Viva Beisbol

A seven-game winning streak lifted the Campeche Piratas from early mediocrity to the leadership of the Mexican League's South Division in which three teams trail the defending Liga champions by just one game. The streak included a three-game road sweep of lowly Laguna and two more wins at the beginning of a trifecta in Tijuana.

Things aren't quite as close in the LMB North, with Monterrey two games up on Saltillo and Aguascalientes. Like Campeche, the Sultanes got off to a .500 start in the first week of the season before reeling off eight wins in ten outings. The rest of the division has been treading water at best, or threatening to drop out of the first half flag chase early altogether. A scary Tijuana team sits four games back as the Potros get set to host Monterrey in an important three-game stand April 12-14.

Tijuana has some good batters, but none as hot as Randall Simon. The 29-year-old ex-big leaguer has a 16-game hitting streak for the Colts, including an April 2 explosion against Oaxaca as Simon went 4-for-5 with three homers and 4 RBIs in a 15-5 pummeling of the Guerreros. A career .283 batter over seven major league seasons, the 6-footer from Curacao is blasting away at a .385 clip for Tijuana with six homers and 26 ribbies.

The Liga also noted the death of Pope John Paul II with a minute of silence at all LMB games April 3. Every Liga player, manager, coach and umpire also donned a black armband for eight days following the death of the pontiff after 26 years as head of the Catholic church. An estimated 90 percent of Mexico is Catholic.

SOUTHERN DIVISION

1) CAMPECHE PIRATAS (11-5)

The defending champs are getting it done with pitching and defense as Campeche's team ERA is a fine 3.86 in the high-scoring Liga. Nine pitcher have recorded a win. The Piratas are batting just .260 as a team, with Bill Selby carrying the big stick (.345/5/22), including all four RBIs in a 4-2 win over Tijuana April 5. Flavio Romero is hitting .339.

2T) MEXICO TIGRES (10-6)

The Tigres began 2005 with an unusual pitching rotation in which three hurlers tossed three innings every game, regardless of the score. With a 6.64 team ERA, that experiment is failing but the Tigres hit well no matter who's on the mound. Javier Robles leads Mexico with a .375 average while longtime vet Matias Carillo is batting .362.

2T) YUCATAN LEONES (10-6)

The Lions have shown a nice balance of offense and defense early on. Juan Canizales is hitting .368, Pedro Castellano is sitting pretty at .338, and Scott Bullett has .308/5/17 numbers. Among Yucatan's pitchers, Juan Manuel Palafox is 2-0 and 2.65, but the real story may be Oswaldo Verdugo, who is 2-0 with a save and a 1.17 ERA out of the bullpen.

2T) TABASCO OLMECAS (10-6)

How are they keeping up? At first glance on paper, the Olmecas are no better than a decent team that might squeak into the playoffs ahead of Cancun and Oaxaca. Instead, Tabasco is hanging in there with the big boys. Most credit among hitters goes to Julian Yan (.382/8/21), while Juan Delgadillo has been the best pitcher at 2-0 and 3.07. Like Campeche, Tabasco doesn't dazzle you . . . they just beat you.

5T) VERACRUZ ROJOS AGUILAS (8-8)

The Red Eagles lost ground in the LMB South by going 4-6 in a recent ten-game stretch. Still, Veracruz has one of the Liga's top 1-2 punches in Willis Otanez and Omar Ramirez. Otanez continues to sizzle with .438/12/30 stats to show for 16 games, while Ramirez is hitting .308 with 7 homers and 18 RBI's. The Reds hit .334 as a team, but allow 5.87 runs (though Sixto Baez hasn't allowed a run in seven appearances).

5T) PUEBLA PERICOS (8-8)

Another team rich in batters but poor in pitching, Puebla has three .400 hitters in Darrell Sherman (.429), Manny Martinez (.412) and Hector Hurtado (.404) as the team BA is at .320. The mound staff is hurting with an ERA of 5.52. The top pitcher is import Eric Knott, whose 13-2 win over Monclova April 5 gives him a 3-1 record with a 3.00 ERA. Unfortunately for the Parrots, Knott can't pitch every day.

7) CANCUN LANGOSTEROS (7-9)

The Langosteros aren't putting the fear of God into anybody, but they're not a pushover, either. Oscar Salazar has been a solid hitter with a .356 average, and part-timer Jesus Ramirez is at .385. Pitcher Ignacio Montanez is 2-0 with a 2.42 earned-run average (including seven solid inning in an April 1 8-3 win over Monclova). Cancun has slipped lately, but are still only four games out of first place.

