Cleveland Sports Forum

CNT: Chapman delivers Game 1 victory vs. Cuba

Team USA takes 1-0 lead in five-game series

DES MOINES, Iowa --

Cal State Fullerton infielder Matt Chapman's two-out single in the 11th inning gave the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team a 2-1 victory over Cuba in Game 1 of their Friendship Series.

"I thought it was a great ballgame," remarked manager Jim Schlossnagle (TCU). "We had every opportunity to cave in there, we had opportunities to break the game open and Ryan Burr had a chance to cave in once he gave up the tying run after being a strike away from finishing the game. Guys did a great job, and they hung in there. It's a tremendous advantage being the home team in the international tiebreaker."

Playing with international tiebreaker rules in each of the last two innings, the game didn't lack for drama as both teams made key plays to keep their chances for a win in tact.

For those not familiar with the IBAF tie-breaker rule (The Schiller Rule) a word of explanation would seem to be in order. It works as follows: in the tenth inning (and beyond) teams play by a new set of rules adopted from recreational softball, with each club gifted runners on first and second base at the start of each new inning.

In the first extra frame each manager elects where he wishes to start in his batting order and the first two men due up become the base runners.

In subsequent innings the batting order elected in the tenth must continue unaltered.

The idea behind the regulation was to end extra-inning games promptly and thus avoid scenarios where an endless contest of multiple extra frames might disrupt a day of tournament competition where three or more consecutive games filled a tight schedule.

It is baseball’s version of the soccer or hockey tie-breaking shootout, and although there is little rational for its use in Cuban League play it was also adopt of the National Series last season. The Cubans now use it since the whole rationale behind the National Series campaign is to prepare top players for upcoming international tournament competitions.

Team USA's David Berg (UCLA) came through in the clutch in the top of the 11th as he was facing runners on the corners with only one out. He didn't allow the ball out of the infield to strand the go-ahead run at third.

In the bottom of the inning, Cuba got a big first out as it foiled a sacrifice attempt, throwing out the runner at third. With two outs, Chapman came through with a line-drive to right that just missed the outstretched glove of Yasmani Thomas and fell in for the game-winning hit.

"It's always exciting to beat Cuba," Chapman said. "We might be the underdogs because we are younger, but it's just fun to contribute and help my team out. Cuba plays the game like they are pretty experienced. Their infielders were really good with the ball. They are solid on defense. The hitters have good approaches. I think it's going to be a good, competitive series."

The Team USA pitching staff held Cuba in check for much of the first eight innings. Carlos Rodon (NC State), Preston Morrison (TCU) and Riley Ferrell (TCU) combined to allow just five base runners, and none advanced past first base.

Facing its final strike in the ninth, Cuba mounted a furious rally to get the game knotted at 1. Tomas fought off a two-strike count and battled back to draw a walk. Edilse Silva followed with a single to give Cuba two base runners in an inning for the first time in the contest. Jose Fernandez tied the game with a single to center field.

The CNT grabbed the early lead in the game, as it took advantage of a leadoff walk to Chapman in the third. He wasted no time stealing second and moved to third when the throw ricocheted into the outfield. With one out, Trea Turner (NC State) drove the ball into center field for a sacrifice fly and a 1-0 lead.

Team USA had chances to add to its lead, twice loading the bases, but each time Cuba pitched out of the jam, setting up the ninth-inning comeback. In total, the CNT stranded nine runners through eight innings of play.

Rodon set the tone for Team USA's pitching staff, allowing just two base runners in 3 1/3 innings of work. He finished his outing with four strikeouts. Morrison followed with an equally impressive outing. The right-hander allowed just two base hits, struck out three and retired the final eight batters he faced in 3 2/3 innings. Ferrell struck out two around a one-out walk in a scoreless eighth. Ryan Burr (Arizona State) allowed a run on two hits, walked one and struck out four in 1 2/3 innings. Chris Diaz (Miami, Fla.) picked up the final out of the 10th.

The USA-Cuba Friendship series shifts to Werner Park in Omaha, Neb., for Games 2 and 3. Florida State's Luke Weaver will get the call in Game 2 on Friday night. First pitch is slated for 8:05 p.m. ET.

Indians Close To Signing Cuban RHP Leando Linares


By Charlie Wilmoth [July 21 at 6:08pm CST]


The Indians are close to signing Cuban pitcher Leando Linares for about $1MM, MLB.com's Jesse Sanchez reports. Linares, now 19, previously pitched for the Cuban 16-and-under national team, and for Villa Clara in the Cuban 16-and-under and 18-and-under national championships, Sanchez notes. Linares is 6'3 and 205 pounds.

Since Linares is just 19 and has not played in a Cuban professional league for at least three years, his signing will have to come out of the Indians' international bonus pool. The Indians began the 2013-14 signing season with a bonus pool of $3.64MM. The Indians previously signed Dominican shortstop Willy Castro for $850K and outfielder Junior Soto for $600K.

