Venezuela Two Team Race
Caracas and Magallanes are battling it out to make it a two team race. But it’s not who wins the regular season that counts. It is who is on top after the playoffs that count the most, so teams like Zulia and Margarita can get hot with the right influx of players.
Caracas Leones (30-14)
Josh Thole has to be upset that the Mets are still looking for a starting catcher and recently signed Henry Blanco as a back up. All he’s doing is leading the Venezuelan league in hitting at .391. He’s also showing a little bit of gap power with his 13 doubles, which puts him second in the league. His .417 average against lefties shows he can hit them. For a player who has only played 38 games, Jesus Guzman has scored an awful lot of runs with 34, second in the league. The top two run scoreres in the league have played over 40 games.
Jhoulys Chacin lowered his ERA to 3.95 with six innings of five hit ball where he did not give up an earned run and only gave up one unearned run. He took the loss. Chacin has tossed 11 innings in his last two starts without giving up an earned run. Opponents are still hitting him at a .302 clip so everything is not rosy for Chacin. Gustavo Chacin didn’t fare so well, getting bombed for five runs in less than three innings. Gustavo did not take the loss despite his poor performance. No indication that these two are brothers, but only one of the two can grow hair. Gustavo’s ERA rose to 4.11. Juan Gutierrez made his first relief appearance for Caracas and gave up three hits and one run in one inning of work. He may take away some save opportunities from Edwin Moreno, who hasn’t pitched in over a week but is still second in saves with 12.
Magallanes Navegantes (30-15)
Only a half game back of Caracas. Pablo Sandoval recently joined the team and he should help with the bat. The hitting machine has played in four games and ripped seven hits for a .438 average. He’s also driven in five runs. Reegie Corona does not have enough at bats yet to qualify for the batting title, but his .368 average would put him third in the league. Despite the lack of at bats, his 12 doubles does put him third in the league. He has a current streak of four straight games with a double. Elvis Andrus is another solid pickup that will enhance the Magallanes from the defensive side. His offense hasn’t kicked in yet with only a .267 average and one extra base hit in the eight games he’s played. Elvis has yet to draw a walk in those eight games.
Jean Machi tops the league in saves with 13 and is second in appearances with 23. His 1.63 ERA doesn’t hurt matters. He’s got a streak going of picking up a save in six straight games, but he hasn’t pitched since November 27. Edward Mujica has joined the bullpen and should help. Edward made two appearances last week, tossing an inning in each and not giving up a run. Jose Sanchez is second in ERA at 2.84. He has had 10 starts.
Zulia Aguilas (25-21)
They are last in the league in hitting. Ernesto Mejia slammed two homeruns yesterday and now leads the league in homeruns with 11. He is hitting .319 with only 28 RBIs, second on the team, but he has driven in seven runs in his last five games. Kenny Perez is the leader on the team in RBIs with 34, which also ranks him second in the league. Kenny has driven in at least one run in his last four games, totaling six RBIs. He’s hit two homeruns in that span to give him eight for the season. A fairly recent addition Carlos Gonzalez has gotten hot with a six game hitting streak where he is 10 for 27 with three homeruns and eight RBIs.
Douglas Arguello from Nicaragua is making his second start tonight. His debut start he pitched four plus innings of shutout ball where he only gave up four hits. He should help ease the load on Josh Schmidt, who is second in the league in strikeouts with 41. Josh followed his 10 strikeout performance with a more human like three strikeout outing in five innings where he walked four, the high for his winter league season. Chris Hernandez is tied with Jean Machi in a race for the top bullpen closer with 13 saves. He had a streak of six straight saves before blowing a save on Monday where he couldn’t get the three hitters he faced out and took the loss.
Margarita Bravos (23-23)
Frank Diaz is the Bravos top hitter with a .328 average. His 34 runs scored is tied for third in the league. Frank is also 8 for 9 in stolen base attempts. Recent addition William Bergolla has gotten hot with a 11 for 28 streak, raising his average to .333. He still has a 1/11 walk to K ratio that he will have to improve if he wants to achieve success at the higher levels. He’s struck out at least once in his last seven games. Veteran Rene Reyes is their RBI leader with 31. He’s got seven hits in his last 13 at bats to raise his average to .316. Brett Pill has been a recent source of power. He has RBIs in his last four games and has gone deep in two of those games. Brett has 15 RBIs in 15 games with four homeruns. Eider Torres is only hitting .217, but his 14 stolen bases are tied for the top spot. Eider had a big three hit performance in his last game, driving in two and stealing two bases.