8) OAXACA GUERREROS (6-10)

A hard team to figure out. With Felix Jose and Josmir Romero on hand, the Guerreros should not be a cellar-dwellar. Jose is batting .410 with six homers and 24 RBIs (including a three-run bomb in Oaxaca's 15-9 slugfest win over Saltillo on April 5). Romero is 2-0 with a sharp 2.45 ERA, but Warrior pitchers are allowing an astronomical 8.87 runs per game. The team will not offer tryouts to batting tees, however.

NORTHERN DIVISION

1) MONTERREY SULTANES (11-4)

Monterrey has vaulted into the LMB North leadership with timely hitting and decent pitching. Edgar Quintero stepped up with three hits and as many RBIs in a 4-1 win over Yucatan on April 1, while it was Dionys Caesar's turn on April 6 with two doubles and a single to drive in four runs as the Sultanes crushed Veracruz 12-1. Quintero is hitting .391 with Monterrey batting .320 as a team. Isauro Pineda is tops among pitchers at 3-1 with a 3.27 earned-run average.

2T) SALTILLO SARAPEROS (9-7)

A win here, a loss there. Saltillo hasn't gotten untracked yet. The loss of slugger Morgan Burkhart didn't help. Burkhart injured a hand slamming a bat rack after an out. He was hitting .467 in five games at the time. Among the healthy players, Sergio Geuerrero is at .345 (but only two RBIs). Starter Steve Bourgeois is 2-1 with a 2.62 ERA, while reliever Pascual Coco is 2-0 with a save and a microscopic 0.87 ERA.

2T) AGUASCALIENTES RIELEROS (9-7)

Eduardo Rios continues to swing the hot bat for the Railroaders, crashing 10 homers with 30 ribbies in just 15 games (including a 3-for-5 night with 5 RBIs in an April 1 win over Veracruz). Oh, and Rios is batting .467, too. Rontrez Johnson has helped with a .355 mark. Reliever Flavio Orea has been super with 2-0 and 0.90 numbers in seven games, but ex-Astro star Felipe Lira is 0-1 and 7.90 in three starts.

4T) TIJUANA POTROS (7-9)

Good hit, no pitch. The Colts are batting .333 as a team, but a pitching staff allowing 6.16 earned runs a game has not helped matters. Besides Randall Simon, the Potros have three batters at better than .350 (Emmanuel Valdez at .397, Julio Hernandez at .370 and Luis Landaeta at .358). Tijuana hurlers have given up 177 hits and 98 walks over 147 innings, however. One thing is certain thus far: Don't expect pitcher's duels with this team.

4T) MEXICO CITY DIABLOS ROJOS (7-9)

The Red Devils are muddling along in the middle of the Liga North pack. Victor Bojorquez has been a standout thus far with a .387 BA to go with five homers and 15 RBIs. Bojorquez hit two taters against the archrival Tigres in a 12-5 win on April 1, but the men from Puebla took two of three games as Mexico City went on to win only four of their most recent 10 contests. Pitcher Claudio Moreno is a solid 3-0 with a 2.84 ERA.

6) MONCLOVA ACEREROS (6-10)

The Steelers were actually 4-2 before a recent tailspin resulted in eight losses in ten games, with just two wins against struggling Cancun. Boi Rodriguez belted a two-run walk-off homer in a 5-3 win April 3, one night after starter Edwin Hurtado outlasted the Langosteros, 8-6. Guillermo Garcia leads Monclova with a snappy .397 batting average while Jason Jacome's 1-1 record belies a nice 2.62 ERA. This team has holes.

7) SAN LUIS TUNEROS (5-11)

The Tuneros stumbled out of the gate and haven't found their footing yet, as a 3-7 mark over their last 10 games would attest. Darryl Brinkley and Pat O'Sullivan are batting .379 and .367, respectively, with 11 RBIs apiece. Pitcher Humberto Montemayor is 2-0 with a 4.43 ERA, but San Luis is a team that has difficulty getting outs. The Tuneros are allowing 6.35 runs per game, and that just won't cut it over the long haul.

8) LAGUNA VAQUEROS (4-12)

As the sun sinks slowly into the west, so do Torreon's Laguna Cowboys. They have a five-game losing skid and have won just one of their past ten games (including a three-game sweep at the hands of Campeche). Just 16 games into the season, Laguna is seven games behind first-place Monterrey. There is a ray of hope, however: The Vaqueros have three games against equally-struggling San Luis on April 12-14.