CNT: Bregman leads Team USA to 3-2 win

Team USA rallies from 2-0 deficit

July 22, 2013

CARY, N.C. --

Trailing, 2-0, in the fifth inning, LSU's Alex Bregman keyed a three-run inning to help the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team to a 3-2 victory over Cuba on Monday night at the National Training Complex. Each of the first four contests in the five-game series has resulted in a one-run victory for Team USA.

"You just have two great pitching staffs," remarked manager Jim Schlossnagle (TCU). "We have a very talented pitching staff, and they have a very talented, very veteran, savvy pitching staff. Good defense all around. Like I said after the first game, this thing is going to come down to whoever gets the one timely hit or whoever makes the big mistake. And for four games, we have been fortunate to have things go our way at the right time. Our pitching, especially our bullpen, can really hold a lead."

Cuba struck first, pushing across a pair of runs in the third inning. A walk to Lazaro Herrera to open the inning got Cuba off and running. With one out, Herrera was standing on second when Irait Chirino laced a double into right-center to break the scoreless tie. Chirino was on third with two outs when Jose Fernandez stepped to the plate. He delivered a base hit up the middle to give Cuba a 2-0 lead.

Team USA had its chances in the early innings to get on the board, but couldn't take advantage of the free passes issued by Cuba's starting pitcher, Jose Suarez, who allowed four walks and hit a batter. Suarez made the pitches to get out of each of the first four innings, but he couldn't overcome a pair of walks to open up the fifth as Team USA battled back to take the lead.

Skye Bolt (North Carolina) drew a lead-off walk in the fifth and was standing on third with nobody out after a stolen base and a throwing error by the catcher. NC State's Trea Turner followed with a walk and a stolen base of his own to put the tying runs in scoring position. Bregman battled through an eight-pitch at-bat and delivered the big hit with a two-run triple that got to the wall in right-center. With Kyle Schwarber (Indiana) at the plate, Cuba reliever Ismel Jimenez unleashed a wild pitch, allowing Bregman to score the go-ahead run.

"We just decided we were going to come out and play with a lot of energy and do what we are capable of doing," Bregman said. "It's a complete team effort, one through nine in the order, and our whole pitching staff does their job. Trea and Skye did a great job getting on in front of me. Without them getting on, it would have never happened. It's all because of my teammates that I was in the situation I was in. I got the pitch I was looking for, and I was able to put a good swing on it."

Cuba threatened to get right back in the game in the bottom of the inning. After getting the first out of the frame, Tyler Beede (Vanderbilt) issued a walk to Ariel Sanchez, who moved to third on a long single off the bat of Fernandez. Team USA got out of the jam on a ground ball hit to third. Taylor Sparks (UC Irvine) started an inning-ending, 5-4-3 double play to quell the threat.

Team USA had to fight once more to maintain its lead, as Cuba threatened with two-outs in the sixth. Yurisbel Gracial singled with one out and moved to second on a walk to Lorenzo Quintana. Daniel Mengden (Texas A&M) came on in relief and got a ground ball to end the threat.

Mengden pitched around a two-out walk in the seventh. Chris Diaz (Miami, Fla.) came on and pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning. In the ninth, TCU's Riley Ferrell emphatically slammed the door shut as he struck out the side to notch his second save of the series.

UNLV's Erick Fedde started for Team USA. He allowed two runs on three hits, one walk and struck out three in 2 2/3 innings. Matt Imhof (Cal Poly) improved to 3-0 as he earned the win in relief. He surrendered three hits, walked one and struck out one in 2 1/3 innings.

Team USA improved to 19-3 overall this summer and 4-0 in the series against Cuba. The final game of the 2013 summer tour is slated for Tuesday night against Cuba. NC State's Carlos Rodon will toe the rubber for Team USA in Game 5 of the friendship series against Cuba. Game time at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park is set for 7:05 ET.

Gotta be disappointing for the Cubans to say the least. While they left their "A" team at home, they brought their next wave of young talent to the USA. There are no two ways about it, the defections have hurt the Cuban National Team deeply.

Baseball / Japanese Baseball

Otani puts talents on display in All-Star opener

Kyodo

Jul 19, 2013

SAPPORO –

In one of the more entertaining All-Star games in years, teenager Shohei Otani ratcheted up the radar gun from the mound and then took his turn at bat as the Pacific League’s left fielder in a 1-1 tie with the Central League on Friday.

Otani, the versatile 19-year-old phenom for the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters, was voted onto the PL squad by fans as an outfielder, but entered the game as a pitcher in his home park, Sapporo Dome.

The right-hander allowed two hits and struck out a batter in a scoreless fifth inning when he threw 13 pitches — all fastballs — and reached 157 kph on the gun.

At bat, Otani grounded out and flied out to end the game.

