Cleveland Sports Forum

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Columbia

Camaines 7 Tigres 6. For the Tigres, Giovanny Urshella was 1-3 with a walk and an rbi. On the year Urshella has raised the average a few point now hitting .220 on 9 hits in 41 at bats, 2 doubles and a triple.

Joe:

Steven Wright is 27 years old, has pitched in a grand total of 12 AAA games with an ERA over 6. His career is going nowhere, but feel free to root for him having a late breakthrough.

As you posted Civ, he's probably going nowhere. I just like what I saw with respect to that knuckleball. It's as good as I've seen. Hopefully, he will learn to throw it more consistently for strikes.

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ImpACTA Kids Foundation holds annual clinic

Program led by Indians skipper offers instruction to underprivileged

By Mario Emilio Guerrero / Special to MLB.com | 12/10/11 5:04 PM EST

With the support of Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Alumni Association, the ImpACTA Kids Foundation, founded and headed by Indians manager Manny Acta, held its third annual baseball clinic for underprivileged youths on Saturday in the Terreno de Cocolos complex in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.

The event, led by Acta himself, offered free instruction to more than 300 teenagers on the baseball fields of the aforementioned complex.

Among the instructors were Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano and Indians pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez, as well as former ballplayers Juan Ramon Bernhardt, Hector Eduardo, Andres Santana and Francisco Morales.
Manny Acta worked with over 300 teenagers in the Terreno de Cocolos complex in San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic. (AP)

Acta worked with all of the participants, devoting 15 minutes each to groups of 20 to 25 youngsters during which he spoke of the proper execution of baseball fundamentals.

In a chat with the press, Acta expressed satisfaction with the support he has received to organize these clinics. He points out that for the third year in a row he has been able to hold the event right after the Winter Meetings, which this year took place in Dallas.

Acta also revealed that a third ballpark in the Terreno de Cocolos complex named after ex-big leaguer Julio Franco will be unveiled Thursday. Currently, the complex includes two baseball fields, named after native sons Sammy Sosa and Rico Carty, as well as a multi-use indoor facility that bears the name of Alfredo Griffin.

Sosa, Carty, Griffin and Franco are products of the former Consuelo sugar mill community, as is Acta, who is paying homage to these figures with the naming of the various facilities. A fourth stadium that will bear the name of Rafael Batista, another star from the Consuelo sugar mill area, is also in the works.

The lands on which the Terreno de Cocolos sit were donated to the ImpACTA Kids Foundation in 2007 by the State Sugar Council and the Sports Ministry, in an area that belonged to the no longer extant Consuelo sugar mill.

"Since then we began to build sporting infrastructure for the benefit of the children and young people of this community," the Indians skipper said. "Currently, between 300 and 400 kids and youngsters come to the complex to practice baseball, which gives us a lot of satisfaction because if they didn't have this place to train, it is likely they would be involved in unwholesome activities.

"Our multi-use indoor facility has classrooms where kids come every day to study and do homework, and they are not allowed to play baseball until they have done so. Save the Children is helping us set up the classrooms and get computers. We are grateful for all that the organization is doing to help these young people. We also have volunteer teachers who teach for free as a contribution to our community."

As for what has motivated him to work on behalf of his community, Acta said, "Since I was a young man, I swore that if I had this opportunity I would come help my people of the Consuelo sugar mill.

"I have always felt that the biggest problem that affects our country is the lack of education, and that is why I want to help to change that," he added. "This is a problem that will take time to solve, which is why we need to start now so that we can have a different country.

"When I was named manager of the Nationals, I invited reporters from the Washington Post to visit the Consuelo sugar mill region so they could see where I was born and where I began playing baseball. The hope was that they would realize the situation in the Dominican Republic and how the lack of opportunity limits the lives of many youngsters. That is the reason why I am helping my people, so they have a chance to get ahead and achieve all that I have achieved.

"To continue with the work we have begun," Acta added, "we need the support of the government or an NGO to help out with maintenance and to provide surveillance and security for the complex, so as to avoid having stolen all that we have worked so hard to get."

