so there were only two other at bats where he hit the ball, a bad hop single and a grounder to third, so it was difficult to measure his performance offensively.

Myworld will post pictures of the game and the stadium when we return, which will be the day before Valentines day.               

Camaguey Potters

February 6th, 2010

The La Habana Cowboys Yonder Martinez was voted pitcher of the week per http://www.baseballdecuba.com/EngnewsContainer.asp?id=2052.  He won two games during the week of January 26-31 with a 2.25 ERA.  This is the second time he has won pitcher of the week honors.

Yulieski Gourriel also won the player of the week honors for the second time this year.  He had an 18 for 25 week which is a .720 average.  Yulieski hit five doubles and five homeruns, driving in 13 runs with this production.  Yulieski is second in the Cuban League in homeruns with 26 and has driven in 89 runs.  Hot hitting Jose Abreu of Cienfuegos Elephants recently surpassed Gourriel in homeruns with 28.  Jose is second in hitting at .403.

The Cuban team of the week my world is highlighting is the other last place team, this one the Camaguey Potters in the Eastern League.  They are 31-42, but since starting the season with a big losing streak they are playing over .500 recently, with recent four and five game winning streaks.  Camaguey is known as the Tinajones city, which is the reason for the name Potters.  It has a larger population base than Havana but also consists of a larger land base.  It is located at the southern end of Cuba and has beaches on both coasts.  It borders the provinces of Las Tunas and Ciego de Avila.

Their baseball history is absent any winners, just like Metropolitanos.  Their top hitter from last year Leslie Anderson has recently defected and you may hear about him next year as teams line up to sign him once he is cleared by the Office of Foreign Assets Control to negotiate a contract.  There are no championships in the Potters history.

Best Hitter: Dayron Varona leads the team in hitting with a .330 average and has nine homeruns.  

Other Top Hitters: Dary Bartolome is the slugger of the team.  He leads the team in homeruns with 18 and is hitting .280.  His 63 RBIs also lead the team but his 66 strikeouts is more than any Cuban player in the league.  Marina Luis is your typical leadoff hitter with lots of speed.  Luis is batting .310 and his 54 runs scored leads the team.  His 32 stolen bases is more than any player in the Cuban League.  Yosvani Garcia only has 169 at bats, but he is hitting .325.  Alexander Ayala is another hitter worth mentioning with a .271 average and 15 homeruns, second on the team. 

Top Pitcher: Last place teams don’t need closers but the Potters have one of the best in Yormani Socarras who has 8 saves and a decent 2.41 ERA.  He would be leading the league in saves if his team put him in a position to protect more leads.

Other Top Pitchers:  The only pitchers that have decent numbers to brag about are young pitchers Yankiel Flores who has a 4.01 ERA and a 3-5 record.  His 76 whiffs place him in the top ten.  The second pitcher worth mentioning is Fidel Romero at 4.08 with a 3-6 record.  They have been the top two starters for the Potters.  Historically, Vicyohandri Odelin has been their best pitcher, but his 6.65 ERA has put his team out of many games.  Odelin was the pitcher on opening day that Alexei Bell introduced himself with two grand slams in the first inning.  If Odelin could approach last year’s numbers the Potters would not be in the basement.         

        

Victoria Aces win Claxton Shield

February 6th, 2010

The Victoria Aces swept the South Australia Bite to win the Claxton Shield.  Victoria won the first game 5-3, getting five innings of shutout relief from Matthew Blackmore.  Blackmore struck out four in those five innings and gave up only one hit.  Brad Harman went deep with a solo shot in the second inning for the Aces. 

Victoria also took the second game 7-4, scoring three runs in the ninth inning to complete the sweep.  James Beresford hit an RBI single to drive in the game winner and Matthew Lawman ripped a 2-run single to extend the lead.  Russell Spear came on to pitch the ninth and picked up his second save of the series.  Michael Collins had slugged a 3-run homer in the fifth to give Australia a 4-2 lead.

For Victoria it is their 17th Claxton Shield championship, tops amonth the Australian teams.  The Perth Heat won the award the last two years.  The last time South Australia won the Claxton was in 1980, but they are second in championships at 15.  You can read all about the Claxton Shield and baseball in Australia by going here: http://www.baseball.com.au/news.asp?Type=Summary.