The PL got on the board in the bottom of the first on a triple by Nobuhiro Matsuda of the Softbank Hawks and a single by Yoshio Itoi of the Orix Buffaloes.

Itoi, who was traded from the Fighters to the Buffaloes in January, got the loudest ovation from his former fans during introductions. He lined a pitch from Hiroshima Carp ace Kenta Maeda over short to make it 1-0 to the delight of the crowd.

Rakuten Eagles ace Masahiro Tanaka, who has won all 13 of his decisions this season, needed 16 pitches to work two perfect innings for the PL.

Fighters lefty Mitsuo Yoshikawa allowed a hit in his two innings, before Nippon Ham and PL manager Hideki Kuriyama gave the fans what they wanted — a taste of Otani.

Otani got Yokohama BayStars slugger Tony Blanco to pop up before clocking 157 kph against BayStars veteran Norihiro Nakamura, who struck out swinging.

The teenager, who is batting .305 with 13 doubles and two homers among his 29 hits so far this season, left the mound after one inning but took over in left field.

It did not take long for Otani to show off his arm again. With a runner at second, the youngster caught a liner for the second out and came within a hair of doubling off the Hanshin Tigers’ Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who had been much too casual about returning to base.

Otani batted in the bottom of the sixth with Fighters teammate Sho Nakata on first. But after fouling off a couple of fastballs from 38-year-old Yokohama ace Daisuke Miura, Otani was fooled on an eephus pitch for a comebacker to the mound.

The CL tied it in the seventh against Fighters middle reliever Toshiyuki Yanuki.

The right-hander walked Blanco to lead off the inning before Chunichi Dragons pinch hitter Yohei Oshima stole second and scored on a single by Nakamura.

Another Fighters middleman, Hirotoshi Masui, worked the eighth for the PL, while Buffaloes closer Yoshihisa Hirano pitched a scoreless ninth.

Maeda allowed a run in his two innings and was followed to the mound by the Yomiuri Giants’ Hirokazu Sawamura, who prevented the PL from adding to its early lead for three innings.

Miura worked the sixth and seventh, and Dragons closer Hitoki Iwase, Japan’s all-time saves leader, took the mound in the eighth.

Giants closer Kentaro Nishimura pitched the ninth. With two outs, he faced Otani and sealed the tie in a game that does not feature extra innings.

Sawamura, whose three innings were the longest of the game, was named the game’s MVP.

Baseball / Japanese Baseball

MVP Arai, solid pitching guide CL All-Stars to Game 2 victory

by Jason Coskrey

Staff Writer

Jul 20, 2013

Most of the attention before and during this year’s All-Star Series was centered around a group of talented rookies.

In Game 2, a few members of Japanese baseball’s older set reminded everyone that they still have a lot of gas in the tank.

Hanshin Tigers veteran Takahiro Arai drove in the tiebreaking run in the third inning and his Central League teammates made the lead stand up in a 3-1 victory over the Pacific League on Saturday night.

“I’m glad I was able to put a good swing on it,” Arai said of his RBI single off the Seibu Lions’ Kazuhisa Makita. “I don’t think I’m the leader (of the team), but for sure, I’m having fun.”

The win gives the CL the lead in the series, which opened with a 1-1 tie on Friday night. The final game will be played on Monday in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture. Hanshin’s Atsushi Nomi will start for the CL against the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters’ Hiroshi Kisanuki.

“The Pacific League outplayed us during interleague, so we are here to take this All-Star Series,” said CL manager Tatsunori Hara. “We’ve got one more game and want to keep it going.”

Saturday’s contest drew an enthusiastic crowd of 31,816 to Jingu Stadium, home park of the Yakult Swallows.

“We were happy to play in this atmosphere,” Arai said. “It was fun.”

Swallows fans in attendance went home doubly pleased, as Yakult rookie pitcher Yasuhiro “Ryan” Ogawa picked up the win. Ogawa took the mound in the third and went on to allow one hit and strike out one in two scoreless frames. Makita was charged with the loss.

“I was really nervous,” Ogawa said. “I was just trying to put up zeros. I’m happy I was able to pitch my game as usual.”

Ogawa has been one of the few bright spots for the last-place Swallows, going 10-2 with a 2.62 ERA in 15 regular-season starts prior to the All-Star break.

“I think he’s been the best pitcher in the first half,” Swallows slugger Wladimir Balentien said. “To be able to play here at Jingu in front of the Swallows fans in his first year in the league, I think that’s something exciting.”

Fellow rookies Tomoyuki Sugano of the Yomiuri Giants and the Tigers’ Shintaro Fujinami also took the mound for the CL, under the watchful eye of 42-year-old Chunichi Dragons backstop Motonobu Tanishige.

“Our veteran catcher Tanishige led the ‘Golden Rookie’ pitchers well,” Hara said. “That was one of the elements of our victory. The way he led them maximized the pitchers’ abilities.”

