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02/14/2008 Archived Entry: "WORLD BASEBALL TODAY: Vol. 2, No. 6"
Sunday, February 10,2008
by Bruce Baskin
Radio Miami International
CARIBBEAN SERIES FINAL
LICEY WINS TENTH CARIBBEAN TITLE
After reaching the 2008 Caribbean Series as the Dominican Republic’s “second” team, the Licey Tigres won five of six games to nab their record tenth championship in Latin baseball’s showcase event. The Tigres capped their title by drubbing the Dominican regular season and playoff champion Cibaenas Aguilas 8-2 Thursday night at Santiago’s Estadio Cibao. Licey broke a 2-2 game wide open with four runs in the bottom of the fourth as Juan Francisco drove in two runners with a single to provide the key stroke.
Licey pitcher Ramon Ortiz was picked as the tournament’s Most Valuable Player after winning twice and tossing 11.2 shutout innings as the Tigres won their first Caribbean Series trophy since 2004. Under ordinary circumstances, Licey would not have even played in the CS, but the withdrawal of the Puerto Rican League from competition this winter necessitated the host Dominican Republic to provide two teams and even the field at four teams.
AGUILAS FAIL TO DEFEND TITLE, FINISH SECOND
Cibaenas lost both of their games to Licey and took another loss against Venezeula’a Aragua Tigres to finish as runners-up in the Caribbean Series with a 3-3 record. They beat Aragua once and the Obregon Yaquis twice, but were unable to defend their 2007 tournament championship.
Tony Pena, Jr. led the Aguilas with a .429 average, while fellow infielder Rafael Furcal stroked an even .400. Former American League MVP Miguel Tejada rocked two homers for Cibaenas, but ended up with just five hits in 24 at-bats to finish the CS at .208. Among pitchers, Francisco Cruceta won one game in three relief appearances with a 1.69 ERA while Arnie Munoz earned two saves in three games and 3.1 shutout frames.
YAQUIS FINISH STRONG TO TIE FOR THIRD PLACE
The Obregon Yaquis started off on a bad foot, losing their first four Caribbean Series games, but came back with two impressive wins to end up at 2-4. The Yaquis were the only team to beat Licey, topping the Tigres 7-4 on Wednesday as veteran Robert Saucedo crushed two homers for the Yaquis, including a game-winning three-run blast in the tenth inning. One night later, Obregon wrapped up their first-ever appearance in the CS with a 7-5 win over Aragua when Reggie Taylor highlighted a five-inning ninth for the Yaquis with a two-run triple.
Yaquis outfielder Albino Contreras was the leading batter among all four teams with a .563 average over five games. Nelson Figueroa won Thursday’s game in relief for the Mexican Pacific League champions to finish with a 1-0 record and an 0.82 ERA in 11 innings pitched.
NUNEZ COLLECTS HITS, BUT ARAGUA STRUGGLES TO THIRD PLACE TIE
Third baseman Alex Nunez batted .462 with a .588 on-base percentage, but he had little help as Venezuela’s Aragua Tigres stumbled to a 2-4 record. The Tigres lost their first two games to Licey and Cibaenas and never recovered. They did eventually top the Aguilas and Obregon, but they were never a factor in the tournament.
Although Nunez finished with six hits and four walks in 17 plate appearances, he neither scored nor drove in a run. Giovanni Carrara tossed five shutout innings for a win in his only start, but for the most part the Aragua pitchers were not effective. In a Caribbean Series noted for players who were not allowed by their major league teams to participate, the Venezuelan champions were the hardest-hit team, with only one major leaguer on the roster.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL NEWS
CLEMENS LOBBIES CONGRESS PRIOR TO STEROID HEARING
Pitcher Roger Clemens paid a visit Thursday to members of the congressional committee that will be asking him questions about his involvement in steroids in an upcoming hearing. Clemens went office-to-office to talk with members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, before whom the 45-year-old hurler will testify on February 13. Dressed casually, Clemens said little to reporters in Washington other than “It was a great day…got a lot of walking in.” His lawyer said Clemens was not “proselytizing” committee members, but letting them know personally that he didn’t use steroids or human growth hormones. Democratic committee member Elijah Cummings of Maryland reportedly told Clemens he wasn’t interested in listening because of his concern over young athletes taking performance-enhancing drugs in emulation of pro baseball players.
Ironically, on the same day of his “walk,” Clemens’ former trainer, Brian McNamee, was making a sworn deposition to committee lawyers, also in the Rayburn Building. McNamee previously told former senator George Mitchell’s investigators that he personally injected Clemens with drugs between 1998 and 2001.
