Escogido wins Dominican Winter Baseball League title and goes to Caribbean Series, Escogido gana LIDOM y va a Serie del Caribe

American Andy Dirks hit a walk off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning of the final game of the LIDOM nine game final series to send Escogido to the Caribbean Series.  Basically this was like hitting a walk of hit in game seven of the World Series.  See the Dominican Baseball Guy post on the very cool and interesting LIDOM playoff format.

Pablo Ozuna, Mauro Gomez, Wilkin Castillo, Julio Borbon and Jose Constanza, also starred for Escogido at the plate. Aneury Rodriguez and Nelson Figueroa provided releif pitching to hold off the Aguilas Cibaneas after they got off to a 4-0 lead.

Miguel Tejada made an appearance and hit a home run for the Aguilas.  He is one of the most beloved players in Aguilas history, and in the history of the LIDOM for that matter.

What a game!  The Aguilas got up 4-0, then the Leones came back and were up 5-4 in the top of the ninth.  MLBer Fernando Rodney blew the save and the Aguilas tied it up 5-5 in the ninth.  Then Dirks became the hero in the bottom of the ninth.  See the highlights of this great game and amazing atmosphere:

This is the 14th LIDOM title for the Leones de Escogido.  They have three Caribbean Series titles.  The Leones go on to face the winners of the winter baseball leagues in Mexico, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico.  The Serie del Caribe will take place in the Leones home stadium this year, the Quisqueya Studium in Santo Domingo.

See the Dominican Baseball Guy post on the very cool and interesting LIDOM playoff format.

Danny Richar and Miguel de los Santos Players of Week

The Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) has named Players of the Week for the playoffs.  In years past they only gave this award during the regular season, so the Dominican Baseball Guy was unaware they were giving out the awards the last couple weeks.

For the first week of the round robin playoffs Danny Richar and Miguel de los Santos won the award.  This was for the period December 27, 2010-January 2, 2011, and here is the press release.

Danny Richar is currently in the Florida Marlins organization and played all of last year with their AAA affiliate New Orleans Zephers, where he hit .315.  Richar has played a handful of games in the big leagues with the White Sox and Reds from 2007-2009.  Richar batted .563 last week to win the award.  He was born in 1983 in La Romana, DR, and has been playing in the states since 2005.  He plays for his hometown Toros de La Romana.

Danny Richar

Miguel de los Santos is in the Rangers organization.  The Rangers are the favorite team of the Dominican Baseball Guy and it is quite a coincidence that they are one the most successful teams in scouting and signing Dominican players in recent years.  They of course have established big leaguers like Nelson Cruz and Julio Borbon, and they recently signed Adrian Beltre.  They also have some great young players.  Alexi Ogando and Omar Beltre were both big stories last season, as was rookie of the year closer Neftali Feliz (all Dominicans).

So, hopefully Miguel de los Santos is the next in line of great young Dominican pitchers for the Rangers.  He has absolute gas and has had almost 2 strikeouts/inning in rookie leagues and A ball over the last 4 years, along with a pretty good ERA.  ESPN Dallas has a nice write up on him here, and LoneStarDugout.com has a short article on his LIDOM success this season here.  He pitched 5 shutout innings in the LIDOM last week to win the award.  Miguel is from La Romana as well, and hopefully we see him in the MLB soon.  He also plays for his hometown La Romana Toros.  It must be a great time for both these players to play in front of their friends and family in their hometown.

Miguel de los Santos

Dominican Winter League All-Stars vs. Puerto Rico All-Stars 2010

The Dominican Winter Baseball League All-Stars traveled to Puerto Rico on Sunday to take on the Puerto Rican League All-Stars.  The Dominican team featured a few major leaguers and some top prospects including Juan Francisco, Julio Borbon, Fernando Abad, Alexi Casilla, Erick Almonte, and Timo Perez.  They were managed by Felix Fermin.  This article from Listin Diaro has a list of the Dominican team.

The game took place in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.  The Puerto Rican team won the game 4-3.  Pedro Valdes won the MVP for the Puerto Rican team.  Valdes has had an interesting career, spending a few seasons in MLB with the Cubs and Rangers, and playing in Japan, Korea, Mexico, and of course his home country Puerto Rico.  Here is a recap of the game from El Nuevo Dia, a Puerto Rican publication.