Yakult’s 42-year-old Shinya Miyamoto drove in a run for the CL, while Giants star Hayato Sakamoto had an RBI single among his three hits. Arai also finished with three hits.

“Our veterans showed their presence,” Hara said. “They really displayed good hitting.”

Shohei Otani, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters’ two-way rookie star, hit leadoff for the Pa League and finished 1-for-4 with a double. Otani started the game in right field and later moved to left, just one night after pitching, batting and playing in the outfield during the opener in Sapporo.

“I enjoyed the experience,” Otani said.

Four members of Japan’s latest rookie class, Sugano, Fujinami, Ogawa, and Otani, the biggest star of them all, have been the talk of the NPB for most of the season, and that didn’t change during the All-Star Series, with media and fans following their every move. They’ve not failed to impress in their first trip to Japan’s Midsummer Classic.

“I was watching them and just thinking about how good they are,” Arai said.

Fukuoka Softbank Hawks reliever Kodai Senga, currently in his third season, also had a great showing, at one point striking out four straight batters, a string that included NPB home run leaders Balentien and the Yokohama BayStars’ Tony Blanco in succession. Senga allowed one hit and finished with five strikeouts in a pair of scoreless frames.

Softbank’s Yuya Hasegawa, this year’s interleague MVP, had the best night at the plate for the PL, finishing 3-for-4 with a double.

A group of former players from high school powerhouse Osaka Toin brought some light-hearted antics into the game in the sixth.

The hard-throwing Fujinami got things started by tossing a very slow ball over the head of the Fighters’ Sho Nakata, drawing smiles from both dugouts. Fujinami immediately threw another, which prompted Nakata to throw his bat and jokingly take a few steps toward the mound, much to the amusement of mastermind Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who watched the proceedings with glee from the CL bench. Fujinami went on to strikeout Nakata.

“It was perfect from Nishioka-san’s point-of-view,” Fujinami said.

Otani led off the game with a double off fellow rookie Sugano. Doubles have been one of Otani’s calling cards this season, with the 19-year-old having recorded 13 so far.

He moved to third on a single by Hasegawa and came home when Softbank’s Seiichi Uchikawa hit into a double play.

The CL tied the score on Miyamoto’s RBI single in the second, and went ahead when Arai drove in Hanshin teammate Matt Murton with an RBI single in the third.

Sakamoto tacked on an insurance run in the sixth with his RBI single.

Baseball / Japanese Baseball

Uchikawa lifts PL to win in All-Star Series finale

Kyodo

Jul 22, 2013

IWAKI, FUKUSHIMA PREF. –

Seiichi Uchikawa of the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks hit a tie-breaking, two-run double in the bottom of the eighth to lift the Pacific League to a 3-1 victory over the Central League in the finale of the three-game summer All-Star Series.

Trailing by a run in the eighth, Yang Dai-kang doubled and scored from third on a one-out single by Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters teammate Shohei Otani. With one out and two on, Uchikawa came through against Tokyo Yakult Swallows right-hander Tetsuya Yamamoto.

“The day before yesterday I hit into a pair of double plays, so I had a chance (to put the team in front), I wanted to get it done,” said Uchikawa, who won the final spot on the PL roster through an Internet vote.

Like most hitters on both teams in the first All-Star game ever played in Fukushima Prefecture, Uchikawa was sitting on the first pitch.

“In any event, that’s my style, to go after the first pitch,” Uchikawa said.

The CL put opened the scoring in the fifth against Hawks reliever Sho Iwasaki. Yoshihiru Maru of the Hiroshima Carp lined a leadoff double to right center and scored on a throwing error by Yang.

Hanshin Tigers catcher Akihito Fujii hit a fly to center for the second out. Maru tagged up and took third. Yang’s wide throw got past Hawks third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda and Maru scored easily.

The PL, which had squandered its only two scoring opportunities, tied the game thanks to hits by three Fighters. Yang led off with a double, and went to third on a deep foul fly to right. With the infield drawn in to cut off the potential tying run at the plate, Otani, a rookie pitcher/outfielder, just barely got a grounder into center to tie it.

Dodgers may be favorite for Cuban shortstop

Guerrero to try out for MLB clubs at team's complex in DR on Wednesday

By Jesse Sanchez / MLB.com | 7/23/2013 4:53 P.M. ET

The Dodgers are among the finalists in the hunt for Cuban shortstop Alexander Guerrero, and they may have emerged as the favorite to sign the 26-year-old infielder.

According to several news outlets in the Dominican Republic on Tuesday morning, the Dodgers agreed in principle to a multiyear deal worth $32 million. However, Guerrero's agent, Rudy Santin, shot down the reports and said there are at least three teams, including one American League team, currently pursuing the infielder.

Members of the Dodgers' front office are in the Dominican Republic to announce improvements to the club's academy, Campo Las Palmas, adding fuel to the speculation surrounding an agreement.

