Viva Beisbol
by Bruce Baskin
Published on September 9, 2005 under Mexican League (ML)
The Angelopolis Tigres are the 2005 Mexican League champions after defeating the Saltillo Saraperos in an entertaining series that went six games before the Tigres closed it out with a come-from-behind 4-3 win over Saltillo at Brothers Serdan Stadium in Puebla on September 7.
All season long, pitching had been a concern as Angelopolis had one of the more generous staffs in the Liga heading into the playoffs. While the Tigres' team ERA of 5.89 during the regular season was tolerable due to a tremendous offense that bludgeoned opposing LMB pitchers with a Liga-high .339 batting average, there were concerns that Saltillo's superior mound staff could make the difference in a best-of-seven series. As it turns out, Angelopolis hurlers more than held their own at the end by allowing just eight runs in the final three games after coughing up 25 Saltillo tallies over the first three. And there were the Robles brothers.
Shortstop Javier Robles, who led the LMB in batting during the regular season with a cool .393 average, battered a good Saraperos staff with a .520 BA in the finals, including a three-run homer in Game One, a 3-for-4 night with four RBIs in Game Three, and a two-run homer plus a double in Game Four. Brother Trini had the decisive blow in Game One with a pinch-hit two-run double and belted a two-run round-tripper in Game Five, and finished the series with a .364 average.
The flag is the Tigres' fourth since 1997, and their first since moving from Mexico City to the Puebla area earlier this decade. They were one of two teams in the LMB (Mexico City's Diablos Rojos being the other) to field an all-Mexican lineup, which would have made former owner Alejo Peralta proud. Peralta was a force in the LMB for decades, and the Liga dedicated this season in his honor as the Tigres played their 50th campaign. Angelopolis also had an unusual philosophy in which a "pitching by committee" practically ensured that starters would be yanked no matter how they were doing, as the Tigres finished with just two complete games in 2005.
It's hard to say it didn't work.
LIGA MEXICANA CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Tigres defeat Saltillo, 4 games to 2
GAME ONE (August 30): Tigres 10, Saltillo 5
Brothers Trini and Javier Robles combined for five RBIs in the seventh and eighth innings to lead the Angelopolis Tigres to a series-opening 10-5 win over Saltillo on a rainy night at Serdan Brothers Stadium in Puebla. A seventh-inning homer by Saltillo's Jayson Bass tied the game at 5-5, but a bases-loaded pinch-hit double by Trini Robles drove in two runs to put the Tigres back on top for good at 7-5. One inning later, Javier Robles drilled a three-run homer to seal the Saraperos' fate. Reliever Jesus Guzman took the win for Angelopolis, while Miguel Angel Gonzales suffered the loss for Saltillo.
GAME TWO (August 31): Saltillo 10, Angelopolis 7
The Saraperos scored seven runs in the fourth inning to break open a one-run game and cruise to a finals-tying 10-7 win. Mario Valenzuela had given Saltillo a 2-1 lead with a second inning home run, but things got wild two frames later as the Sarape Men sent 12 batters to the plate with six of them singling and Morgan Burkhart swatting a two-run double. The Tigres changed pitchers three times that inning, with Baudell Zambrano closing the wounds by striking out Valenzuela and Jorge Luis Valle. Too little, too late. Rigo Beltran got the win for Saltillo despite allowing four runs in 5.1 innings in relief.
GAME THREE (September 3): Tigres 19, Saltillo 10
Four Liga records were tied as the Tigres bombed the Saraperos, 19-10, to pull ahead in the series. Angelopolis' Matias Carrillo went 5-for-6 to tie the mark for most hits in a single game as Carrillo drove in three runs and Javier Robles (3-for-4) drive in four to key the Tigres' record-tying 19-run outburst. Saltillo starting pitcher Steve Bourgeois, one of the LMB's best, went into the game shaken by the damage to his native New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina and was chased after allowing seven runs in just three innings of work. Saltillo sent ten pitchers to the hill while both teams combined to use 16 hurlers in this rain-delayed game.
GAME FOUR (September 4): Saltillo 4, Tigres 3
Unlike the first three games of the series, this one was a decent showcase for pitching as Saltillo's Rafael Diaz spun a solid 7.2 innings of mound work in scattering three runs and eight hits. Morgan Burkhart's three-run single in the fifth was the difference for the Saraperos, who knotted the series up at two games apiece. Jose Mercedes came out of the Saltillo bullpen in the ninth to save the win. Angelopolis catcher Adan Munoz had three of the Tigres' nine hits, including a solo homer, as Pablo Ortega took the loss.
GAME FIVE (September 5): Tigres 4, Saltillo 1
A masterful pitching performance by Luis Rivera put Angelopolis in the driver's seat as the Tigres quieted the Saraperos 4-1 in front of 16,000 fans at Francisco Madero Park in Saltillo. Rivera allowed just three hits over six innings, with only Jayson Bass' two-out solo homer in the bottom of the first denting his armor. Trini Robles followed his Game One heroics with a two-run homer in the fifth off Rigo Beltran, who pitched well in the loss for Saltillo. Luis Suarez, who ironically was pinch-hitting for Robles, hit a homer in the ninth to seal the win as Adrian Manzano shut out Saltillo in the bottom of the inning for the save.
