Dominican Winter League Postseason: Estrellas de Oriente 7, Aguilas Cibaenas 3

Extremely tough game as they blew a 3-0 lead after 5 innings by allowing 3 runs in the 6th and 4 in the 7th. Lorenzo Barcelo struck out 7 across 5.1 innings for Cibaenas but came apart in that 6th inning. Among the ex-Rays, Manny Ramirez went 1 for 4 with a double, a walk, and a run scored while Hector Luna went 0 for 4 with a walk.

Toros del Este 5, Leones de Escogido 4

Julio Lugo and Willy Aybar were hitting so well that the Leones moved them up to second and fifth in their lineup respectively. That did not go so well. Lugo went just 0 for 5 with a Golden Sombrero while Aybar went 0 for 3 with a walk. They provided no help as Escogido nearly came back from a 5-0 deficit. The Houston Astros’ Fernando Abad was excellent for Este, going 5 innings allowing just an unearned run on 4 hits, striking out 7 while walking 1.

Sanchez came up huge for Lara only to see his performance go for nought in the game. (Credit: Flickr user tjperr)

Venezuelan Winter League Playoffs: Navegantes de Magallanes 4, Cardelanes de Lara 3

The Cardelanes were able to come back to tie the game after trailing 3-1, thanks in no small part to Romulo Sanchez, who was dominant in the 4th and 5th innings, going 1.2 innings allowing just 1 hit, striking out 3 and recording his other two outs via groundouts. Even after a miserable season at Triple-A Durham for the Rays in 2012 (6.31 ERA), more pitching like that is going to get Sanchez another invite to a big league camp somewhere. However, you get the feeling that Magallanes is going to win it all in the VWL. The Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants played each other in the 2010 World Series, but key players from each team, Elvis Andrus and Pablo Sandoval, are teammates for the Navegantes and hitting out of their minds. In this game, Sandoval hit a go-ahead home run in the 8th inning while Andrus went 3 for 4 with a run scored. Jean Machi nailed down the save for Magallanes, working around a walk in the 9th with 2 groundballs and a pop-out to end the game. Erold Andrus, whose playing time over the past month for the Navegantes has been almost unbelievably sparse, went 0 for 4. Good luck to him rediscovering his stroke because as we saw earlier in the VWL season, he has the ability to be another key contributor in the Magallanes lineup to pair with Sandoval and the other Andrus.

Leones del Caracas 4, Aguilas del Zulia 1

The Leones del Caracas have to be asking themselves why they didn’t give Daniel Mayora earlier. Mayora, who didn’t receive regular playing time until his ex-Durham teammate Henry Wrigley went home for the winter, went 1 for 2 with an RBI and a run scored for Caracas and is hitting a solid .286 for the Leones so far in the VWL playoffs. One other little-known ex-Ray that we have never mentioned before got into the game for Zulia as Deivis Mavarez went a third of an inning for the Aguilas, allowing a hit. Mavarez, 26, was a little right-hander in the Rays system from 2007 to 2011 after getting released from the Astros organization and showed some promise, reaching as high as High-A in his first season in the US in 2009, but he saw his career top out there as he managed just a 61-51 strikeout to walk ratio in 81.2 High-A innings.

Dominican Winter League Postseason: Aguilas Cibaenas 11, Estrellas de Oriente 4

Hector Luna became the Aguilas Cibaenas’ 3-hole hitter by performance, hitting .303 with 7 home runs on the Dominican Winter League season. Manny Ramirez, on the other hand, is the Aguilas’ cleanup hitter more by reputation than anything else after just a decent season in the DWL. In any event, both players, each of whom was a Ray for only a brief time, were clicking on all cylinders as Cibaenas blew out Oriente. Luna went 1 for 4 with a double, a walk, 2 RBI, and a run scored Ramirez went 2 for 3 with a walk and an RBI. Ramirez is certainly living up to his billing this postseason for the Aguilas, hitting .382, while Cibaenas has to hope Luna is getting ready to break out as he’s hitting just .135. Another ex-Rays player, Ray Olmedo, was Oriente’s leadoff hitter and had a great game, going 3 for 5 with a stolen base, an RBI, and a run scored, but his teammates couldn’t give him enough help as Cibaenas won handily.

