Cleveland Sports Forum

Volquez settles in, keeps Dutch at bay for five

By Lyle Spencer / MLB.com | 3/18/2013 11:30 P.M. ET

SAN FRANCISCO --

After a rocky start, Edinson Volquez settled in on Monday night and gave the Dominican Republic what it needed: five strong innings against the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the World Baseball Classic semifinals of the Championship Round.

Volquez, the Padres' sturdy right-hander, surrendered a first-inning run after walking the first two hitters he faced. After that, he was rock solid, limiting the Netherlands to a pair of singles and nothing more, striking out five hitters. Andruw Jones' two-out single in the fourth was the first hit allowed by Volquez.

By shutting down the Netherlands, Volquez was the pitcher of record when the Dominican Republic rallied with four runs to seize control in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Overcoming ragged starts is nothing new to the 29-year-old right-hander who was 11-11 for the Padres in 2012 in 32 outings. He walked the first three men he faced in the second round of the Classic against Italy, giving up four first-inning runs. But his team rallied to win, 5-4, after Volquez gained command and got into the fifth inning.

In a 2009 Classic start against the Netherlands, Volquez allowed three unearned first-inning runs in a 3-2 loss.

Volquez came to San Diego after the 2011 season in the swap that sent Mat Latos to Cincinnati. In 2007, Volquez had been shipped to the Reds by the Rangers in exchange for Josh Hamilton.

Meulens, Alou a Classic fit to deliver first pitch

By Manny Randhawa / Special to MLB.com | 3/18/2013 10:32 P.M. ET

SAN FRANCISCO --

Hensley Meulens is representing the Kingdom of the Netherlands as its manager in the World Baseball Classic, but that's not where his ties end when it comes to who's playing in this tournament and where it's being held.

Meulens estimated he's probably the only one at AT&T Park who is connected with both teams playing in Monday's semifinal as well as the team hosting it. His mother is from the Dominican Republic, born in Santiago, and has lived in Curacao for the past 50 years. He's managing the Dutch team, and he's the hitting coach of the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants.

"I don't think there's any other person in the stadium that can claim all three," he said with a smile.

Meulens threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game between the Netherlands and the Dominican Republic. He was joined by former Giant Felipe Alou, a native of the Dominican Republic who currently serves as a special assistant to Giants GM Brian Sabean.

Alou played in the Major Leagues from 1958-74, sharing several of those seasons with his brothers Jesus and Matty in the outfield for the Giants. He was a three-time All-Star and hit 206 home runs in his career. As a manager, he led the Montreal Expos from 1992-2001 and the Giants from 2003-06. He was the 1994 National League Manager of the Year.

Alou's son, Moises, a former All-Star outfielder in the Major Leagues himself, is the general manager of the Dominican Republic team in the World Baseball Classic.

Even though the bulk of Meulens' concentration was geared toward the game, he expressed gratitude for being asked to participate in the pregame ceremony.

"It's special, especially with Felipe there," Meulens said. "I played for Felipe in '97 in Montreal. He's been a great mentor since. He's a great mentor now as a special assistant to Brian Sabean. He gives us a lot of good information and we pick his brain all the time.

"But I have a lot of relatives in the Dominican Republic today cheering for the Dominican Republic, but also cheering for me as a cousin, as their family member. Of course in Curacao, Holland, Aruba, all over the Kingdom, people are just cheering for us to win this game. But they're very emotional about the Giants choosing me to throw out the first pitch today, and for me, as it's a very special moment as well."

Pena's passion for game rubs off on DR players

SAN FRANCISCO --

Much has been made during the World Baseball Classic of the celebrative ways of the Caribbean teams. If you wear the uniform of the Dominican Republic and Tony Pena is your manager, you're going to play with passion and have a good time. He insists on it.

"When you love what you're doing, you don't work," Pena said before Monday night's semifinal showdown with the Netherlands. "I'm not working. This is what I Iove. This is my passion.

"I don't have to work. This is my hobby, why I have so much fun every day. This is what I want from everybody around me. I am having fun. I want my players to have fun."

Robinson Cano, Pena's biggest star on a star-laden team, senses the meaning of it all.