MEXICAN BASEBALL ROAD TRIP

Merida, Yucatan

One of the treasures among Mexican cities, Merida is located on the Yucatan Peninsula a stone's throw from centuries-old Mayan ruins. Merida was founded by Spanish conquistadores in the mid 1500's. It is nicknamed the "White City" in part because of its many white limestone buildings, but also because it is considered one of the cleanest cities in the country (in fact, streets are cleaned twice daily). Merida residents claim the lowest crime rate in Mexico.

Over the centuries, Merida enjoyed a degree of autonomy because of the difficulty Spanish troops encountered defending the area from native rebels. Legend has it that Mayan fighters were on the verge of taking control of the city before many warriors had to leave the battle for home planting season. More recently, Merida was a world center for trade in henequin, a material used for making rope before the development of synthetic fibers made henequin virtually obselete in the early 1900's. A century ago, Merida was reputed to have more millionaires per capita than any city in the world, and that wealth is reflected in the heavily-European style of architecture throughout the city of 700,000. It is hot and humid during the summer in Merida, but winters are fairly mild. Given the tropical climate, rainfall is a constant companion during the wet season.

Merida has served as home for the Yucatan Leones ever since their inception decades ago. While the Lions have usually fielded solid teams built around pitching and defense, they only have a 1984 LMB pennant to show for the past 35 seasons. Last year, Yucatan went 43-57 before being eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by Mexico City. The Lions play at 13,600-seat Kulkucan Stadium, one of the nicest and largest facilities in the Mexican League. Kulkucan is considered a pitcher's park, partly due to a fairly spacious outfield but also because the ball does not carry well in the moist Gulf of Mexico air streaming through Yucatan. While Merida fans have not had a pennant winner in 20 years, they are among the best and most faithful in Mexico as the Leones yearly are near the top of LMB attendance tables. In 2005, over 5,000 fans per games watched games at Kulkukan (fourth in the Liga).

NEXT STOP: Campeche

MAESTROS OF MEXICO

Ramon Arano, Pitcher (1959-2001)

Ramon Arano Bravo was born July 24, 1939 in Tierra Blanca, Veracruz. The diminutive (5'8") Arano made his Liga debut for Poza Rica in 1959. He stands as the only pitcher in pro baseball to play in six decades. He retired in 1986 before coming back in 1995 with Veracruz, throwing one game in 1998 with Cordoba, and finally made one three-inning appearance in 2001 while he was a 62-year-old pitching coach for Veracruz. In all, Arano played in a total of 32 seasons (a Mexican League record) with eight teams.

While Arano never reached 20 wins in a season, the workhorse hurler won 10 or more game 18 times and holds LMB career record for wins (334), shutouts (57), complete games (297), inning pitched (4,773) and pitching appearances (811). He also played winter ball in the Mexican Pacific League for 15 seasons, compiling a deceptive 89-84 record with a solid 2.81 ERA with a no-hitter. Among other career highlights, Arano shut out Cleveland 4-0 in a 1967 exhibition game, but he saved the best for the following year. In a game in Mexico City, Arano beat Jim Bouton and the New York Yankees, 5-3, striking out Mickey Mantle twice.

Arano, who still live in his native Veracruz, was inducted into the Mexican Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993. His nickname as a player was "Don Pantalones" (loosely translated, "The Man Who Wears The Big Pants"). A good name for the most-reliable pitcher in Mexican baseball history.

NEXT MAESTRO: Ronnie Camacho

VIVA BEISBOL TRIVIA QUIZ

This Issue's Quiz: Which all-time great LMB second baseman will manage the Northwest League's Vancouver Canadians this summer? (Answer will be given in the April 20 issue of Viva Beisbol)

Answer to Previous Quiz: The Campeche Piratas won their first Liga pennant in 1983.

NOTE TO READERS:

We have changed the name of this newsletter from Pelotero to Viva Beisbol, effective this issue. Viva Beisbol will be offered three times per month during the Mexican League and Mexican Pacific League seasons, once per month between schedules. FREE subscriptions to Viva Beisbol are available by simply e-mailing your request to vivabeisbol@hotmail.com.

For more frequent coverage of Mexican League baseball, log on to the Liga website at www.lmb.com or to Carlos "The Latin Insider" Fragoso's column at www.baseballguru.com.

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