Mexican Pacific League Playoffs: Venados de Mazatlan 1, Aguilas de Mexicali 0

After going up 2-0 in their best-of-seven series with the Venados, Mexicali had to feeling awfully good about themselves. But the past two games, everything has fallen apart, with Henry Mateo being the primary culprit. With this one scoreless in the bottom of the 9th, Mateo stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and 2 outs (if the bases weren’t loaded, they probably would have walked him) and sent Mazatlan fans home with a sense of exhilaration, lacing a walk-off single to end the game as the Venados won 1-0. Mateo essentially was the Mazatlan offense, going 3 for 5 with a stolen base and that one enormous RBI. Wes Bankston had a good game in the loss for Mexicali, going 1 for 2 with 2 walks, but he’s the only Aguilas player hitting, with his batting average coming in at .400 and no other Aguila hitting as high as .270. Jon Weber went 0 for 3 with a walk for Mexicali.

Tomateros de Culiacan 7, Naranjeros de Hermosillo 2

This loss completes a Culiacan sweep, and the Naranjeros can’t believe a promising season ended like this. This one was especially bad as 5 of the Tomateros’ 7 runs were unearned. Jorge Cantu went 1 for 3 with a walk and Humberto Cota went 1 for 4, but it wasn’t enough as Hermosillo lost the game and the series.

Algodoneros de Guasave 7, Yaquis de Obregon 5

This is shaping up to be another great series as Guasave’s win tied it at 2 games apiece. Nice games by a trio of ex-Rays went in vain for Obregon as Juan Miranda homered for the second straight game, Iker Franco went 1 for 3 with a walk, and Jesus Colome worked around a walk with a strikeout in a shutout relief inning. Obregon nearly came back from a 6-1 deficit, but a 1 for 11 performance with runners in scoring position doomed their hopes.

Venezuelan Winter League Postseason: Leones de Caracas 12, Caribes de Anzoategui 1

One side had a lot of fun in this one. The Leones slammed 4 home runs including 2 by Yorvit Torrealba, who also drove in 5 and scored 3 runs. Ex-Rays minor leaguer Daniel Mayora went 2 for 4 with a homer, 2 RBI, and 2 runs scored for Caracas while Cesar Suarez went 1 for 2 with the only run scored for Anzoategui. Mayora, ironically receiving his first regular playing time of the season after backing up fellow ex-Ray and former Durham Bulls teammate Henry Wrigley most of the VWL season, has come through in a major way in the playoffs for Caracas, hitting .385.

Dominican Winter League Postseason: Toros del Este 8, Aguilas Cibaenas 3

Cibaenas’ first game of 2013 did not go the way they hoped as 6 innings of 1-run ball by Lorenzo Barcelo was negated by a disastrous 7-run 7th inning. Manny Ramirez went 1 for 3 with a walk in the loss while Hector Luna went 0 for 3. Ramirez is hitting .389 so far in the DWL playoffs as Cibaenas is now 3-2.

Mexican Pacific League Playoffs: Aguilas de Mexicali 7, Venados de Mazatlan 3

When you join a team for the postseason, there is going to be a ton of pressure on you for immediate results. Wes Bankston could not have given Mexicali anything more in his first game with the team. Bankston had a huge game, going 2 for 3 with a solo homer, a 3-run shot, a walk, and 3 runs scored, breaking out of the funk he was in at the end of his time with the Mayos de Navojoa. Jon Weber did cool off after the New Year’s Eve layoff in front of him, going 0 for 3, abut Bankston more than picked up the slack as the Aguilas got their playoff run off to a great start. Hector Mateo went 2 for 5 with a stolen base and an RBI in the loss for Mazatlan.

Yaquis de Obregon 3, Algodoneros de Guasave 2

This the type of highly-contested game everyone loves to see in the playoffs, with an 8th inning homer by Doug Clark sending Obregon to victory. Juan Miranda and Iker Franco both went 1 for 3 for the Yaquis, with Miranda walking and scoring the first run of the game, and Jesus Colome tossed 0.2 scoreless innings of relief working around a hit.

Venezuelan Winter League Postseason: Caribes de Anzoategui 8, Leones de Caracas 1

At least one team got their playoffs off to rousing beginning, with Giants catcher Hector Gimenez slamming 2 home runs and Twins prospect Oswaldo Arcia also going deep for Anzoategui. In terms of the ex-Rays, Cesar Suarez went 1 for 5 for the Caribes while Daniel Mayora went 2 for 4 with Caracas’ only RBI.