"I'm a player, he's a coach," Cano said. "So it's a different point of view of the game. But we both have the same mission. It's big for us. You don't have tomorrow here, so you have to go out there and win it all.

"You have 10 million people in the Dominican Republic, but what about the rest of the world [of] Dominicans that are watching the game? This is for your country, that teaches you how to play the game.

"It's a chance that you're going to have every four years. It's not that you say, `OK, we [can] get it next year. You don't know if you're going to be here again. That's something that we want for our country."

LIVE: Santana ignites DR rally in semifinal clash

Carlos Santana doubled and scored the Dominicans' first run as they seek a trip to the title game

The Tragic Death of Yadier Pedroso – Cuban Baseball Loses One of Its Great Stars (and some of us lose a respected friend)

by Peter C. Bjarkman

March 17, 2013

On Saturday night in Artemisa – a small provincial capital to the west of Havana – the Cuban baseball community sadly lost one of its top stars of the past decade. Jovial and talented Artemisa right-handed pitcher Yadier Pedroso was killed when the car in which he was riding with two friends collided with a cargo truck at approximately 10:30 pm. Details are slim but it is known that all three occupants of the automobile perished; earliest reports do not specify who was actually driving the vehicle. The collision, which occurred at a crossroads known as Magna Central on the rural highway leading into the provincial capital of Artemisa, came only two days after the Cuban national team had returned home from the World Baseball Classic event in Japan. An ace starter with the Cuban League Artemisa Cazadores (“Hunters”) ball club, Pedroso’s oversized portrait is one of four that currently hang from the light towers in Artemisa’s picturesque 26 de Julio ballpark (the other three belonging to teammates and one-time fellow national team members Yulieski González, Jonder Martínez and Miguel Lahera). A veteran of eight-plus National Series seasons, Yadier Pedroso would have turned 27 in June of this year.

Cuban baseball boasts a rich and glorious history, but one of its less welcomed legacies is the ironic concurrence of devastating fatal automobile accidents that have cut short in mid-stream several of the island’s most lustrous post-revolution baseball careers. José Antonio Huelga might have been the greatest post-revolution pitcher ever had his life not been snuffed out after only seven league campaigns; Huelga’s demise occurred on July 4, 1974, on a highway near Mariel, a dozen miles west of Havana. José Huelga remains Cuba’s career ERA leader (1.50) and the league stadium in his hometown of Sancti Spíritus – ironically the site of next weekend’s schedule league All-Star Game – today bears his name. Hard-throwing left-hander Santiago “Changa” Mederos rang up league-record strikeout totals (since eclipsed by Maels Rodríguez) in both the 1969 and 1970 seasons; ten years later (December 15, 1979), at the outset of his fifteenth league outing, Mederos also perished in a spectacular auto crash along a desolate country roadway only miles outside the capital city. The long-time Sports City Havana ball park that served for league play until last season when the Havana Metros ball club was finally abandoned is today known as Changa Mederos Stadium. In December 2000, only weeks after the opening of a new league season, Camagüey outfielder Miguel Caldés was similarly killed in his home city by a wreck that also injured several of his Camagüey teammates. Caldés had been the 1995 league home run champion and also the starting right fielder on the 1996 gold medal team at the Atlanta Olympics. Long-time national team ace Norge Vera also saw his lengthy career terminated by a crash last year in Santiago, although Vera was fortunate to survive the incident. Now Pedroso’s name has been added to this list of inexplicable Cuban League highway tragedies.

Yadier Pedroso enjoyed a substantial if truncated Cuban League career, highlighted by an ERA championship in 2009, the same year his Habana Province team claimed its only National Series title. One of the several renowned starters on a now-defunct Habana Province Cowboys club that in the late 2000s featured five national team pitching stalwarts (Pedroso, Jonder Martínez, Yulieski González, Miguel Lahera and Angel García), Yadier flashed brilliance in both the 2009 and 2010 post-season playoffs, winning two playoff games both years and not allowing a single run over his 14 innings of work on the latter occasion. He also paced the circuit in strikeouts last season (2012) while laboring for tail-ender Artemisa (one of two new league teams established with the breakup of Habana Province); his 128 Ks over 129 innings actually left him tied with Odrisamer Despaigne (Industriales), but the latter hurler toiled in the playoffs and thus posted both more games and more innings than Pedroso. Yadier’s final career 878-353 strikeouts-to-walks ratio remains one of the best in the Cuban League over the past dozen or so seasons.

