More mosaics from the NY subway system, this time at Times Square."El beisbol con orgullo" (baseball with pride) is on an outfield billboard at Casas Geo Stadium in Mexicali, Mexico, courtesy of the White Sox. Pride has certainly been a big part of the Serie del Caribe, now in its last day of games. The series, however, 'ended' last night when Venezuela beat Mexico and secured the championship.
I've watched several of the 5 pm games and bits of the 9 pm ones. As the host nation, Mexico got to start all of the later games, avoiding both the afternoon shadows that plagued the earlier matches and the empty seats. Each day the stadium started filling up only when the Mexican team fans started trickling in. The MLBN announcers kept talking about how much more passionate the Latin fans are, but Uri Betenguer last night was delusional when he suggested that the crowds in Mexicali outdid World Series crowds. Maybe in San Diego, LA, or Houston but try Philadelphia or an Northeast city, Uri. Did he sleep through the 2008 WS? It's an apples-oranges comparison in any case and the Latin announcers would do better to talk up their product without making it.
Cookie Rojas was the color guy for the early games and was super, staying with the play on the field but adding all kinds of thoughtful insights and interesting anecdotes from his long career. Dan Plesac, too, was surprisingly good. When a former Philadelphia farmhand who never made it past single A is a starting pitcher in a playoff game, though, you have to wonder how many times more the announcers would compare the level of competition with the majors. To me, it was more interesting when they stayed with the players on the field or talked about baseball in Latin American countries and the history of the leagues and the series.
Yesterday Puerto Rico finally won a game, supposedly their first CS win since 1982. One of those "That's baseball" kind of things, I guess. Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic played the sketchiest ball of the four teams. Their hitting was pretty much invisible and their defense suspect. Pitching dominated the series, though the pitchers themselves were often not that dominant. Venezuela was the best team in the series, though the Reindeers of Mazatlan and their 'hometown' fans put up a good fight. And yes, I know that advertising pays the freight, but the ads on all of the unis have got to go.
I won't be watching today's games but would love one day to go to the CS or for that matter winter ball. Meanwhile, thanks to the MLBN broadcasts I could tune out the self-serving Torre-Verducci book (yawn) flap and the Bonds' indictment. Just as I type that, though, the news comes across that in 2003 Alex Rodriguez reportedly tested positive for two kinds of steroids and that players were being tipped off about test dates. It would be a joke if it weren't so depressing. Not to mention that all of the big names get to skate and J.C. Romero gets nailed for using a supplement containing traces of a substance that wasn't even banned when he took it. El beisbol con orgullo.
