Venezuelan Winter League Championship Series: Cardenales de Lara 3, Navegantes de Magallanes 2

After watching the other three Winter League Championship Series end quickly, it’s been nice to see at least one of them deliver the type of exciting atmosphere playoff baseball deserves. The Navegantes and Lara both did everything they could to try to scratch and claw their way to victory in this one, but after 11 innings, one team finally separated itself and came through when in mattered most. The pitching matchup in this game, featured big leaguers on both sides: the well-known Carlos Zambrano for Magallanes and former MLB middle reliever Ken Ray for Lara. The Cardelanes struck first in this one, with Braves first base prospect Ernesto Mejia delivering an RBI single in the 1st off Zambrano. Both pitchers took off from there, not allowing another run through 5 innings and facing the minimum three in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th innings. But Ray quickly got into trouble in the 6th, allowing a pair of singles and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases with 1 out. Out was Ray in favor of Yankees and Pirate reliever and Rays minor leaguer Romulo Sanchez. But Sanchez was a disaster, allowing two bases-loaded walks while recording just 1 out, and Cardinals prospect Richard Castillo had to come in to escape the jam. The damage had already been done as Magallanes took a 2-1 lead. But Lara responded in the bottom of the inning. The Mariners’ Luis Jimenez singled to begin the inning versus Zambrano, and two batters later, the Cubs’ Luis Valbuena responded in turn, with a Juan Rivera error moving Jimenez to third base. That proved huge as Pablo Sandoval could not handle a groundball off the bat of the Dogers’ C.J. Retherford, scoring Jimenez to tie the game at a run apiece. Zambrano pitched well for Magallanes, going 6+ innings allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, on 8 hits, striking 5 while walking 1.

The game became a battle of the bullpens, and both teams’ relief corps were up to the task. The Phillies’ Cesar Jimenez was absolutely lights out for Lara, going 3 innings allowing just a walk, striking out 6 and recording his other 3 outs on the ground. A lefty armed with a low-90′s fastball and an unhittable changeup, Jimenez could be an interesting pitcher for Philadelphia next season out of the bullpen. But Magallanes managed to match Jimenez, albeit in not as impressive fashion, with the Royals’ Atahualpa Severino going 2 perfect innings before the Twins’ Deolis Guerra and Enrique Gonzalez of the Japanese Pacific League pieced together the 9th to send the game into extra innings. In the 10th, Victor Merono of the Mexican League followed up Jimenez by striking out the side while Gonzalez worked a perfect inning of his own in the bottom of the frame. Things got sketchy for Moreno in the 11th as he allowed two walks and hit-by-pitch with 2 outs, but he worked out of trouble. Then Gonzalez run into trouble to begin the bottom half of the inning. Mejia singled to begin the inning and was pinch-ran for by Hernan Iribarren. Luis Valbuena bunted Iribarren to second base, but a missed catch error meant everyone was safe. But then C.J. Retherford grounded into a force play at third base and the Navegantes were a double play from escaping. But the Braves’ Jose Yepez was going to let that happen. Yepez came through with a walk-off single as Lara won 3-2. It was a crazy game highlighted by great pitching- Magallanes was held to just 5 hits in the game- and Lara managed to deliver in extra-innings to take a 3-2 edge in the series and sit one win away from the Caribbean Series.

Gonzalez, not to be confused with Adrian Gonzalez’s younger brother Edgar (another ex-Ray), could have a promising season ahead if he keeps pitching like this. (Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports)

Mexican Pacific League Playoffs: Algodoneros de Guasave 8, Aguilas de Mexicali 5

The Aguilas made their best effort to come back from a 5-run deficit in this one, but after Guasave starter Edgar Gonzalez had been so dominant, they just didn’t have enough time. Gonzalez, who turns 30 next month, is currently with the Houston Astros organization after parts of six seasons in the Diamondbacks organization and stints with the Athletics, Dodgers, Rays, and Rockies organizations as well. The former top prospect sure pitched up to that level on Thursday night, going 7.2 innings allowing 2 runs, only 1 earned, on 5 hits, striking out just 2 while walking 1 but also managing an 11-4 groundout to flyout ratio. His kryptonite was another former player for the Rays’ Triple-A Durham affiliate, Jon Weber, who went 2 for 4 with a double and the only RBI against him. The Guasave bullpen collapsed behind him, but Gonzalez exited with a 7-2 lead and the Algodoneros were able to hang on. Weber, who has struggled mightily in the MPL Playoffs, had a breakout day, adding a 3-run double in the bottom of the 9th to go 3 for 5 with 2 doubles, a stolen base, 3 RBI, and a run scored on the day while fellow ex-Ray Wes Bankston went 2 for 4 with a walk and a run scored. The Aguilas are going to need quite a bit better pitching to get past Guasave in this series (they lead it 3-2), but seeing Weber and Bankston have great games is certainly a good sign. But Gonzalez and Guasave stole the day in this one, and they’ll hope to stay alive when this series continues on Saturday night.