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Panama

The fourth game of the Panamanian Championship Series is scheduled to start in approximately 10 minute. The Roneros lead the Diablos is this series 3 game to 0, best of 7. I've been surprised by the play and the players in this league. The players are bigger and stronger than I imagined. I was pretty disappointed with the crowds for this series. Sparse to say the least. I'm expecting to see Danny Salazar to start this one. The news reports are all past tense with pretty poor coverage leading up to games, so it's difficult to predict who will be playing.

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Darvish's appeal rises above recent shift

Adapting and succeeding can be difficult for Japanese players

By Tom Singer / MLB.com | 12/09/11 10:00 AM EST

And so the buzz amplifies over Yu Darvish, which is understandable because there aren't many 25-year-old right-handers with the stature, repertoire and accomplishments of the pitcher freshly posted by Japan's Nippon Ham Fighters.

Darvish will get a lot of attention from well-heeled teams seeking pitching help during the bidding period, which ends Wednesday. The winner's total outlay is expected to exceed Boston's record total investment of $103 million five years ago in Daisuke Matsuzaka -- who elicited a $51 million bid and a $52 million contract because he was young (26), and Darvish is even younger.

Darvish's unique appeal thus raises him far above the rest of the Japanese market, which appears to have entered a bearish phase in the estimation of Major League Baseball executives.

Put it this way: Although in hindsight this now seems incredible, in 2004 the New York Mets thought so much of shortstop Kazuo Matsui that they actually made room for him by bumping Jose Reyes to second base.

This week, another All-Star shortstop in Japan, Hiroyuki Nakajima, drew a modest high-bid of $2 million from a team, the Yankees, that evidently projects him to be a reserve.

"Nakajima had about the same stats in Japan as Kazuo," said Robert Whiting, an author and renowned expert on Japanese baseball and ballplayers. "Clear evidence that the love affair with Japan is over."

This could be particularly true of position players, the last of whom to make a true impact was Hideki Matsui, whose debut season with the Yankees was nine seasons ago. However, it also relates to pitchers, who rode the first wave from Japan but have had little sustained success since Hideo Nomo.

Only a couple hours before Darvish took to his blog to announce his long-awaited decision, in fact, the posting period for Hiroki Sanada ended with the Yokohama reliever becoming only the third player not to draw a single bid.

Pitchers, at least, have continued to show an upside, even if only in bursts. Matsuzaka was 33-15 in his first two Red Sox seasons, the same period during which lefty Hideki Okajima was a feared weapon in Boston's bullpen. Although he didn't make the move until he was 33, Hiroki Kuroda has put in four solid seasons in the Dodgers rotation with an overall 3.45 ERA in 114 starts. Takashi Saito has relieved for four postseason teams in his six Major League seasons, working in a total of 322 games with an ERA never higher than 2.83.

Position players in the footsteps of Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui? Very little encouragement: None have hit higher than .268 (infielder Tadahito Iguchi and catcher Kenji Johjima). Very little power: Kosuke Fukudome hit 101 home runs in his last four seasons in Japan before getting a four-year, $48 million deal with the Cubs, and has totaled 42 homers in four Major League seasons.

"There used to be a feeling that if a guy was a superstar in Japan, he'll be a superstar here. I don't think you can say that anymore," said Jim Duquette, now with MLB Network but eight years ago the Mets general manager who pursued and signed Kaz Matsui. "It's become more a case of 'buyer beware.' We've seen the track record, and it hasn't been great."

The assimilation of Japanese ballplayers into Major League Baseball unfolded in steady, well-defined stages.

The pioneers were starting pitchers (with the historical exception of reliever Masanori Murakami of the 1964-65 Giants), led by Nomo, who joined the Dodgers in 1995. His 43 wins in his first three seasons included a no-hitter in the pitchers' hell of Coors Field.

