Baseball: Ichiro's Gold Glove streak ends at 10

NEW YORK -

Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki's streak
of Gold Gloves ended at 10 as he was left out of the awards announced
on Tuesday.

Suzuki had won the award for fielding excellence every year
since he arrived from Japan through the posting system in 2001 and
last year became the first player to win it in each of his first 10
major league seasons.

Navegantes' Williams maintains perfect ERA

Angels right-hander strikes out eight over six scoreless innings

Venezuelan Winter League

Magallanes 4, Lara 1

Jerome Williams struck out eight and allowed five hits over six shutout innings as the Navegantes posted their league-leading 12th win. The Angels right-hander has given up one unearned run over 23 innings in winning his first four starts. Astros infielder Jose Altuve went 3-for-4 with a run scored and fell a homer shy of the cycle for Magallanes, while Padres farmhand Guillermo Quiroz went deep for Lara.

Margarita 11, Caribes 3

Diamondbacks catcher Henry Blanco homered and drove in four runs as the Bravos snapped the Caribes' seven-game winning streak. Former Major Leaguer Rene Reyes went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and two runs scored for Margarita, while Yankees catching prospect Jose Gil had two hits, including an RBI triple, in the losing effort.
Jerome Williams was 4-0 with a 3.68 ERA in 10 games, including six starts, for the Angels. (Harry How/Getty Images)

La Guaira 7, Caracas 6

Major League veteran Gregor Blanco collected three hits and three RBIs as the Tiburones snapped a three-game losing streak. Former Rays farmhand Cesar Suarez capped a three-run ninth inning with a sacrifice fly for La Guaira, while Gregorio Petit went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored for Caracas.

Zulia 4, Aragua 2

Phillies prospect Freddy Galvis' bases-loaded triple in the sixth inning sent the Aguilas on the way to their third straight win. Blue Jays outfielder Darin Mastroianni went 3-for-3 and scored a run in his second straight multi-hit game for Zulia. Former Major Leaguer Edgardo Alfonzo had two hits and an RBI in a losing cause.

Dominican Winter League

Aguilas 8, Escogido 1

Minor League veteran Mario Alvarez allowed one hit -- a solo homer to Cubs prospect Steve Clevenger -- over five innings in the Aguilas' second straight win. Wilin Rosario, the Rockies' No. 1 prospect, smacked a three-run homer and former Marlins farmhand Juan Carlos Perez chipped in two RBIs for Cibaenas.

Licey 8, Estrellas 1

Royals prospect Mario Santiago struck out five over five shutout innings to help the Tigres climb into a three-way tie for second place. Astros infielder Anderson Hernandez went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a pair of runs scored, while Indians farmhand Jerad Head and Chris Marrero (National) each drove in two runs for Licey.

Toros at Gigantes, postponed

Mexican Pacific League

Navojoa 4, Guasave 3 (1st game)

Former Orioles Minor Leaguer Kraig Binick homered to power the Mayos past the Algodoñeros in the first game of a doubleheader. Christian Zazueta and Amadeo Zazueta also went yard for Navojoa, while former Padres farmhand Jesus Lopez drove in two runs for Guasave.

Guasave 2, Navojoa 0 (2nd game)

Reds Minor Leaguer James Avery gave up two hits over five innings to help the Algodoñeros salvage the nightcap of their doubleheader. Eduardo Arredondo went 3-for-4 and scored a run at the top of the lineup for Guasave, while Braves outfielder Matt Young had one of the three hits for Navojoa.

Los Mochis 3, Mexicali 0

Rockies prospect Alejandro Barraza allowed two hits over seven scoreless innings for his second win as the Cañeros handed the first-place Aguilas their third straight loss. Jesus Arredondo supplied all of the offense with a bases-loaded triple in the third.

Obregon 2, Hermosillo 1

Former Padres farmhand Rolando Valdez gave up a run on two hits over six innings to win his third consecutive start as the Yaquis edged last-place Hermosillo. Ex-Braves Minor Leaguer Barbaro Canizares homered for the second straight game for Obregon, while former big leaguer Erubiel Durazo had two hits and the lone RBI for the Tomateros.

Culiacan 7, Mazatlan 2

Rangers farmhand Luis Cruz went 4-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs to power the Tomateros to their third straight win. Diamondbacks prospect Cole Gillespie singled twice and scored a run for Culiacan, while Minor League veteran Jon Weber went 2-for-3 and drove in both runs for the Venados.