"Nothing is finalized," said Santin, who scouted for 28 years. "There is no agreement in hand with anyone. No truth to any of that."

The 5-foot-11, 205-pound Guerrero is a veteran of Serie Nacional, the island's top league, and was an All-Star in 2010 and '11 with Las Tunas. He defected from Cuba earlier this year and has been training in the Dominican Republic ever since. Guerrero was granted free agency by Major League Baseball last week, but he has not secured an unblocking license from the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), which means he is not allowed to sign with a Major League team.

Guerrero is scheduled to hold a showcase at the Dodgers' complex in the Dominican Republic on Wednesday and play in a game on Thursday. Known for his powerful bat and speed on the bases, he is expected to command a five- to seven-year deal.

"We are still exploring our options," Santini said.

On Monday, a source told MLB.com that Dodgers are not pursuing Cuban right-handed pitcher Miguel Alfredo Gonzalez, who is expected to command a multiyear deal that could be worth up to $50 million.

Indians Agree To Terms With Leandro Linares
By Steve Adams [July 23, 2013 at 11:21am CST]

The Indians and 19-year-old Cuban right-hander Leandro Linares have agreed to terms on a $950K bonus, according to Ben Badler of Baseball America. The Tribe was said to be close to a deal in the $1MM vicinity over the weekend.

Badler calls him one of Cuba's top young pitchers and writes that the 6'3", 200-pound Linares sits 89-93 mph with his fastball, topping out at 94 mph. He also flashes a plus curveball at times and throws a potentially average changeup, according to Badler. Pitching in Cuba's 18U national league last season, he posted a 1.91 ERA with a 76-to-46 K/BB ratio in 66 innings. Not surprisingly, his command is the biggest issue for scouts.

Because Linares is younger than 23 and hasn't played in a Cuban professional league for at least three years, his signing comes out of the Indians' international bonus pool. Cleveland began the 2013-14 signing period with a pool of $3.64MM and has previously signed Dominican shortstop Willy Castro for $850K and outfielder Junior Soto for $600K.

Here's Badler in his own words
Cuban righthander Leandro Linares has agreed to sign with the Indians for a $950,000 bonus.

Linares, 19, has been one of the top pitching prospects on the international market who is subject to the international bonus pools. At 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, Linares pitches at 89-93 mph and tops out at 94. He has loose wrists and throws a 73-76 mph curveball that flashes as a plus pitch with good depth and helps him miss bats, although it can get loopy at times. He also mixes in a changeup that’s average at times and throws a fourth pitch that scouts have described as either a cutter or slider.

Linares left Cuba before he had a chance to make an impact in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, but he was one of the country’s top up-and-coming pitchers. When he pitched in Cuba’s 18U national league last year, Linares posted a 1.91 ERA in with 76 strikeouts in 66 innings. He wasn’t a great strike thrower, as he walked 46 batters and hit seven more. Scouts who have seen him working out in the Dominican Republic have also noticed that he needs to improve his control and repeat his release point more frequently, although he does have a sound delivery.

While Linares is claiming Haitian residency, scouts have evaluated him in the Dominican Republic and in international tournaments before he left Cuba, including the 2009 World Youth Championship in Taiwan and in 2010 at the 16U COPABE Pan American championship in Mexico. Linares is represented by Bart Hernandez.

USA Pitchers and Shoddy Catching Kill Team Cuba in Friendly Series

by Peter C. Bjarkman

July 21, 2013 (Cary, NC)

This year’s renewal of the long-anticipated Cuba-USA “friendly series” has looked pretty one-sided if one stares only at box scores or printed game results. Four straight nail-biting one-run losses at the hands of the American collegians is certainly not what either the collective Cuban fandom or the Cuban Federation baseball brain trust had in mind.

Despite the fact that all four games have gone down to the final pitch and that fans on the scene have been treated to nightly thrilling and highly competitive games, for Cuban baseball boosters the results have had to be disappointing to say the least.

Of course the unfolding scenario has perhaps not been all that surprising, especially given the strength of the Team USA pitching staff – an arsenal of talented arms boasting at least a half-dozen surefire MLB first-round draft picks. And the results have borne out a warning I signaled in my earliest pre-series article two weeks back, when I headlined that “Cuba Promises Less Hitting and More Pitching on USA Friendly Tour” (July 13, 2013). Rarely have my own words proven to be more disappointingly right on target.

One highlight feature of the week has been a pair of back-to-back tie-breaker games that introduced North American fans to the vagaries of international baseball rules and surprisingly also revealed Cuba’s inexplicable inability to handle the tie-breaker scenario that has been practiced all season long during the National Series back home.

The opening-night 11-inning thriller in Des Moines was repeated 24 hours later in Omaha’s Werner Stadium when for a second straight time Victor Mesa’s club squandered an excellent 7-inning starting pitching effort from Freddy Asiel Alvarez and yet another creditable relief performance by Noelvis Entenza.

