The Dominicans win

The Caribbean Series All-Tournament Team was plastered with players from the top two teams: the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico, the country that had been the ugly duckling in the Caribbean Series’ history, won four games in a row to finish in second. Manager Max Oliveras, who was named the top manager, felt that the 2010 team was “able to clean up the image of Puerto Rico…” Oliveras also said that “when we lost out first two games here, I reminded the team that we had to be on a mission. Puerto Rico has had a hard time, and it’s more than wins and losses for us.” Mexico and Venezuela received just one player each on the All-Tournament Team. I would have liked to have seen Mexico’s centerfielder Chris Roberson on the list because he not only hit (.333), he played great defense, but the outfield was crowded with top hitting stars.

All-Tournament Team

1B: Kevin Barker (DR)

2B: Pablo Ozuna (DR)

3B: Vinny Castilla (Mexico)

SS: Angel Sanchez (Puerto Rico)

LF: Fernando Martinez (DR) *MVP

CF: Jesus Feliciano (Puerto Rico)

RF: Armando Rios (Puerto Rico)

C: Edwards Guzman (Puerto Rico)

DH: Raul Padron (Venezuela)

LHP: Raul Valdes (DR)

RHP: Nelson Figueroa (DR)

LRP: Efrain Nieves (Puerto Rico)

RRP: Pete Parise (Puerto Rico)

The Dominican Republic manager Ken Oberkfell, who will manage the NY Mets Triple-A Buffalo affiliate in 2010, took the Dominican job because he felt it would help him become a big league manager but the experience was more rewarding. “This was a lot of fun,” Oberkfell said. “It’s been a great experience, because I really didn’t realize how passionate the fans are about the game of baseball. It was an honor to do this, and I’m happy to be able to bring a championship to the Dominican.”

The winter league playoffs and Caribbean Series used to be a time when the Major League stars would return to represent their country. It was good for the fans and the series because of the excitement those players brought. It had to be tough on teams to not only pay top dollar for these players but teams lost chemistry as players who helped get the teams to the series were replaced for the stars.

Now however, the star players are electing to enjoy their offseason in relaxation or are being advised by their MLB clubs to not play. Each team in the Caribbean Series had MLB players removed from their rosters because the big league clubs did not want their players to play (like the Dominican’s pitcher Francisco Liriano and Venezuela’s shortstop Elvis Andrus).

Fernando Martinez hoists the MVP trophy

So now the Caribbean Series is relying on a youth movement mixed with the usual veterans. Just take a look at the tournament MVP. Leftfielder Fernando Martinez (Dominican Republic) took the award and he is the NY Mets top prospect. If he excels in the majors like he is expected, it will be hard to imagine the Mets allowing him to play in the Caribbean Series (or winter ball) in a few years.

Patriotism remains the major reason for playing in the Caribbean Series but top players are being asked to make the difficult choice between country, money, and their Major League team. Right now though, the young stars’ focus has been on the Caribbean Series and representing their country. Caribbean Confederation commissioner Juan Francisco Puello stated that “this is the future of baseball, the future of the Caribbean”. Youth has been served.

So the Caribbean Series will be dotted with 20-year old pitchers like Puerto Rican lefty Efrain Nieves and Venezuelan lefty Gabriel Garcia (both of whom shined in this series). Other young prospects like Puerto Rico’s reliever Pete Parise (Cardinals), Dominican third baseman Juan Francisco (Reds), Puerto Rican centerfielder Jesus Feliciano (Mets), Puerto Rican third baseman Danny Valencia (Twins), Venezuelan starter Jose Ortegano (Braves), Puerto Rican starter Mario Santiago (Royals), and Martinez are taking advantage of playing in the series.

“I’m just really happy I was able to participate here,” Martinez, 21, said. “To bring the trophy back to my country is unbelievable.” “This is very emotional,” Martinez said. “To be able to contribute to the Dominican Republic team is something you dream about as a child.” “We won as a team,” he said. “That’s the most important part of this experience. We did it together.”