Pedroso’s international presence was also substantial over the past several summers. He was one of a handful of Cuban stars to appear on multiple World Baseball Classic teams, having debuted as a mere 19-year old in the inaugural 2006 Classic, on the heels of his stellar rookie National Series season with Habana Province. The previous fall, Yadier had worn the Cuban colors for the first time during the Gold Medal triumph at the 2005 IBAF World Cup staged in The Netherlands, winning his only decision. He also performed on the 2008 silver-medal winning Beijing Olympic team (one appearance and no decisions) and the 2009 and 2011 IBAF World Cup squads. For this year’s MLB Classic event in Japan Pedroso was a last-minute roster addition due to a shoulder injury that had plagued him in the early going of the current domestic season. He was used only sparing by manager Victor Mesa, first appearing in relief in the first-round 12-0 drubbing of China in the Fukuoka Yahoo Dome; he worked 1.1 innings in relief of starter Danny Betancourt, yielding a single hit and a single walk. A second outing during round two in Tokyo was less successful. During his final career appearance Yadier worked a shaky one-third of an inning, surrendering three hits, including a two-out two-run round-tripper by big leaguer Jonathan Schoop that was in the end the game-deciding base hit.

Pedroso was scheduled to return to action later this month for the second half of this year’s experimental split-form National Series season – wearing the unaccustomed uniform of the Sancti Spíritus Gallos. This year’s unique split season format will have only eight squads moving on to pennant race Stage 2. Those surviving clubs have already drafted stars from the eight eliminated squads to fill out their own rosters for the final segments of the championship chase. As the first-half league leader, Sancti Spíritus owned the final pick in last month’s nationally televised draft session, and manager Yovani Aragón was surprised to find Pedroso (the ace of last-place Artemisa) still available; the earliest picks had all featured star sluggers like Alfredo Despaigne, Alexei Bell, Joan Carlos Pedroso, William Luis Campillo, Yordan Mandulay and Ernesto Molinet. It seemed at the time of last month’s dispersal draft that the windfall selection of Yadier by the already pitching-rich Gallos was most likely enough to clinch this season’s championship banner for Sancti Spíritus. That scenario has now been severely altered.

There was much sadness spread across Cuba by a recent Monday night loss to the Dutch ball club – an on-field defeat that sabotaged a World Baseball Classic “dream” and thus robbed Team Cuba of a chance to play this weekend in San Francisco. But now the final days in Tokyo have forever taken on another far more deep and sad irony. Had this year’s WBC Cuban club managed to win that crucial final match it would have meant among other things that Yadier Pedroso and his teammates would have been safely lodged in San Francisco last night; Yadier would not have been on the highway outside Artemisa and such a promising young life would not have been snuffed out in its prime. Such are the mysterious twists and turns of the lives we all live. Once again we must all pause, and refocus, and remember that the loss last night in Artemisa was far greater and far more significant than that momentary defeat earlier in the week in Tokyo. Our prayers today can only be with Yadier, and with his family teammates. Baseball defeats sometimes linger but they eventually fade with the presence of inevitable new challenges on the field of play. But the loss suffered last night is one that will remain with some of us forever.

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Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico clash for title

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com | 3/19/2013 3:45 A.M. ET

SAN FRANCISCO --

There was Rocky III and Ali-Frazier III. Now it will be the Dominican Republic vs. Puerto Rico, act three, in this year's World Baseball Classic.

The D.R. and P.R. will meet in Tuesday's first all Latin Classic championship game at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on Tuesday at AT&T Park. The clash of the Caribbean neighbors is available in the U.S. on MLB Network and ESPN Deportes.

Giancarlo Alvarado is slated to start for Puerto Rico against Samuel Deduno for the Dominican Republic.

"There's always been a rivalry between the Dominican and Puerto Rico in everything," Moises Alou, the former Major Leaguer who is now the D.R.'s general manager, said after his club defeated The Kingdom of the Netherlands, 4-1, in the semifinals on Monday night. "In sports and a lot of other things. We're close to each other. I know this game is going to mean a lot to both countries tomorrow."

