LIDOM Champions Escogido has victory parade, Campeones LIDOM Escogido tiene desfile de victoria

As all the followers of the Dominican Baseball Guy well know, Escogido won the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) championship last week.  And like any major sports franchise, they had a parade to celebrate the accomplishment with their fans.

Players and management made their way through the capital of the Dominican Republic and the home city of Escogido, Santo Domingo.  The team started the parade at the famous Quisqueya Studium, the home stadium of both Escogido and Licey, and the parade traveled throughout the capital city.  They ended the parade at the Palacio de los Deportes Virgilio Travieso Soto where entertainment featured reggaeton singer Secret and the Los Hermanos Rosarios merengue group.

The desfile de Escogido certainly looked like a great time.  See Escogido General Manager Moises Alou celebrating and the best photo roll of the Escogido parade.  But the Dominican Baseball Guy's favorite image of the parade comes from one of the Dominican Republic's major dailies, the Diario Libre:

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.

History of the Estadio Quisqueya

The Dominican Baseball Guy is going to continue a series of blog posts that he started at the beginning of the Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) season last year.  They will be on the history of Dominican Baseball, with a focus on the teams and stadiums.  The first two posts on Dominican Baseball History were the History of the Gigantes del Cibao and the History of the LIDOM.  The Dominican Baseball Guy also included a post with several important books that have a histories of Dominican Baseball.

The Quisqueya Stadium is the most important sporting place in the Dominican Republic.  It is in Santo Domingo and is home to the Licey Tigers and the Ecogido Lions, the two most prominent and longest standing teams in the country.  The stadium was the dream of longtime dictator Rafael Trujillo and inaugurated on October 23, 1955.  Trujillo is not usually seen as a favorable ruler as his regime was characterized by an iron fist, but he did maintain order and brought progress in infrastructural development.  And he loved baseball.

Quisqueya has been the Cathedral of baseball in the Dominican Republic and has hosted 50 plus games nearly every year since the first game in 1955.  Everyone in the country knows this stadium and it is the dream of most young players to play here, even more so than in the big leagues because their friends and family can see them play in the Quisqueya.

Last May, the federal government set forth to redevelop the stadium and surrounding area.  They will be adding 10,000 seats to make the capacity nearly 25,000, and they will be updating locker rooms and all the guest facilities.  Additionally, they plan to develop the area around the stadium and build apartments, a luxury hotel, and retail outlets.  The new area will be named after Juan Marichal, the only Dominican in the Cooperstown Hall of Fame.  He is from Laguna Verde, DR.

You can see a complete history at the Licey website here.  Great place to see a game, and it will be even better when this renovation is complete!

Dominican Winter Baseball League: Gigantes lose, Mark Wagner Homers, Quisqueya Stadium

10/21/09 Game-
Wednesday night, the Gigantes lost another one, 4-1 to Licey.

This was at the Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo. This is the most revered stadium in the country, home to both Ecogido and Licey. It has an amazing history, and was inaugurated on October 25, 1955. It has hosted nearly all of the major national and international competitions in the Dominican Republic since it was founded.

The Quisqueya, as it is known, is a much more modern operation than the stadiums in Santiago and San Fransisco de Macoris, probably because they are able to draw more fans in the capital. It has Burger King, Pizza Hut, and appears more like a North American stadium. It also seemed to have a larger, more knowledgeable crowd than the other stadiums.

The Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo

As for the game, the Gigantes Mark Wagner hit a solo home run for their only run of the game. Like many catchers, his offensive numbers are not that impressive, but his value is probably in the field. Estarlin de los Santos extended his hit streak to 4 games to start the season, and had some good plays in the field. He is also very fast up the first base line, and almost beat out a grounder last night that had no business being close.

For Licey, Yordanny Ramírez hit a two run home run. Ramirez is in the Astros organization and spent last year in AAA ball.

The Gigantes play tonight against the Toros, in the game that was rescheduled due to the strike in San Fransisco de Macoris. This strike has ended and the city is back to normal, whatever normal means.