In the end lame defense opened the door for the opportunistic Americans via a passed ball by Lorenzo Quintana in the fourth and an error by José Fernández in the seventh that together allowed the game to stretch to extra frames for a second straight night.

Despite permitting the feisty Americans back into the contest in the late going and then yielding a single Schiller-Rule run in the top of the tenth (a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Kyle Schwarber doing the minimal damage), Cuba was nonetheless perfectly positioned to walk off with victory in the home tenth.

After José Fernández sacrificed Campillo and Varona to second and third, Mesa had his two best sluggers positioned to deliver a game-winning blow. But Yasmani Tomás went down swinging and Yulieski Gourriel rolled harmlessly to third. If there has been a truly deep disappointment so far this week it has been the Cubans’ collective inability to plate a single needed tally during three straight cracks at the Schiller Rule extra inning format.

Rarely are Cuban teams ever blanked in the tie-breaker format that is practiced on a regular basis in domestic league games.

If the opening two losses were bitter pills, it was in Game 3 that things really reached rock bottom for the frustrated island contingent. Rarely has any Cuban national team lost four straight games in international competitions.

Even more rarely have Cuban squads pitched so well and so consistently and yet come away with so little to show for such maximum effort.

On Saturday night on Omaha National Series #52 rookie-of -the-year Norge Luis Ruiz authored one of the more sensational international debuts in recent memory only to drop a series-deciding 1-0 game that would have been won on almost any other night.

The 19-year-old Camagüey prospect struck out 11, walked but two, and allowed a mere three hits over 7.1 brilliant innings; in the process Ruiz left several dozen MLB birddogs buzzing about his command of the strike zone and his mastery of the game pace.

There was little dispute that Ruiz displayed pitching savvy well beyond his raw years. But the effort all went by the wayside when Mike Conforto’s sacrifice fly in the fourth provided the Americans with all that would need on the night.

Cuba’s lame offense was at the same time stymied all evening by starter Brandon Finnegan and a trio of relievers who combined to strike out eleven, including long-ball threats Yasmani Tomás (3) and William Luis Campillo (2) on five different occasions.

With the series now already decided and the extent of the embarrassment being the only unresolved issue, the suffering continued in almost identical form when action moved eastward to Cary, North Carolina on Monday night.

Game 4 was more of the same all-too-familiar scenario with sloppy backstop play by Lázaro Herrera costing the Cubans a fourth straight game that by all counts should again have ended up in the win column.

It looked this time like a corner would be turned when starter Joel Suárez opened with four no-hit innings (despite walking six) and the Cuban bats finally came to life to plate a pair of go-ahead tallies in the home third. An RBI double to right center by Iriat Chirino followed by a run-producing single by José Fernández produced an early end to the evening for USA starter Erick Fedde and it finely looked like the Cubans would take control.

Then once again the roof suddenly fell in thanks to atrocious backstop play on the part of Lázaro Herrero in the fifth. Disintegration began when Skye Bolt walked and moved to third on an attempted steal which saw Herrera’s resulting throw sail wildly into center field. After Trea Turner received a free pass Joel Suárez was removed (still not have surrendered a single hit) in favor of Ismel Jiménez who quickly yielded a deadly triple to Alex Bregman that knotted the game at two. Bregman then trotted home with the tie-breaker on Herrera’s second major gaff of the frame, a pass ball that rebounded off the shin guards of the snake-bitten backstop.

What at first looked like a wake-up night for Cuban bats quickly evaporated after the ill-starred fifth, when a succession of five American relievers (none working more than one-plus innings) kept Cuban batters handcuffed the rest of the way.

Struggling Yasmani Tomás (who now looks like a mere shadow of the slugger that manned right field three weeks ago in Rotterdam) struck out for the fourth and fifth times in the last two nights before being removed for pinch-hitter William Luis Campillo in the fifth.

Squandered singles by José Fernández in the fifth and Yurisbel Gracial in the sixth were the only brief flickering signs of a waning Cuban attack with the game squarely on the line down the stretch run.

The series finale scheduled for Tuesday night at Durham Bulls Park will now provide the beleaguered Cubans with but one final opportunity to break the noisome string and thus avoid a second series whitewashing parallel to the one suffered in Millington, Tennessee 18 full years in the past.

A clean sweep for the Americans would not be a first, since that scenario already played out back in 1995 in Millington when the Americans walked off with four straight over a Cuban squad featuring such notables as Germán Mesa, Omar Linares, El Duque Hernández and Orestes Kindelán and managed by Jorge Fuentes.

The only other two series whitewashings among the dozen historic meetings were authored by the Cubans in 1989 (Havana, six games) and 1994 (Millington, 2 games).

Overall at the moment Cuba still holds an overall game-by-game advantage, winning 34 and losing 27 of the 61 total games played. The full series-by-series results have the Cubans capturing 8 “topes,” the Americans 3 (including this year), and the 1991 affair ending up in a three-games-apiece deadlock.