Puerto Rico is a U.S. Commonwealth and the Dominican shares an island with Haiti farther to the south. The two have been battling for bragging rights in the Caribbean World Series for ions and in this year's Classic, they met in the last game of each of the opening two brackets and the D.R. won both games.

At Hiram Bithorn Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico, the D.R. prevailed, 4-2, and this past Saturday at Marlins Stadium, the Dominicans came up with a 2-0 win. The Dominicans, on a 7-0 roll, could be the first team to go undefeated throughout the tournament if they win again on Tuesday. The P.R. is 5-3, having also lost to the U.S. in the second round.

Puerto Rico, though, is battle hardened. It won elimination games in the last week over Italy, the U.S. and two-time defending Classic champion Japan, which it defeated, 3-1, on Sunday in the other semifinal game.

"We take a lot of personal satisfaction as a team and as a people in what we've accomplished," Puerto Rico manager Edwin Rodriguez said. "When we get together, and I'm going to repeat this, the boys are very aware that this is not just a championship or just a sports game. We know what this means for the Puerto Rican people beyond the sports aspect and we're accomplishing that. You can feel that."

The two teams are stocked with Major Leaguers who have been playing with an uncommon amount of zeal and enthusiasm.

For the Dominican Republic, Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano was the Most Valuable Player in each of the first two rounds and almost unquestionably will be named MVP of the tournament. He's had a strong support system with Jose Reyes and Fernando Rodney. Reyes had an RBI single in the four-run, fifth inning on Monday that sunk the Dutch. Rodney recorded his sixth save of the tournament on his 36th birthday and was holding a bright green plantain afterward that he claimed is his lucky charm.

Puerto Rico has been buoyed by great performances from Angel Pagan, Yadier Molina, Alex Rios and Carlos Beltran. Cano said he wasn't surprised that P.R. defeated the Japanese and were in position to face the D.R. for the third time.

"I wasn't surprised at all," Cano said. "Both teams made it all the way to the semifinals because both have great talent and both did their jobs. As I always say, you don't want to go out there and take anything for granted. We don't think we're a favorite. We've got to go out there and perform. It's not about what the team looks like on paper."

It hasn't all been easy for the Dominicans. In the second round, they had to come back from a 4-0, first-inning deficit to defeat Italy, and against the U.S., they snapped a 1-1 tie in the top of the ninth against closer Craig Kimbrel to win, 3-1.

The games have been taut and close. Even in Monday's win over the Dutch, the D.R. trailed, 1-0, heading into the fifth inning when it scored four times during a rally that began with back-to-back, one-out doubles by Carlos Santana and Moises Sierra.

Now it's down to this one last game: D.R.-P.R. III.

"Whoever wins the Baseball Classic it's really going to belong to the Caribbean," D.R. manager Tony Pena said. "It could be Puerto Rico or the Dominican Republic, but it will belong to the Caribbean. And Puerto Rico has had a great Classic just like us. And that's been one of our goals -- to respect our opponents and prepare mentally and physically to play a good ballgame.

"Now tomorrow, the Classic will be decided. We'll see who wins."

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Undefeated Dominicans point way to final

A spirited four-run rally in the fifth pushed the Dominican Republic past the upstart Dutch and into the final

Dutch solidify presence on global stage

The Netherlands made a strong statement that Dutch baseball is truly an international success story

Dutch solidify baseball presence with wild ride

Kingdom bands together on worldwide journey to emerge as Classic force

By John Schlegel / MLB.com | 3/19/2013 2:36 A.M. ET

SAN FRANCISCO --

A journey practically around the world and to the very pinnacle of the World Baseball Classic finally ended for the Kingdom of the Netherlands on Monday night, but not before the Dutch helped spread the word that baseball is indeed an international game.

Actually, you could say the journey began in 2006, when the orange-and-black Dutchmen saw Shairon Martis deliver the only no-hitter in Classic history, grabbing the attention of baseball fans around the world. It continued in 2009, when the Dutch eliminated the Dominican Republic in pool play -- an upset the Dominicans avenged with their 4-1 victory in the 2013 semifinals Monday at AT&T Park.