Tags:

Caribbean Series, Dominican Republic, Efrain Nieves, Fernando Martinez, Gabriel Garcia, Jesus Feliciano, Ken Oberkfell, Max Oliveras, Mexico, NY Mets, Pete Parise, Puerto Rico, Venezuela

Puerto Rico and Mexico matched up on Day 6 with both teams throwing their Day 1 starters: Mario Santiago (Royals) from Puerto Rico versus Pablo Ortega from Mexico. Both pitchers went quickly through the first inning, but Ortega got into trouble in the second, not that his team’s defense helped.

Luis Figueroa is congratulated by teammates after scoring

Catcher Edwards Guzman singled to right field with shortstop Angel Sanchez on first. Sanchez went to third on the hit but Mexican rightfielder Karim Garcia misplayed the ball (i.e. ran by the ball) and Sanchez scored with Guzman going to third. Leftfielder Miguel Abreu (Orioles) followed with an RBI hit to right field but Garcia did not cut off the ball and it rolled all the way to the wall. Abreu went to third and centerfielder Jesus Feliciano (Mets) followed with an RBI single. All-in-all, Puerto Rico scored three runs on four hits in the inning.

Neither starter was as good as their first outings in the Caribbean Series. Ortega went just four innings allowing the three runs on seven hits. Santiago gave up a two-run bomb into the left field bleachers to Mexico’s shortstop Luis Cruz (Brewers) in the fourth inning. Santiago went just five innings allowing four hits and two runs (though none were earned because Sanchez made yet another error before Cruz hit his homerun) while striking out three.

The Puerto Rican offense (which had been the best after the first two games) went to work against the Mexican bullpen. In the fifth inning off of Hector Rodriguez, rightfielder Armando Rios delivered an RBI double, followed by an RBI single from Randy Ruiz (Blue Jays). In the sixth inning off of usually reliable reliever Mario Mendoza, Feliciano delivered an RBI single and Rios ripped a two-run double. The scoring increased the Puerto Rican lead to 8-2 and with the dominant relief work of Pete Parise (2 IP), Bill Simas, and Saul Rivera (Indians), Puerto Rico improved to 4-2. Their win meant that the Dominican Republic would need to beat Venezuela at night to avoid a championship tie-breaker on Monday.

The Dominican Republic sent their Day 1 starter, Raul Valdes, to the mound against Venezuela. Venezuela on the other hand sent Ramon Ramirez (Red Sox) to the mound even though he struggled in winter ball and had yet to pitch in the series. The lineup for Venezuela was also different as quite a few bench players were starting (like Venezuela was throwing up the white flag). Ramirez struck out the side in the top of the first but he also allowed four runs on three hits, two walks, a wild pitch, and a run-scoring balk. His defense also committed two throwing errors that led to runs in the inning.

The Dominicans celebrate

That first inning was all for Ramirez and in came Eric Junge. Junge pitched five solid innings for Venezuela to try and keep them in the game, though he tired and gave up two runs. Rightfielder Cesar Quintero, playing in his first game, blasted a three-run homerun in the bottom of the fifth inning to cut the Dominicans lead to 6-4. Unfortunately for Venezuela, that was all they could muster against Valdes (5IP, 3H, 4R, 2BB, 5K) and the Dominican Republic bullpen of Juan Perez, Joel Peralta, Julio Manon, and Dario Veras combined to shutout the Venezuelans in the final four innings.

After the final out, the Dominicans celebrated their 18^th Caribbean Series title by taking a victory lap, waving Dominican flags throughout their run. Next year, the series will move to Puerto Rico where the Dominican Republic will try to defend their title.