      

Valencia Leads PR to Win Over Dom Rep

February 5th, 2010

Puerto Rico sent the Dominican Republic down to defeat for the first time 7-3 with Danny Valencia leading the way with three RBIs.  Two three run outbursts by Puerto Rico proved to be the Leones undoing.  In the opening frame Raul Casanova hit an RBI doulbe and Danny Valencia a 2-run double to put the Indios up to a quick 3-0 lead.  Danny Valencia drove in his third RBI of the game with a single in the 3-run sixth to ice the game for Puerto Rico.  Orlando Roman pitched two plus innings of perfect baseball to pick up the win, not allowing a hit or walking a batter.

Venezuela chose to walk Karim Garcia intentionally with a base open to face Vinny Castilla.  Vinny made them pay with a game winning single to give Mexico win number two over Venezuela who is 1-3.  Karim had homered in the sixth inning to tie the game at 2-2 so you can’t blame Venezuela for not pitching to him.  Juan Delgadillo tossed eight innings of two run ball for Mexico, but it was Mario Mendoza that got the win based on his one plus shutout innings.  Michael Ryan went deep in the second inning in a losing cause for Venezuela.          

Nicaraguan Winter League

February 4th, 2010

Myworld is pretty fortunate to be working with the woman that acted as an intrepeter for Cal Ripken when he was down in Nicaragua last year.  She is not really a baseball fan, but she has nothing but high praise for Cal.  She was impressed with his patience with the kids as they tried to learn the finer points of the game. 

Myworld arrived a little late after the winter league professional season ended.  The season runs from October 23 to January 10.  Now the season that is just getting started is the amateur leagues.  Some of the players who have played in the Nicaraguan professional league include Ferguson Jenkins, Jim Kaat, Bert Campaneris, Mike Cuellar and Marvolous Marv Throneberry.  To help spice up the Series del Caribe there has been some discussion to add Nicaragua to the series.  The stumbling block with that is the high entrance fee that Nicaragua can’t afford and the sixth team you would have to add, which would ideally be Cuba or find a United States representative.   

Last year there was no winter league season because of financial problems with two of the teams in the league, Chinandega and Masaya unable to put together a team.  This year, the LNBP returned Boer de Managua, Tigres de Chinandega and Leones de Leon.  Orientales de Granada replaced Masaya and finished in second place to Leones when the season ended.  Leones won the championship in five games, four games to one. 

Myworld hopes to get in an amateur game this weekend.  Today we went to the Masaya volcano.  When myworld gets back from our Nicaraguan trip pictures will get posted.  While we didn’t have this type of excitement, a video of Masaya erupting just last year is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaChWgbn18Y  The smell of the sulphur from the volcano is strong and it is impressive to look down the mouth of the volcano.  Unfortunately, it is always hazy with smoke so you can’t really see all the way down.  

  

Escogido Rallies to Remain Undefeated

February 4th, 2010

The Dominican Republic (Escogido) rallied for three runs in the sixth and seventh innings to nip Venezuela 3-2.  Trailing 2-0 Ramon Santiago punched an RBI single in the sixth and seventh innings to prove the difference.  Freddy Guzman stole three bases, including home to score what proved to be the winning run.  Oscar Salazar hit a 2-run homer in the third inning to put Venezuela up 2-0.  Dominican Republic is now undefeated with all three other teams holding up the basement at 1-2. 

Despite making four errors Puerto Rico won their first game in the Series del Caribe contest for 2010 by defeating Mexico 5-3.  Puerto Rico erupted for three in the first, two scoring on a Randy Ruiz single.   Michael Hernandez went deep in the sixth with a 2-run shot to seal the victory.  Bill Pulsipher got the start and the win for Puerto Rico while new Met Travis Blackley took the loss for Mexico.  Travis gave up nine hits in less than five innings. 

The first three hitters in the Puerto Rico lineup, Jesus Feliciano, Luis Figueroa and Miguel Abreu, scored three runs and finished the day 7 for 12.  Saul Rivera was called on in the ninth and despite giving up one run was able to pick up the save.  Vinny Castilla came up as the tying run to the plate and lined out to second to end the game.  Both Puerto Rico and Mexico are 1-2 in the round robin play.