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Dominican Winter League

•Kelvin De La Cruz (RP, Aguilas Cibaenas): 0.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 0 K. The fall of De La Cruz continues. His usage has been limited to 1-2 batters an outing this fall and he is still having issues throwing strikes with 4 walks in 1.2 innings pitched. He has amazingly made 6 appearances and pitched just 1.2 innings.

•Jerad Head (RF, Tigres del Licey): 1-for-3, R, 2B, 2 RBI. Head is a free agent and free to sign with any team. It is possible he returns to the Indians, but appears remote.

•Juan Diaz (SS, Estrelles de Oriente): 0-for-1, BB. Diaz came into the game late as a substitution and has not played much of late, though when you are hitting .115 you won’t get much playing time.

Venezuelan Winter League

•Luis Valbuena (2B, Cardenales de Lara): 0-for-3, BB, 2 K. After a good start to his fall campaign, Valbuena has scuffled in his last ten games hitting .206/.341/.353.

•Ezequiel Carrera (CF, Navegantes del Magallanes): 1-for-5, R. Carrera is hitting .333 so far in his first 6 games this fall, but of more interest is how productive he has been so far with 3 extra base hits, 4 RBI, 7 runs scores, and 2 stolen bases.

•Hector Rondon (RP, Leones del Caracas): 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K. Rondon has probably been the story of the Indians offseason so far as he pitched well in Instructional League and has continued to pitch well in Venezuela. In 6.2 innings he has allowed 4 hits and has 5 strikeouts. The 5 walks are a concern, but expected coming off Tommy John.

Ernesto Frieri, right-handed reliever who threw 63.0 innings this year with the Padres, reported yesterday to the Magallanes Navigators. The Colombian, 26, arrived with the full confidence of manager Carlos Garcia, who considers a future closer in the majors. Frieri set foot in Venezuela yesterday at noon, and night was uniform in the park Jose Bernardo Perez.

:: NEWS

Jerad Head immersive in a big way with the Tigers

November 3, 2011 1:42 a.m. by Alexander Gomez Director of Media

SANTO DOMINGO .-


When a team is involved in a winning streak there are details that stand out and others go unnoticed. That is the case with the work of Jerad Head.

The outfielder imported for the Tigers, currently has a streak of nine consecutive games hit safely, which began on 19 October.

During that time, the U.S. is hitting .312 (32-10) with two homers, three RBIs, nine runs scored, a stolen base and a .421 OBP.

Head has led the Licey performance on offense so far this season thanks to his .298 average with two homers, two doubles, seven RBIs, 11 runs scored, two stolen bases, a .377 OBP, a .468 slugging percentage, a .845 OPS and on the defense made no mistakes.

Playing at home, has batted .292 while on the road to .304, with two homer and five RBIs.

With reference to his rivals, the team he has hit best against is that of the Cibao Eagles with a .400 (5-2). Against Leones he is batting .333 (15-5, 1 HR-4 CI).

All-Stars trump Taiwan in Taichung

By Paul Huang / Contributing Reporter
Taiwan’s Lin Wang-wei, right, slides into second base while MLB All-Stars shortstop Erick Aybar catches the ball in the second inning of Game 2 of the Taiwan All-Stars Series in Taichung yesterday.
Photo: Pichi Chuang, Reuters

The Taiwan All-Star Series resumed at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium last night with the MLB All-Stars downing Taiwan’s national team 5-3 in Game 2 to take a 2-0 lead in the five-game series.

The Major Leaguers wasted little time getting on the board, with Erick Aybar of the Los Angeles Angels leading off the bottom of the first with a double off Taiwan starter Wang Yao-lin (王躍霖) and scoring on an RBI groundout by Curtis Granderson of the New York Yankees for a quick 1-0 lead.

Wang got out of the inning without further damage thanks to an inning-ending double play by his defense.

MLB starter Ross Detwiler, a hard-throwing Washington Nationals left-hander, gave up back-to-back doubles in the fourth, and Huan drove in Chinese Taipei's first run.

Two more scored in the next inning against MLB reliever LaTroy Hawkins, with second baseman Han Lin driving in one with a single and designated hitter Chun-Hsiu Chen knocking another in with a base hit to give Chinese Taipei an unexpected 3-2 lead that had the capacity crowd rocking.

The All-Stars fight back with a run in the sixth on an RBI single by Ronny Paulino of the New York Mets that drove in the New York Yankees’ Robinson Cano, who led off the inning with a single to right to tie the game at 3-3.