GAME SIX (September 7): Tigres 4, Saltillo 3
Javier Robles went 2-for-3 at the plate with a double and a two-run homer to lead the Tigres to the win and the Liga title for 2005. Guillermo Velasquez aided the effort with a bases-loaded walk and a homer of his own. Saltillo starter Steve Bourgeois rebounded from a Game Three shelling to pitch six solid innings, allowing one run while scattering four hits. However, reliever Jose Mercedes blew the lead in the seventh as the Saraperos failed to win the flag for the first time since 1980 despite homers from Noe Munoz and Christian Presichi.
MEXICAN BASEBALL ROAD TRIP: On hiatus
Change in schedule. After looking a little closer at a map of Mexico (never a bad thing to do on a Road Trip), it was quickly determined that Mexicali, not Hermosillo, is the logical place to resume our tour of the 23 cities hosting pro baseball in Mexico. Mexicali is home to the Mexican Pacific League's northernmost franchise, not to mention part of the title of a Grateful Dead song (which will NOT be discussed when we go back on the road next month, although it's not a bad tune).
NEXT VISIT: Mexicali, Baja California Norte
MAESTROS OF MEXICO: Angel Moreno, Pitcher (1975-present)
One of the most consistent and well-respected pitchers in LMB history, Angel Moreno is still throwing in the 90's as a 50-year-old pitcher for the Veracruz Red Eagles, for whom he went 6-4 even though his ERA was a hefty 6.04 over 20 starts. Those six wins (ranking third on the Veracruz staff) gives Moreno a Liga career total of 263, trailing only leader Ramon Arano's 334. He also recorded 50 strikeouts in 98 innings to run his career total to 2210, good enough for third all-time behind Jesus Rios and Arano.
Angel Moreno Veneroso was born June 6, 1955 in Soledad de Doblado, Veracruz. He debuted with Aguascalientes in 1975, going 0-1 in three relief appearances. After a 5-5 campaign in 1976, Moreno went 63-33 for the Rieleros the next four years in becoming one of the best young pitchers in Mexico. Moreno then went on to play ball in the USA for five years, including stints with Anaheim in 1981 and 1982. He was only 4-10 with a 4.03 ERA in the majors, but those four wins included a 1-0 shutout over the White Sox in his big league debut on September 22, 1981 and triumphs over Ron Guidry and Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry five days apart the following year.
The 5'9" 165-pound lefty returned to Mexico in 1986 and spent the next nine years with the Mexico City Tigres, winning between 10 and 18 games eight times (he was 18-7 in 1992). He went to Nuevo Laredo in 1995, going an incredible 16-3 over 22 starts with a 3.20 ERA. Later on, he was 13-6 with a Liga-best 1.96 ERA for Yucatan in 1998, and then in 2000 (at age 45) was 13-6 for the Mexico City Diablos Rojos after taking off the 1999 season. In all, Moreno has spent 25 years pitching for eight teams in the Liga. During the winter, he has pitched well enough over 27 campaigns to rank as the Mexican Pacific League's third all-time winningest pitcher (134-109), and is fourth on the career strikeout list (1271). Surprisingly, Moreno has never thrown a no-hitter in any league.
BaseballGuru.com's Carlos "The Latin Insider" Fragoso calls him "a manager's pitcher. When you needed to win a clutch game, it was nobody but Moreno. He's known as a very dominant pitcher. Good command and a good fastball, but taking batters for his command rather than fireballing." Moreno is the oldest player in the Liga, and a sure bet for the Salon de la Fama. If he ever retires, that is.
NEXT MAESTRO: Miguel Suarez, Outfielder (1971-87)
VIVA BEISBOL TRIVIA QUIZ
Answer to last issue's Quiz: The last player to have won a Triple Crown in the LMB was outfielder Ty Gainey, who had a monster year for the Mexico City Diablos Rojos in 1992. The left-handed South Carolina native crashed 47 homers and drove in 133 runs while batting .360 in his first full season in Mexico (He batted .400 and .427 over 235 at-bats in 1990 and 1991 for the Red Devils). Gainey continued to be one of the most-feared batters in Mexico through most of the 1990's.
This issue's Quiz: Which Hall of Famer threw the first no-hitter in modern LMB history?
NOTE TO READERS:
Viva Beisbol is written twice per month for OurSportsCentral.com, and is the only regular source of information on Mexican pro baseball written in the USA, although Carlos Fragoso in Mexico City has been a valuable contributor to our efforts. It is available free of charge to online subscribers by e-mailing us at vivabeisbol@hotmail.com. Our next Viva Beisbol will be produced October 1.
OTHER GOOD SOURCES OF INFORMATION ON MEXICAN BASEBALL:
www.baseballguru.com (Featuring Carlos Fragoso's "Latin Insider" column)
http://depelota.com (Covers Mexican pro ball, including the independent leagues)
www.ligadelpacifico.com/mx (The official Mexican Pacific League website)
www.lmb.com/mx (The official Mexican League website)
www.minorleaguebaseball.com (Featuring Mexican League statistics)
www.mlb.com (With stories on Mexican baseball from subscriber Jesse Sanchez)
www.planeta.com (Not a baseball site, but good stories on Oaxaca baseball by subscriber Jon Clark)
www.purobeisbol.com/mx (Lots of coverage of both the LMB and LMP)
Mexican League Stories from September 9, 2005
- Viva Beisbol - OSC Original by Bruce Baskin
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