Tags:

Angel Sanchez, Armando Rios, Caribbean Series, Dominican Republic, Edwards Guzman, Jesus Feliciano, Karim Garcia, Luis Cruz, Mario Santiago, Mexico, Pablo Ortega, Puerto Rico, Ramon Ramirez, Raul Valdes, Venezuela

Fernando Martinez from the Dominican Republic & Jesus Feliciano from Puerto Rico

Day 5 posed intriguing matchups. If Mexico were to beat the Dominican Republic, they would be tied for the top spot. The rematch started off promising for Mexico as they collected two hits in the first inning off of Dominican starter Heath Phillips. The big hit came from first baseman Luis Garcia, who hit a two-run homerun to give Mexico an early 2-0 lead. In the bottom of the first, the Dominican Republic got a two-run homer of their own, courtesy of Kevin Barker. Barker’s blast was crushed off Mexican starter Walter Silva.

Unfortunately for Mexico, Phillips settled in after the first inning. He gave up just one more hit and finished his outing retiring 13 in a row. Phillips struck out seven in his seven innings of work.

Silva on the other hand, never found a rhythm. In the third inning, Juan Francisco (Reds) delivered a sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the fourth inning, left fielder Fernando Martinez (Mets) blasted a solo homerun. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Francisco hit a fly ball that just carried out of the ballpark for a two-run homerun. Silva gave up eight hits and six runs in just 4.1 innings.

Relievers Joel Peralta and Julio Manon (who earned the save) combined to deliver the Dominicans a 7-2 win. The Dominican Republic improved to 4-1 while Mexico dropped to 2-3.

The night game pitted two American pitchers against each other for their respective teams. Puerto Rico, who started out 0-2, was looking to win three in a row and keep pace with the Dominican Republic. They sent Brodie Downs (Mariners) to the mound against Venezuela’s Heath Totten. It was a pitcher’s duel early on, but Puerto Rico broke through against Totten in the third inning. Puerto Rico strung together three straight two-out hits capped by Luis Figueroa’s RBI single.

Danny Valencia celebrates his HR

In the top of the fifth inning, third baseman Danny Valencia (Twins) blasted a solo homerun off the left field foul pole. After an error by shortstop Marwin Gonzalez put runners at first and third, Puerto Rico’s leftfielder Miguel Abreu (Orioles) grounded into a double play but a run scored. Centerfielder Jesus Feliciano (Mets) followed with a solo homerun. All-in-all, Totten gave up four runs (two earned) on six hits in just 4.2 innings.

Through four innings, Downs had yet to give up a hit. In the fifth, catcher Jose Lobaton collected Venezuela’s first hit (and his first hit in the series). That ended Downs’ evening as he walked four and hit two batters in four plus innings. Efrain Nieves (Brewers) came in and gave up just a sacrifice fly to second baseman Luis Maza (Phillies) to make the score 4-1. Nieves went 2.2 innings in relief without allowing a run while striking out three. Puerto Rico broke the game open against Venezuelan relievers Rayner Oliveros and Gabriel Garcia in the sixth. Shortstop Angel Sanchez and catcher Edwards Guzman collected RBI singles and Feliciano delivered an RBI fielder’s choice.

Nieves earned the 7-1 win in relief to help Puerto Rico improve to 3-2. Totten took the loss as host Venezuela dropped to 1-4. Now Day 6’s games are meaningful. Puerto Rico will go against Mexico in the afternoon. If Puerto Rico wins, that forces a must win game for the Dominican Republic at night against Venezuela. If Venezuela plays spoiler, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic will play Monday for the Caribbean Series championship.