The tie lasted less than an inning as the Major Leaguers struck again when Reddick slapped a clean double off Taiwan reliever Lo Ching-lung (羅錦龍) and scored on a passed ball, before Cano knocked in an insurance run three batters later on a stand-up double to put his team ahead for good at 5-3.

Lo suffered the loss for giving up the two runs in the seventh inning, while his counterpart Rich Thompson of the Los Angeles Angels was credited with the win for tossing two innings of hitless relief.

The two teams will suit up again for Game 3 at the Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium this evening, with the opening pitch scheduled for 6pm.

Harper homers for fifth time in six games

Nationals' top prospect goes deep again, Overbeck plates three

Even by Bryce Harper standards, this is a nice little run.

A few days after brushing off the thought that he was "locked in" at the plate, Harper -- MLB.com's No. 2 prospect -- added to his monster week with the bat, going 3-for-3 with his fifth homer in six games as Scottsdale outslugged Surprise, 10-6, in the Arizona Fall League on Thursday.

Harper's third-inning homer off Braves left-hander Sean Gilmartin (2-1) was his sixth long ball of the fall and the fifth since Oct. 26, when he began a run of three homers in three games. He has 17 RBIs in just six games.
Bryce Harper, the No. 1 pick in the 2010 Draft, has 17 RBIs in six games. (Jordan Megenhardt/MLB.com)

"I got a good pitch to hit and it went over the wall," Harper said of the 1-0 fastball he deposited over the center-field wall. "[Gilmartin] has a good slider and curve, so I was looking to jump on his fastball or cutter early. I tried to hit it into the gap, but it went a bit further than that.

"I'm feeling pretty good up there. I'm not trying to get too big, I'm just trying to swing the bat well and get some hits."

Harper's success in Arizona is a promising sign to Nationals fans and scouts alike after the 19-year-old outfielder had his first full season in the Minors cut short by a hamstring injury. He missed the final few weeks of the season with Double-A Harrisburg, but has responded well since joining Scottsdale -- he's batting .323 with 21 hits and three steals in 17 games.

"I definitely am maturing," Harper explained. "I'm trying to learn from the older guys like [Brandon] Crawford and that has been huge. I'm learning when to run and not to run, I'm learning to see better pitches and I'm busting my butt every day.

"I'm trying not to chase pitcher's pitches, and when I get into an 0-2 hole, I'm learning how to battle. You can always improve every day."

Friday, Nov. 4, 2011

Iihara, Swallows rally for victory in Game 2

NAGOYA —

Masanori Ishikawa pitched seven shutout innings in a duel with fellow lefty Chen Wei-yin, pinch hitter Yasushi Iihara broke a scoreless deadlock with a solo homer in the eighth and the Yakult Swallows beat the Chunichi Dragons 3-1 to take Game 2 of the Central League Climax Series final stage on Thursday.

Yasushi Iihara

The CL champion Dragons, who had an automatic one-game lead as the pennant winner, lead the series against the second-place Swallows two games to one after their victory in Game 1 on Wednesday.

"We didn't have that many good chances but Iihara really came through for us in the clutch," said Yakult manager Junji Ogawa.

Ishikawa, who gave up two runs in 4⅔ innings in a loss in Game 2 in the first stage of the playoffs against the Yomiuri Giants, had his game face on this time as he yielded only one hit while walking two with two strikeouts at Nagoya Dome.

"I just believed that I had what it took to bring the team a victory tonight and I was off and running from the first inning," said Ishikawa, who got his first win of the Climax Series. "Since Nagoya Dome is a pitcher's ballpark it makes it easier to attack the strike zone," said Ishikawa, who was pitching on three days' rest.

Shohei Tateyama, pitching on five days' rest since his Game 1 start against Yomiuri, made a two-inning relief appearance from the eighth and got Masahiro Araki to fly out to center for the third out with a runner on second after issuing a walk to Yohei Oshima.

Tateyama, who went 11-5 during the regular season, surrendered a one-out solo drive to Masahiko Morino in the ninth but got the final two outs to close out the game.

Iihara belted a shot off Chen over the left-field wall with two outs in the eighth.

Kazuhiro Hatakeyama, who went just 2-for-14 (.143) with no RBIs in the first stage, replaced Josh Whitesell at first in the seventh and had a two-run single in the ninth to cushion the lead.

