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07/27/2004 Archived Entry: "Mexican League News : Champioship Series Review / End of an Era"

By Carlos Fragoso

Campeche´s win last night not only put them into the championship series, but ended an era of exclusivity for final series between Red Devils and Tigers who both played last 5 years finals, making the Devils winning 3 of them, including last two years in arow.
Now Pirates will pay Saltillo and making an analysis postion by position, advantage is for Saltillo

Managers:

Both Manager have won two championships, Drerk Bryant the Saltillo skipper, led Montereye Sultans to two pennants in 1995 and 1996, in the other side Paquin Estrada, won with Campeche it´s only championship as of today, and with Leon Braves in 1990, but Estrada a fiery competitor, and possesing the magic stick, have won three Caribbean Series against major leaguer plagued teams, advantage is for Estrada.

Catchers:

Noe Muñoz ,Saltillo is well more experienced that Campeche´s catchers Emmanuel Valdez and Hector Paez, plus he is mor solid hiiter, as shown in his BA . 0.391 Led not only his team but all the mexican players.Advantage for Saltillo

First Baseman:

Lance Burkhart ( .365, 24 HR ,91 RBI´s) is by far better than Willie Otañez. in spite of the fact that he had a good season ( .387) but played only in 37 games, Burhart is consistent and dangerous with men in scoring position,Advantage for Saltillo.

Second Baseman:

Vicente Verdugo a veteran second baseman for Saltillo hit well, but Sergio Guerrero not only hit well during the season, hit better in the post season, hitting clutch HR´s and driving in key runs, so the momentum is in his side.Advantage Campeche

Short Stop:

Both SS, Campeche´s Oscar Ramirez once a Mariners prospect, and Nick Garcia, also former Orioles prospect, hit pretty much the same average .278 vs .285, so I do not consider advantage to anyone, moreover they both deserves to be given a chance to return to USA minor leagues.

Third Baseman:

Roberto Mejia, a Campeche 3B, hit .319 in the season, his major league experience , his consistency is in this moment,better than Saltillo 3B Manuel Velez, who saw a little playing time because an injury who sidelined him for a while,so he is not 100% recovered; otherwise the analysis should it be the opposite.Advantage for Campeche.

Outfield:

My vote goes for Saltillo outfield with Jayson Bass, Christian Presichi and veteran Ricardo Saenz, whoplayed the whole season consistenly hitting over .300, versus Ruben Rivera,Ramon Valdez and newly added Emil Brown, who played in 29 games only, but extarordinary, he coul make the difference, but statistically wise the advantage is for Saltillo.

Starting Rotation:

Campeche has Francisco Campos the pitching triple champ, as their best in the rotatiom, also red hot Danny McGee, who went 5-0 in the post season, and Javier de la Hoya the winning pitcher in the clinched game against Devils, Narciso Elvira is injured and not likely to participate in this series,but they all are so tired , they had battled to beat Mexico City, and even Campos relieved in yesterdays game, and Saltillo has been resting for almost a week.
For Saltillo, Steve Bourgeois is reliable starters so Pascual Coco does, team wise the pitching performance was pretty much about the same,because both teams had an ERA of 4.06 and 4.52, having Saltillo better W-L record than Campeche, so, my vote goes for Saltillo,

Relief Pitchers:

Saltillo with Hipolito Pichardo as closer forCampeche, had 20 saves, while Isidro "Sid" Marquez got 21 for Campeche, but Saltillo has a more reliables set up pitchers than Campeche.
No Advantage

Predictions:

Saltillo over Campeche in 7 games to finally stopped the final series jinx that have lasted more tha 30 years.


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