Tags:

Brodi Downs, Caribbean Series, Danny Valencia, Dominican Republic, Efrain Nieves, Fernando Martinez, Heath Phillips, Heath Totten, Jesus Feliciano, Juan Francisco, Kevin Barker, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Walter Silva

Danny Valencia with Double-A New Britain

Day 4 was a rematch of the Day 1 matchups. Puerto Rico faced off against the Dominican Republic. Puerto Rico’s Andrew Baldwin (Mariners), who had only gone six innings once in winter ball, went up against Dominican long reliever Felix Diaz.  In the first inning, Puerto Rico jumped all over Diaz as they did the day before against Travis Blackley of Mexico. DH Raul Casanova ripped a ground-rule double and drove in a run and third baseman Danny Valencia (Twins) drove in two more with a double. Valencia finished the game with 3 RBIs and a run scored. Diaz settled in to just give up those three runs in four innings on just three hits. Baldwin went 4.2 innings allowing an earned run on four hits, though he did walk four. Puerto Rico’s defense failed him (it has been shoddy during the whole series) as the first run he allowed was unearned.

Unfortunately for Diaz and the Dominican Republic, the bullpen failed to keep the game close as Puerto Rico won 7-3 to hand the Dominicans their first loss. Puerto Rico scored three more runs in the sixth inning to break the game open. The win for Puerto Rico gives them hope that they can win the Caribbean Series as they evened their record to 2-2.

In the Mexico versus Venezuela rematch, both teams received great pitching. For Mexico, Juan Delgadillo struggled a bit early on. In the top of the second inning, leftfielder Michael Ryan (who was only 2-for-13 so far in the series) blasted a solo homerun. In the top of the third inning, centerfielder Erold Andrus (Rays) hit a double and second baseman Luis Maza (Phillies) followed with an infield single. Third baseman Oscar Salazar (Padres) ripped an RBI single to give Venezuela a 2-0 lead. In the top of the fourth inning with a runner on, Rene Reyes ripped a shot to dead center. However centerfielder Chris Roberson made an over-the-shoulder catch at the wall to add to his Caribbean Series defensive highlight reel (maybe someone should sign him?). After that Delgadillo seemed to settle in and cruised through the Venezuela lineup. Delgadillo went eight innings allowing just the two runs on six hits while striking out three.

For Venezuela, Jose Sanchez was cruising along until the fourth inning. Roberson blooped a hit to left field but hustled in to second base after Ryan made a weak throw into the infield. Veteran rightfielder Karim Garcia, making his first Caribbean Series appearance, bunted for a base hit. First baseman Luis Garcia followed two batters later with an RBI groundout. In the sixth inning, Karim Garcia blasted a solo homerun. Sanchez lasted six innings allowing two runs on five hits while striking out eight.

Vinny Castillo celebrates

Against the Venezuelan bullpen, Mexico loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth inning, but catcher Saul Soto grounded to first and Venezuela’s Raul Padron (in his first game at first base) turned an inning-ending double play (3-2-3). Mexico’s Mario Mendoza had another great relief appearance. In the bottom of the tenth inning, Roberson sacrificed Heber Gomez over to second base. After an intentional walk to Karim Garcia, veteran Vinny Castilla ripped the first pitch he saw from Elio Serrano into the left-centerfield gap and off the wall for the game-winning hit. Mendoza got the 3-2 win and Mexico improved to 2-2 in the series. Host Venezuela dropped to last place with a 1-3 record. Mexico will face the Dominican Republic this afternoon with the chance to tie them for the top spot. Venezuela will face Puerto Rico tonight.

Tags:

Andrew Baldwin, Caribbean Series, Chris Roberson, Danny Valencia, Dominican Republic, Felix Diaz, Jose Sanchez, Juan Delgadillo, Karim Garcia, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Vinny Castilla

Puerto Rico greets Michael Hernandez after his HR

Day 3 began with the matchup of Mexico against Puerto Rico. Mexico was looking to keep pace with the Dominican Republic and win their second game and Puerto Rico was looking to avoid going 0-3. Puerto Rico sent 37-year old veteran Bill Pulsipher to the mound. Pulsipher relies on excellent location and changing speeds and those types of pitchers had succeeded so far in the Caribbean Series. Mexico sent minor league veteran Travis Blackley to the mound, who just signed with the NY Mets. The Aussie rarely throws two fastballs in a row and relies mainly on breaking pitches. However the breaking pitches were not working for Blackley early on.