"Ishikawa also was throwing some great stuff and the RBIs by Hatakeyama were huge. We can't afford to lose any more," Ogawa said.

The CL champion Dragons, who had an automatic one-game lead as the pennant winner, lead the series against the second-place Swallows two games to one after their victory in Game 1 on Wednesday.

Nice incentive to win the league championship. The first place team gets an automatic win in game one of the playoff series.

Thursday, Nov. 3, 2011

Dragons take opening game

NAGOYA —

Kazuki Yoshimi threw one-run ball over 7⅓ strong innings and Masahiko Morino drove in both of his team's runs as the Chunichi Dragons edged the Tokyo Yakult Swallows 2-1 in Game 1 of the Central League Climax Series final stage on Wednesday.

Blazing start: Dragons third baseman Masahiko Morino hits an RBI single during the third inning of Game 1 of the CL Climax Series final stage on Wednesday at Nagoya Dome. Morino drove in two runs in Chunichi's 2-1 win over Yakult. KYODO]

The CL champion Dragons, who received an automatic one-win lead and home field advantage as the pennant winner, took a 2-0 lead in the series against the second-place Swallows. The first team to reach four wins advances to the best-of-seven Japan Series.

"That was a good game, wasn't it? I was wondering how things would turn out since it was our first game in two weeks," said outgoing Chunichi manager Hiromitsu Ochiai. "I guess I worried too much. The players are well rested and moving well."

Yoshimi, an 18-game winner who was 4-0 with a 1.22 ERA against Yakult during the regular season, scattered five hits and struck out two in a 112-pitch outing at Nagoya Dome.

"Winning the first game was very important, so I'm relieved," said Yoshimi, who made his first career start in the opening game of postseason play.

Hirokazu Ibata had a one-out double down the left-field line in the bottom of the first and scored the opening run on Morino's double to right-center. Morino added a run-scoring single in the third.

Yakult catcher Ryoji Aikawa, who homered in Game 3 of the first stage against the third-place Yomiuri Giants, had a leadoff double in the third and reached third on a sacrifice bunt by Yakult starter Tatsuyoshi Masubuchi.

Norichika Aoki drew a walk to put runners at the corners, but Yoshimi struck out Hiroyasu Tanaka swinging and got Kazuki Fukuchi to ground out to end the threat.

The Swallows placed runners at first and second with one out in the sixth, and Yoshimi delivered once again on flyouts by Kazuhiro Hatakeyama and Shinya Miyamoto.

Yakult cut the deficit in half against reliever Takuya Asao, who inherited a runner and yielded a base hit in the eighth, when Aoki scored from third on Fukuchi's groundball to shortstop Masahiro Araki on a failed attempt at a double play.

Asao struggled to contain his wildness, walking a pair of batters in the ninth before all-time saves leader Hitoki Iwase got Josh Whitesell to ground out to third to record the final out.

Masubuchi, who went 7-11 with a 4.22 ERA in 27 appearances in 2011, was done after allowing two runs and four hits in just 2⅓ innings.

Game 2 of the series, which could potentially go six games, is Thursday night in Nagoya.

The Swallows, who beat Yomiuri two games to one in the first stage of the playoffs, are aiming to play in the Japan Series for the first time in 10 years.

"We really struggled to score. We were lucky to limit the damage to the two runs by Masubuchi. The way we played it was only natural that we lost this game. You don't get that many chances against the Chunichi pitching staff," said Yakult manager Junji Ogawa.

Cubs to monitor Zambrano's start in Venezuela

By Carrie Muskat / MLB.com | 11/03/11 6:45 PM ET

CHICAGO --

The Cubs will have someone in Venezuela to watch Carlos Zambrano on Sunday, when the right-hander makes his first start for Caribes of the Venezuelan Winter League.

Zambrano has not pitched in a game since Aug. 12. The 30-year-old veteran was ejected from that game in Atlanta, then left the ballpark, saying he was retiring. He has since said that the retirement comment was made out of frustration after he served up five home runs in that start. The right-hander was placed on the 30-day restricted list and did not rejoin the Cubs.

Zambrano tuned up for Sunday's start with a 40-pitch outing on Tuesday.

"I think it's a good thing [that he's pitching], under the circumstances," said Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein. "He probably needs the innings. It could be good for his state of mind to get out there and perform."

Epstein has talked to Zambrano's agent, Barry Praver, and would like to talk to the pitcher next week, if possible.