This spring, the Kingdom of the Netherlands took it another step further, pushing their journey one step away from the championship game, a giant leap from what many might have perceived about the Dutch and America's -- er, the world's -- pastime only a few years earlier.

For Dutch manager Hensley Meulens, a strong statement was made despite the loss to the Dominicans, one that tells the world that Dutch baseball is truly an international success story.

"We have proved to people that we have arrived at this stage and we just are going to continue to get better," Meulens said.

Meulens, the first Major Leaguer to come from Curacao and now the hitting coach for the defending World Series champion Giants, says the unique mixture of amateur players from Holland and the professionals who hail from the Kingdom's islands make the Netherlands team a special and imposing international force for the future.

"I think that as a kingdom, we're probably one of the only countries that can choose from different islands and the mainland to put our team together, and we decided a long time ago that our strongest team is going to be picking guys from all these different countries and put them together, instead of just going with Curacao alone or Aruba alone or the Netherlands alone," he said. "That's why we got here, because we have the majority of our pitchers are Dutch guys, born and raised in Holland. We have a couple of pitchers that are born and raised in the islands, but we all have Dutch passports. We all are Dutch. And the only way to have the best team for us is to have a combination of all the islands and the mainland."

Roger Bernadina, the 28-year-old Nationals outfielder from Curacao who is among the handful of players with Major League experience on the Dutch roster, had to tip his cap to the pitching staff for carrying the team as far as it went, considering it has very little professional experience. Young lefty Diegomar Markwell, who pitched for Neptunus Rotterdam in 2012, stood up to the vaunted Dominican team into the fifth inning Monday night before allowing the game-winning rally.

"I've got to give our pitchers a lot of credit. The other teams didn't have a lot of information about us, and we did well to keep battling out there and didn't give up," Bernadina said.

That was pretty much how the Dutch went about their business in the World Baseball Classic -- again.

"With this group, the charisma was great, and things were working great in the tournament," Bernadina said. "This was the right moment for us. The game got away from us here, but a lot of people didn't expect us to get all the way here."

And what a ride to San Francisco it was, a bumpy one at times, a thrilling one throughout and, both literally and figuratively, a long, long one.

The players not affiliated with Major League clubs began this journey on Feb. 9 in Scottsdale, Ariz., and they were joined by their MLB teammates on Feb. 25. The Dutch then went to Taiwan for pool play, to Tokyo for group compeitition -- pulling another stunning upset in eliminating Cuba with a thrilling 7-6 walkoff victory. They then flew to Phoenix for exhibitions and finally to San Francisco for the semifinals.

From the start of the journey for the first arrivals, the Dutch have been on the road for 38 days, traveling 15,013 air miles -- and that's before those from the Netherlands take the long ride home. For a couple of them -- first baseman Curt Smith and catcher Dashenko Ricardo -- exposure in the tournament led to Minor League contracts, Smith with the Twins and Ricardo with the Dodgers. Add it all up, and it was quite a spring ride for the Dutch.

By the time the next World Baseball Classic comes around, the Dutch won't be surprising anyone, not with their young talent like Andrelton Simmons of the Braves and Jurickson Profar of the Rangers -- MLB.com's top-ranked prospect in all of baseball.

From now on, the Dutch will be among the teams expected to make noise in international play, not a team that catches anyone by surprise.

"We definitely would like to see if we can make the next step," Bernadina said. "I'm looking forward to the next one. If we do the same things we've been doing the next time, I think we can get pretty far."

Getting all the way to the championship round was a long way to go for a team that had traveled so far already, and a kingdom that has emerged as one of the international game's most compelling baseball programs will leave San Francisco with pride overwhelming any pain from their loss Monday.

From a no-hit splash to a couple of huge upsets and then some 15,000 air miles to reach the championship round in 2013, the Dutch indeed have arrived on the world stage.

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Mauer, Morneau enjoy Classic, happy to be back


FORT MYERS, Fla. --

Before the World Baseball Classic started, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire admitted he was nervous about Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau leaving Twins camp to participate in the tournament.

After all, the two former AL MVPs are key to the club's success and haven't exactly been a picture of health over the last few years.

But not only did Mauer and Morneau return from the Classic healthy, they both starred in the tournament for their respective countries.