The game began with a misplay in left field by Luis Cruz (he ran in and the ball was over his head) on a ball hit by Jesus Feliciano (Mets). After a hit by Luis Figueroa, leftfielder Miguel Abreu (Orioles) delivered an RBI double. First baseman Randy Ruiz (Blue Jays) followed with a two-run single. Blackley gave up five consecutive hits to start the game and was losing 3-0 before finally getting an out. It took 36 pitches for him to get through the first inning. The second inning started out the same for Blackley, but after allowing two straight hits, he found a groove and struck out Abreu and Ruiz to end the second inning. A 1-2-3 third inning followed for Blackley as he needed just 42 pitches to get through the 2-4 innings while he struck out four. Blackley’s troubles began again in the fifth as he allowed two straight hits, which ended his afternoon. Francisco Campos came on in relief and struck out both Ruiz and Edgardo Baez to end the threat.

Pulsipher on the other hand, was cruising along until the fourth inning when his defense failed him. With second and third and nobody out, Mexico’s Ruben Rivera hit a ground ball to short that was bobbled by Angel Sanchez. His throw to first appeared to be in time but Rivera was ruled safe and a run scored. After Pulsipher induced a double-play groundout, second baseman Figueroa committed an error on an inning-ending ground ball and another run scored. All-in-all, Puerto Rico committed three errors in the fourth to let Mexico cut the lead to 3-2. However in the sixth, DH Michael Hernandez ripped a two-run homerun off Campos in the sixth to give Puerto Rico a 5-2 lead. Despite giving up a run in the ninth, veteran Saul Rivera (Indians) completed the save after Pete Parise (Cardinals) dominated in his three innings of relief (allowing just 1 hit while striking out 4).

Venezuela fans

The night game pitted two heated rivals: the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. It was a battle of the young Venezuelan Atlanta Braves prospect (Jose Ortegano) against the veteran Dominican (Nerio Rodriguez). Ortegano was stellar as he carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning and he threw just 46 pitches through four innings. Rodriguez had his struggles as he threw a lot of pitches, but he only allowed third baseman Oscar Salazar’s two-run blast in the third inning.

In the sixth inning, Ortegano began to run out of gas. After a leadoff walk to Pablo Ozuna, centerfielder Freddy Guzman collected the Dominican’s first hit. Shortstop Ramon Santiago (Tigers) followed with an RBI single. That would be all for Ortegano and in came Edgar Estanga (Blue Jays), who with the bases-loaded got Fernando Martinez (Mets) to pop up and end the inning. This was the second time that the Dominican Republic had the bases-loaded and did not score. In the seventh inning, the Dominicans scored against reliever Darwin Cubillan to tie the game. With new reliever Edgar Alfonzo in, Guzman stole home with the go-ahead run. The pro-Venezuela crowd was in disbelief.

The Dominican Republic had another bases-loaded opportunity in the eighth, but Victor Mendez grounded into an inning-ending double play. Down by just one run in the ninth, the crowd got loud to get behind their Venezuelan’s, but Dominican closer Dario Veras set them down in order to earn the save.

The win improved the Dominicans record to 3-0 and dropped Venezuela to 1-2 and into a three-way tie with Mexico and Puerto Rico. With just three games left, the Caribbean Series appears to be again going to the Dominican Republic. Today Puerto Rico will go against the Dominican Republic in the afternoon and Mexico will face-off with Venezuela in the night game; both are rematches of Day 1.

Tags:

Bill Pulsipher, Caribbean Series, Dario Veras, Dominican Republic, Edgar Estanga, Freddy Guzman, Jose Ortegano, Mexico, Michael Hernandez, Miguel Abreu, Nerio Rodriguez, Oscar Salazar, Pete Parise, Puerto Rico, Ramon Santiago, Randy Ruiz, Saul Rivera, Travis Blackley, Venezuela