Yaquis de Obregon 7, Tomateros de Culiacan 2

Iker Franco had himself quite a day catching dominant Obregon pitching and finding some success at the plate as the Yaquis rolled to move on to the MPL Championship Series. The Royals’ Luis Mendoza was incredible, going 6.2 innings allowing just 1 run on 4 hits, striking out 12 while walking just 3. He was downright overpowering and never gave Culiacan a chance. At the plate, Barbaro Canizares and Carlos Valencia both had a homer and 3 RBI in the games for Obregon, while Franco had a solid day himself, going 1 for 3 with a walk.

Venezuelan Winter League Postseason: Cardelanes de Lara 9, Leones de Caracas 2

Daniel Mayora provided one of the few highlights in this game for Caracas, tripling in the second inning before scoring on a Bobby Abreu RBI single. The Leones got so far behind that they actually put in Victor Zambrano for the first time in the playoffs, but it did not go well as he allowed 2 runs on a hit and a walk in just a third of an inning to leave his ERA at an ugly 54.00.

Navegantes de Magallanes 3, Caribes de Anzoategui 0

If you’re a fan of pitching- and I would hope that most Rays fans are- this was quite a game. Carlos Zambrano was untouchable for Magallanes, carrying a no-hitter through 7.1 innings before it was broken up on a double by Twins prospect Oswaldo Arcia. Zambrano came out after ex-Ray Cesar Suarez singled with 2 outs in the 9th but still had an unbelievable outing, going 8.2 innings allowing no runs on just the two hits, only managing 2 strikeouts against 2 walks but also posting a 14-5 groundout to flyout ratio. Ex-Ray Jean Machi got the final out of the game for his third save of the VWL Postseason. Erold Andrus also went 1 for 4 with a double for the Navegantes. History wasn’t quite made as Zambrano came up short at the end of this one, but it was surely an incredible night for the fans in attendance and a night that Zambrano will remember and try to carry over into the regular season after managing just a 4.66 ERA in the majors the last two years.

The Miami Heat were playing Game 7 versus the Celtics in Miami on Saturday night. As a result, many fans who would have attended the Marlins game went to American Airlines Arena. So surprisingly, the Rays actually had a majority or close to it in a visiting ballpark. Maybe that exhilarated the Rays just a little bit.

The Rays slammed Carlos Zambrano, knocking him out after just 2.1 innings. They scored 5 in the second inning, with Elliot Johnson blooping a 2-run single, Jose Molina singling a run, and then in his first career plate appearance, Matt Moore contributed a perfect safety squeeze bunt to plate a fourth run. Desmond Jennings beat out an infield single to score one more run before the inning was out. And then in the third inning, Ben Zobrist nailed down the final nail in the coffin for Zambrano, slamming a 2-run homer to end Zambrano’s night. Zambrano allowed 7 runs on just 5 hits in 2.1 innings.

Zobrist hit another 2-run homer in the 5th inning off of Chad Gaudin to give the Rays a 9-0 lead. Unfortunately, things would come apart a little bit for Moore in the 6th. The game was completely out of hand, but Moore allowed a walk, a line drive single to Jose Reyes, a little groundball single to Giancarlo Stanton to plate a run, and then he finally made a real mistake pitch, leaving a fastball down the middle for ex-Ray Justin Ruggiano, who slammed a 3-run homer. That took the luster out of Moore’s outing, but he was truly fine. He went 6 innings, allowing 4 runs on 5 hits, striking out 9 while walking 2. He even forced a 5-1 groundout-to-flyout ratio. If anybody actually cares, by FIP he should have allowed 2.2 runs and by xFIP he should have allowed 2.0 runs. Of course those two stats mean absolutely nothing, but Moore got unlucky that his one bad pitch came with 2 runners on. Moore continues to turn in encouraging outings and hopefully it will be reflected a little bit more in his ERA (currently 4.59) sooner rather than later.

For good measure, the Rays tallied 3 runs in the 8th on a Jose Molina 2-run double and a third run that scored on a double play ball with a Wade Davis single in between. Davis is, no joke, the Rays best hitting pitcher, entering the game with a .333 career batting average, although the sample size was a little small at 1 for 3, although he also had 2 sac bunts. Now he’s at .500. Considering who they have on the bench these days, the Rays should consider using him as a pinch-hitter (uhhhh, no). Anyway, in the 9th inning, Hideki Matsui doubled and scored on an Elliot Johnson RBI single to give the Rays a 13-4 lead and that would be the final. Moore (3-5) earned the win, while Zambrano (4-4) took the loss. The Rays got huge production from 6-7-8 in their order, with Ben Zobrist going 3 for 4 with 2 homers, 4 RBI, and 4 runs scored, Elliot Johnson going 4 for 5 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored, and Jose Molina going 2 for 4 with a double, 3 RBI, and 2 runs scored. That’s one way to break some slumps. The Rays improve to 34-25 on the year, which is (get this) the best record in the American League. I thought this team was terrible? What happened? The Rays go for the sweep on Sunday at 1:10 PM with James Shields opposing Anibal Sanchez. It hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the Rays of late, but there’s nothing serious to worry about.