Mauer, playing for Team USA, hit .429 with two doubles, a triple, two RBIs and five walks while Morneau, playing for Team Canada, hit .636 with three doubles, three RBIs and a walk.

So while both players wished their teams had better success in the tournament -- Team USA reached the second round before being eliminated with a loss to Puerto Rico on Friday, and Team Canada didn't make it out of the first round -- they were happy with their decisions to leave Spring Training and play in the Classic.

"It was a good experience," Morneau said. "When you're there and you're caught up in it, it's like playoff baseball. It's a lot of fun."

Mauer also compared the intensity of the tournament to that of the postseason and said he felt like Team USA was the road team in all of its games except for their victory over Team Italy in Phoenix.

He said the hardest part was being away from camp for so long but that playing in games with such a high intensity helped him get ready for the regular season a little earlier than usual.

"The only tough thing about it is it felt like a 2 1/2-week road trip," Mauer said. "Kind of throws off your routines a little bit, but you make adjustments. I'm feeling pretty good leaving the tournament. Kind of ready to open the season."

Both players said their most memorable moment came when Twins closer Glen Perkins faced Morneau with Mauer behind the plate when Team USA and Team Canada met at Chase Field on March 10.

But they described the ensuing play different, as Mauer made sure to say Morneau's single to right field off Perkins wasn't crushed.

"Justin got a little base hit," Mauer said with a smile. "Perk had him down 1-2, but I was telling Perk if that ball's down, it would've been a strikeout. So I think there will be a lot of talk about that at-bat in this clubhouse for a while."

Morneau, though, said hitters don't care how hard the ball is hit as long as it ends up as a hit in the box score. He also added that he hasn't teased Perkins much about it, especially considering Canada ended up being knocked out of the tournament with a 9-4 loss to Team USA.

"There was no real trash talk," Morneau said. "If you could find three guys who talk the least amount of trash, it would probably be me, Joe and Perk. It was respectful. They know if we beat them it would've been a huge deal. It's unfortunate we didn't win because there would've been more trash talk from me."

But now that the tournament is over for both Mauer and Morneau, they're focused on trying to keep their bats hot before the Twins open the regular season against the Tigers on April 1 at Target Field.

Mauer returned to action on Monday against the Marlins and went 2-for-3 with two singles, and he will continue to ramp up his time behind the plate to get ready for the season.

"I feel pretty good," Mauer said. "Obviously, there is some work to be done, so I'm glad we have a couple more weeks before we get going. But I was able to square some balls up and was seeing a lot of pitches. So it was good."

Morneau also knows there's still nearly two weeks to get ready for Opening Day but is happy that he's finally healthy this season and has been swinging the bat well.

"It was a good foundation to build off of to have a few good days of the success at the plate and know my swing is pretty close to where I want it to be," Morneau said. "So it's a good confidence builder, and hopefully I can continue it."

The Dominican Republic has advanced and will take on Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic title game tonight at AT&T Park. Be there for the exciting finale.

Classic final has Caribbean flavorPuerto Rico and the Dominican Republic -- the Classic's two smallest populations -- clash for the world title tonight.

Filled with memories, Wandy back with Bucs

Wandy Rodriguez, who had a big hand in putting the Dominican Republic into the World Baseball Classic final, was back in the Pirates' Spring Training clubhouse on Monday, with a big smile on his lips and special memories in his heart.


By Tom Singer / MLB.com | 03/19/2013 12:15 PM ET

BRADENTON, Fla. --

Wandy Rodriguez had a big hand in putting the Dominican Republic into the World Baseball Classic final.

However, he will have the same view of Tuesday night's title game against Puerto Rico as most of the rest of us: On television, via MLB Network.

The left-hander was back in the Pirates' Spring Training clubhouse on Monday, with a big smile on his lips and special memories in his heart. Rodriguez was in no danger of leaving his heart in San Francisco, because he never got it there.

It was not an easy decision to shed the Dominican uniform. However, Rodriguez, ineligible per Classic rules to pitch again after throwing six innings and 74 pitches on Saturday in a 2-0 win over Puerto Rico, could not justify a cross-country flight just to be an observer.

"I had to come back here and start getting ready for the season," said Rodriguez.

He called his first Classic experience, "Wonderful. It was competition on just a really different level. I can't even put into words what it was like."