IT MUST BE THE OLIVES: NEW YANKEE STADIUM TO COST $1.3 BILLION
Too bad the average New York Yankees fan won’t be able to afford to enter the martini bar at the new Yankee Stadium, because they’ll wish they could down a stiff one when they learn the new ballpark is now projected to cost $1.3 billion. Some fans may not have enough money left after buying a ticket to a Yankees game.
No question the stadium will be luxury-laden, with 51 luxury suites, eight party suites, a members-only restaurant, and the aforementioned martini bar. For fans in the 53,000-seat ballpark sitting too far away to actually see the game, they can come close by gazing at a 58-by-103-foot center field TV screen. Yankees chief operating officer Leon Trost told reporters, “We tried to reflect a five-star hotel and put a ballfield in the middle.” The stadium is expected to open in time for the 2009 season.
Meanwhile, on Long Island, the New York Mets are on budget for their own new ballpark. The 42,500-seat CitiField will cost just $800 million prior to opening in 2009.
NOLAN RYAN NAMED PRESIDENT OF TEXAS RANGERS
The good news for the Texas Rangers is that they’ve added one of the greatest pitchers ever to their team. The bad news is that he won’t throw a pitch for them.
Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, who retired as a Ranger in 1993, is rejoining his old team as president. The Rangers have not made the playoffs since 1999, and have longstanding pitching woes Ryan will have to address from an office, not a mound. The 61-year-old replaces Jeff Cogen, who left for a similar position with hockey’s Dallas Stars. Both teams are owned by Tom Hicks.
Ryan tossed a record seven no-hitters and struck out 5,714 batters over his career. He takes over a team that finished 12 games under .500 last year with a 75-87 record after spending the past four years working as a special assistant for the Houston Astros. He is a principal owner of two minor league teams, Round Rock of the Class AAA Pacific Coast League and Corpus Christi of the Class AA Texas League.
ASIAN BASEBALL UPDATE
POWELL TO PITCH FOR HAWKS…AFTER SUSPENSION
Japan’s Pacific League has ruled pitcher Jeremy Powell may play for the Softbank Hawks, but only after serving a three-month suspension for signing a contract with two teams for 2008. Powell apparently agreed to deals with both the Hawks and Orix Buffaloes for the coming season, which is a no-no in baseball.
The league issued a resolution urging Softbank to leave Powell off their active roster until June 22. The regular season opens March 20. The 31-year-old right-hander was scheduled to meet with Hawks manager Sadaharu Oh last Friday at the team’s camp in Miyazaki before returning to the United States one day later.
Softbank has petitioned the league to shorten Powell’s suspension, which drew an incredulous reaction from Orix official Katsuhiro Nakamura, who said, “No matter how you look at it, this is outrageous. Talk about jumping the gun!” Orix is appealing the league decision awarding Powell to the Hawks. Powell claims he only signed the deal with the Buffaloes because he was told it would only be used for visa and residency purposes.
Powell has a 67-59 record with a 3.89 ERA in his Japanese career, and led the Pacific League with 17 wins for Kintetsu in 2002. However, a knee injury held him to just seven starts for last season for the Yomiuri Giants, for whom he went 0-2.
HEAD COACH SIGNS TWO-YEAR DEAL WITH NEW KBO FRANCHISE
Although there is considerable confusion over the Korea Baseball Organization’s franchise owned by Seattle-based Centennial Investments, including who will actually pay the bills, the former Hyundai Unicorns have named a new head coach for 2008.
Former LG Twins coach Gwang-hwan Lee was appointed head coach of the team after signing a two-year contract for 300 million won. Lee will get a 100 million won signing bonus plus another 100 million won a year for 2008 and 2009. He had been serving as the KBO’s education committee chairman after his previous stint with the Twins. The 60-year-old Lee began coaching in 1989 with the OB Bears.
Now there’s the small matter of which Centennial Investment partner will actually pay the cost of sponsoring the ex-Unicorns to the tune of a 12 billion won entry fee and 9 billion won per year for operating expenses. After a number of announcements from Centennial stating the new sponsors would be named shortly proved abortive, the team finally issued a statement that a “memorandum of understanding” has been signed with a company on good conditions, but nothing more. The sponsor is reportedly an IT financial firm from Hong Kong, but that had not been confirmed by Friday morning.
TAIWANESE TEAM SOLD TO CELL PHONE MANUFACTURER
The Macoto Cobras of the Chinese Professional Baseball League have been sold to a new owner. The Cobras were sold last week to the dMedia System Company. dMedia is based in Taipei, and manufactures mobile phones.
League commissioner Chao Shou-po gave the news at a press conference after negotiations to finalize the deal had dragged on for months. Chao said the CPBL was “happy with the new owners, because they have met all the requirements to operate a professional baseball franchise” in Taiwan.
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