Cuba-USA Series Summary

Series #1 (July 16-21, 1987) Locations: Cuba (Havana, Artemisa) Cuba 3, USA 2

Series #2 (August 6-14, 1988) Locations: USA (Millington, Indianapolis, Tidewater, Richmond, Charlotte) Cuba 4, USA 2

Series #3 (July 9-17, 1989) Locations: USA (Millington) and Cuba (Havana) Cuba 6, USA 0

Series #4 (July 6-14, 1990) Locations: Cuba (Havana) and USA (Millington) USA 2, Cuba 1

Series #5 (July 6-14, 1991) Locations: USA (Millington) and Cuba (Santiago de Cuba) Cuba 3, USA 3 (tie)

Series #6 (June 30-July 7, 1992) Locations: Cuba (Holguín) and USA (Denver, Minneapolis, Millington) Cuba 5, USA 2

Series #7 (July 28-August 5, 1993) Locations: USA (Wichita, Millington) and Cuba (Sancti Spíritus) Cuba 4, USA 3

Series #8 (July 29-30, 1994) Location: USA (Millington) Cuba 2, USA 0

Series #9 (July 29-August 1, 1995) Location: USA (Millington) USA 4, Cuba 0

Series #10 (June 29-July 4, 1996) Locations: USA (Zebulon, Columbia, Chattanooga, Knoxville, Norfolk) Cuba 3, USA 2

Series #11 (July 5-9, 2012) Location: Cuba (Havana) Cuba 3, USA 2

Series #12 (July 18-23, 2013) Locations: USA (Des Moines, Omaha, Cary, Durham) USA 4, Cuba 0 (one game remaining)

CNT: Team USA completes sweep of Cuba

The Collegiate National Team finishes 20-3

July 23, 2013

DURHAM, N.C. --

The USA Baseball Collegiate National Team completed a historic five-game sweep of Cuba with a 5-3 win on Tuesday night at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The victory closes a successful tour for the CNT, as it finished with an overall mark of 20-3.

NC State's Carlos Rodon (3-0) put on a show for his hometown fans, tossing 6 2/3 shutout innings. The left-hander allowed just two hits and fanned 11. He faced just one batter over the minimum in his time on the mound. The offense gave Rodon a lead in the first inning and Team USA never looked back, as it withstood a late Cuba rally to post the victory.

With two outs in the bottom of the first, Kyle Schwarber (Indiana) worked a walk. After stealing second, he scored easily on a double to left field off the bat of Michael Conforto (Oregon State) to give Team USA a 1-0 lead.

The game cruised to the fifth frame as the pitchers took over the early innings. A walk to Trea Turner (NC State) to open the fifth put Team USA on the path to a 2-0 lead. He wasted no time swiping second base and was standing on third with nobody out after a wild pitch. Alex Bregman (LSU) lined a sacrifice fly to center to drive in Turner with the second run of the game.

An error by Cuba to open the sixth inning led to another Team USA run. Bradley Zimmer (San Francisco) reached on the miscue and stole second. A base hit from Taylor Sparks (UC Irvine) had runners on the corners. A pitching change didn't slow down Team USA's offense, as Matt Chapman (Cal State Fullerton) jumped on the first pitch, singling through the right side to drive in Zimmer.

Another error by Cuba in the seventh turned into a pair of runs for Team USA, as the lead grew to 5-0. Turner led off the inning with a base hit. Bregman hit what looked like a double-play ball, but the throw to second was dropped and everyone was safe. Schwarber followed with a base hit to drive in Turner, and a two-out base knock from Spark plated Bregman.

Cuba didn't go quietly, striking for three runs in the eighth to close the gap to two, 5-3. Edilse Silva led off the inning with a base hit. Yulieski Gourriel singled to give Cuba a pair of base runners for the first time in the game. After a sacrifice bunt, both runners moved into scoring position. Cuba went to the bench and called on Lazaro Herrera. He delivered a three-run home run to center field. A walk followed, but a strike-'em-out, throw-'em-out double play ended Cuba's threat.

Ryan Burr (Arizona State) struck out two in a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his sixth save of the summer, locking up the historic sweep. Preston Morrison (TCU) and Chris Diaz (Miami, Fla.) pitched the seventh and eighth innings for Team USA.

The 2013 Collegiate National Team wraps up the summer tour with a 20-3 record overall. The squad was 13-0 in exhibition contests and 7-3 in international play.

Carlos Rondon is a STUD! Too bad we won't be in the hunt during next year's 2014 June Draft.

Front and center: Shohei Otani did a little bit of everything during the first two games of the All-Star Series. | KYODO


Baseball / Japanese Baseball | SPORTS SCOPE

Otani’s presence hard to ignore during NPB All-Star Series

by Jason Coskrey

Jul 22, 2013

If this year’s NPB All-Star Series was about anything, it was about Shohei Otani.