Ken Ray has taken over the closer role from Scott Strickland. His last two apperances may force the Bravos to look somewhere else. He was mashed for five runs in two appearances that only covered one inning, taking the loss in one of those games. His ERA is now a more pungent 6, but he does have three saves. Alberto Bastardo won his fourth game to move 4-0, 3.00. He gave up three hits and two runs in five innings in his last start. Orlando Hernandez should make an impact in the rotation. He’s only had one in four poor starts to keep his ERA at 3.13. No pitcher has more wins than Carlos Monasterios. He got his sixth win last week, despite being banged around for nine hits and four runs in a troubled five innings of work. Carlos is 6-2, 3.88.
La Guaira Tiburones (21-25)
They are tied with the two leaders in one thing, most homeruns with 45. Max Ramirez has the most jacks on the team with 10 and he also leads the team in RBIs with 31. He’s only hitting .248 but he’s hitting .333 in his last 10 games, corking four homeruns and driving in 10. He also leads the league in strikeouts with 48. Jay Gibbons is a recent addition that is also providing them with some bleacher seat power. He has hit three homeruns and driven in eight runs in the five games he’s played for the Tiburones. He’d like some major league team to take a chance on him. At 32 that may not happen. Cesar Suarez is their top hitter at .371, which is third in the league. Willie Romero got his average above .300 (.308) with seven hits in eight at bats in his last two games.
Stepen Randolph had his worst start of the winter last week, giving up three runs in six innings. It still qualifies as a quality start and he picked up his second victory. Ronald Balasario has been a nice addition to the bullpen. He has yet to give up a run in his eight appearances and opponents are hitting him at a .219 clip. He has taken over the closer job from Jon Link and has picked up three saves.
Aragua Tigres(19-26)
They are one of two teams hitting .300. Wilson Ramos got five hits in his last nine at bats to raise his average to .364, fifth in the league. His 35 RBIs are second in the league and he is hitting .380 with all seven of his homeruns against righthanders. Jason Pridie should add some offense at the top of the order. He is 11 for 22 in his first five games, three of them multiple hit games. Hector Gimenez shares the catching chores with Ramos and is hitting .325. His 30 walks and 39 strikeouts are both third in the league, so there is a lot of non-contact when Hector is at the plate.
Seth Etherton got his second win throwing five shutout innings to lower his ERA to 2.81 in seven starts. It was his second start in his last three where he did not give up a run. Seth only gave up one hit but he walked four. Wilfredo Ledesma and Yohan Pino were both battered and bruised after their last starts, both taking losses to combine for 1-6. Wilfredo has taken the loss in his last three starts and has the only win among the two starters.
Lara Cardenales (18-28)
Alcides Escobar has made a nice contribution for Lara, hitting .377 with two homeruns and 16 RBIs. It hasn’t contributed a lot to the Cardenales victory total. Alcides also has nine stolen bases in 11 attempts. Tom Evans is second in hitting (.374) and tops in doubles (14) for the league. His 31 walks are also second in the league. In his last two games he’s taken five walks which has resulted in five runs scored. Almost forgot, Tom Evans is leading the league in runs scored with 42. Hernan Iribarren has a five game hitting streak where he has two hits in four of those games. That is a 9 for 21 streak that has upped his average to .322. He still has an unacceptable for a lead off hitter 14/31 walk to K ratio and only an 8 for 14 success rate in stolen bases.
Cuban Vladimir Nunez has arrived on the scene and threw six innings of shutout ball in his third start, picking up his first victory. It was the longest outing of his three starts. At 6′4″, 240 Vladimir should be a work horse. He’s also 34 years old. Stephen Shell picked up his third win, throwing seven innings of one run ball. He is 3-1, 4.11 after nine starts.
Caribes Anzoategui (16-30)
Despite their last place standing, Alexi Amerista is having an all star performance. He is hitting .370, fourth in the league with a lead leaguing seven triples. He’d have more than 25 runs scored if the Caribes could find a power bat to drive him in. Tony Alvarez is their big RBI man and he has only driven in 22 with six homeruns and a .311 average. Aaron Cunningham is turning into a solid new additin to the lineup, hitting .300. On Wednesday he bashed his first two homeruns of the winter season and drove in four runs. His 12 whiffs in only 10 games is a bit of a worry.
Jeff Farnsworth leads the league in strikeouts with 47, but took his fourth loss giving up five runs in three innings of work. He did strike out five, but he also walked four and gave up two big bombs, dropping his record to 0-4, 5.50. Fernando Nieve made his bullpen debut last week, tossing two innings of shutout relief. He struck out four. Tony Armas went from first place Caracas to last place Caribe and he is burying them further with his starts. He didn’t even last past the first inning in his last start, giving up three runs on four hits. After four starts his ERA sits at a lofty 8.53.