They were followed by setup relievers (Shigetoshi Hasegawa was an underrated weapon for the 1997-2001 Angels), then closers (Seattle's Kazuhiro Sasaki, the 2000 American League Rookie of the Year who saved 119 games from 2000-02).

Next came small-ball outfielders (Ichiro in 2001 became the first regular), then sluggers (Hideki Matsui, a.k.a. Godzilla). Finally, middle infielders (Kaz Matsui), which is where the tide appeared to turn.

Kaz Matsui, who had been such a dynamic and exciting threat in Japan, forced Major League talent evaluators to begin taking a hard look at the factors that influence -- or can prevent -- crossover success.

The depth of the talent on big-league teams is the biggest hurdle; it is a game without letup.

"You try to evaluate talent in Japan, but they don't face the same caliber of pitching night in and night out," said one Pacific Rim scout. "Pitching here is a lot deeper than it is in Japan. The top relief pitchers in Japan who come here become middle relievers."

It is also a game with a different pace and mentality.

"Japanese baseball is not a very aggressive game," Whiting pointed out. "You seldom see brushback pitches, or pitchers retaliating for hit batsmen, or basepath collisions. Japanese infielders seem intimidated by the tougher American game. [Kaz] Matsui seemed afraid of the inside fastball and the spikes-high slides of baserunners trying to break up the double play. [Tsuyoshi] Nishioka didn't know how to handle the double play."

Whiting was referring to the Gold Glove batting champion for whom the Twins paid $15 million a year ago, between the posting fee and a three-year contract. Nishioka batted .226 in 68 games -- 120 points below his 2010 average for Chiba Lotte -- around two months on the disabled list with a fractured left leg, suffered when he couldn't avoid a takeout slide by the Yankees' Nick Swisher.

"It's just a tough adjustment, all in all," Whiting continued. "A player has to learn 30 different parks, different umpires, different strike zones. A batter has to learn 30 different pitching staffs. Pitchers have to learn 30 different batting orders."

Competition shock is accompanied by culture shock, which cannot be minimized for players from such a tradition-bound country as Japan -- which, not so incidentally, is also quite a bit smaller.

"I remember talking to Kaz about it," Duquette said, "and he said the travel really wore on him. In Japan, you're not on the road as much, you don't do as much flying, with the crazy hours, as we do."

"Different food, different language. A guy might have the physical ability and still be unable to make the mental adjustment," Whiting cautioned. "You just never know how a guy will do in the Majors until he actually goes and tries to do it."

That even goes for a beguiling prospect such as Darvish, on whom Major League talent mavens have kept a close watch for years.

"He's extremely talented," said general manager Brian Cashman of the Yankees, who are expected to join the bidding, "but in terms of how it transitions and everything else like that, it's hard to say. I wouldn't even want to speculate."

There is a price for finding out, and it will be set in the bidding, followed by the winning team's exclusive 30-day negotiating window with Darvish and his agent, Don Nomura.

Well! a lot of pre-game ceremonies. The umps are on the field, the players are taking their positions, and the Panama National Anthem is being played. Play Ball!

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Roneros 1st

Single, 5-4-3 dp, bb, single, single 2 runs batted in, 3 unassisted. 2-0 Roneros.

Campos pitching for Roneros (No Salazar).

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Diablos 1st

Double, single rbi, pop up to second, single, single (bases loaded), short fly to center 2 out, flyball to wall in center 3 out. 2-1 Roneros.

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Roneros 2nd

single, strikeout, 6-3 dp. 2-1 Roneros.

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Diablos 2nd

single, fielder's choice, triple rbi. Roneros 2 Diablos 2.

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Roneros 3rd

single out trying to steal, double, fly to center, walk, walk, bases loaded, liner to right 3rd out. Roneros 2 Diablos 2.

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Diablos 3rd

single, fly to center, single, 5-4-3 dp. Roneros 2 Diablos 2.

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Roneros 4th

6-3, hp, flyout to center, 2-3 pickoff, runner comes off bag re-tag. Roneros 2 Diablos 2.