Media and fans couldn’t get enough of the 19-year-old Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters rookie, and it was a good thing too, because he was everywhere.

He pitched, he hit, and he played the field, but no matter where he was, Otani was the unquestioned center of attention.

Otani was known to baseball fans long before the All-Star Series — he was cast in the spotlight after nearly heading to the majors out of high school, and was the subject of a New York Times feature July 10 — but with all of Japanese baseball’s attention trained on the All-Star proceedings, the series ended up being a de facto coming-out party for the teen, who is 2-0 as a pitcher and hitting .305 with a pair of home runs, 13 doubles, and 12 RBIs in 37 games as a position player.

Unlike the saga of Los Angeles Dodgers phenomenon Yasiel Puig, who didn’t make it onto the All-Star roster in the majors, NPB put its star out front and center during the All-Star festivities, and he was a sight to behold.

In Game 1 at Sapporo Dome, Otani pitched for two innings and remained in to play the outfield, joining Ichiro Suzuki (1996) as the only players to compete as a pitcher and position player during an All-Star game.

“He’s something special,” said Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles All-Star Andruw Jones, who called Game 1 the “perfect setup” for Otani. “Playing in front of his home crowd, getting the chance to come in and pitch then play defense and get some at-bats,” Jones said. “That was great for him and great for the fans in Sapporo.”

Otani didn’t hold back on the mound either, throwing all fastballs and touching 157 on the radar gun.

“It was actually the first time in a while that I put a lot of power into it,” Otani told Sports Nippon. “I was able to keep the ball in the strike zone better than I thought.”

Yokohama BayStars veteran Norihiro Nakamura compared Otani’s stuff to that of Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Irabu, and he wasn’t the only one who came away impressed.

“I think that if he keeps it up, he’ll be able to throw a 100-miles-per-hour (160-kph) pitch,” said Yokohama BayStars slugger Tony Blanco. “It was a great fastball.”

In the outfield, Otani made a great standing throw after a catch to almost pick off Tsuyoshi Nishioka at second base, further showing off his range of talent.

In Game 2, Otani became the first rookie out of high school to hit leadoff in an All-Star game and opened the contest with a double, finishing 1-for-4, and later played both right and left field.

The rookie was one of the heroes of the finale on Monday, driving in the game-tying run with a single in the eighth inning. Otani scored the tie-breaking run later in the frame, coming home on Fukuoka Softbank Hawks outfielder Seiichi Uchikawa’s two-run double, and the PL went on to score a 3-1 come-from-behind victory.

Otani was put out on display and he handled it all with the aplomb and maturity befitting a player much older than 19. He was the major attraction entering the game, put on a good show and gave the people what they came to see.

Otani’s ascendancy is good for Japanese baseball, which is now operating in an era where some of the league’s biggest stars have left, or may be leaving, for the majors, and fans want to see if the current celebrated crop of rookies will be able to fill the void.

The game needs a jolt in the arm and right now Otani is it, as there is great interest in how he matures and how long he’s allowed to keep playing as both a pitcher and position player.

His every move over the weekend was chronicled and analyzed during the series, and after the first game, one sports show followed its already Otani-heavy game highlights, with a special Otani-only highlight package.

Japanese baseball doesn’t need the Shohei Otani phenomenon to die out and his time in the spotlight during the All-Star Series suggests that won’t be happening anytime soon.

Cuban Star Alfredo Despaigne Playing In Mexico

by Ben Badler

One of the stars of Cuban baseball is in Mexico, but don’t expect to see him in a major league uniform any time soon.

The Cuban government has allowed left fielder Alfredo Despaigne, a three-time MVP in Cuba’s Serie Nacional, to play professionally for the Campeche Pirates of the Mexican League.

Despaigne, 27, has shown tremendous righthanded bat speed and raw power that is among the best on the planet, coupled with an all-or-nothing hitting approach that has worked for him in Cuba. He won back-to-back MVP awards in Cuba during the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, set the single-season home run record in Cuba in 2011-12 with 36 homers in 87 games en route to a third MVP trophy, then hit .345/.505/.669 this past season for Granma.

Despaigne has been a standout on the Cuban national team for several years, including at the 2008 Olympics when he hit .382/.400/.765 in nine games with three home runs, one of which came against Stephen Strasburg. This year he played in the World Baseball Classic and hit .389/.522/.944 with three home runs in six games.

It’s rare for the Cuban authorities to allow a player to play professionally outside of Cuba—particularly a player as talented as Despaigne in the prime of his career—although it’s not unprecedented. International sources say the Campeche Pirates have good relationships in Cuba, which is how they were able to get former Cuban star righthander Pedro Luis Lazo to pitch for them last year when Lazo was 39.

Despaigne made Major league teams jump at any chance they get to see the Cuban national team any time they play in an international tournament outside of Cuba, so teams will certainly have their scouts keeping an eye on Despaigne while he’s in Mexico.