2011 Caribbean Series Results and All-Stars

The Caribbean Series finished Monday and the team representing Mexico won the championship for 2011.  The Yaquis de Ciudad Obregon finished the series 4-2 to win their first title and the first title for Mexico since 2005.

The Dominican team was unable to repeat their performance from one year ago in which LIDOM champion Escogido won the Caribbean Series title.  The Toros de la Romana represented the Dominican league this year, and though they did not win, they had a good showing and finished in a tie for second. 

There were also three Dominican players and one Cuban player representing the Toros on the Caribbean Series all-star team.  Third baseman Danny Richar, left fielder Ruddy Yan, and center fielder Jose Constanza were the Dominican players to make the all-star team for the Toros.  They were joined by Cuban teammate Raul Valdes.  The Dominican team was only outdone in all-star selections by the Mexican side, which had five selections including MVP Jorge Vazquez.

All four participating countries host the series on a rotating basis.  Next year the tournament will be in the Dominican Republic, and La Romana is hoping to host the event for the first time, though Santo Domingo is always in the running to host.

Caribbean Series 2011 All-Star Team:

Iker Franco, C, Mexico

Jorge Vazquez, 1B, Mexico

Alex Cora, 2B, Puerto Rico

Danny Richar, 3B, Dominican Republic

Henry Rodriguez, SS, Venezuela

Ruddy Yan, LF, Dominican Republic

Jose Constanza, CF, Dominican Republic

Karim Garcia, RF, Mexico

Barbaro Canizares, DH, Mexico

Raul Valdez, LHP, Dominican Republic

Juan Padilla, RHP, Puerto Rico

Jorge Vazquez, MVP, Mexico

Eddie Diaz, Manager, Mexico

This is a partial article.  See the full article at the Dominican Baseball Examiner

Toros de La Romana Win Game 2 Over Estrellas, Lead Final Series 2-0

The Toros beat the Estrellas at the Estrellas' home Tetelo Vargas stadium in San Pedro de Macoris.  The final score was Toros 3 and Estrellas 1.  Ricardo Nanita had a 2 RBI single in the 8th inning to put the Toros up for good.  Carlos Perez got the win in relief and Julio Manon took the save for the Toros.

Ricardo Nanita had a 30 game hit streak in the Pioneer Rookie League, he is from Santo Domingo

The Toros scored the first run in the second inning on a Danny Richar sacrifice fly.  The Estrellas then equalized in the seventh on an Edwin Bellorin RBI.  The Estrellas had other chances in the fifth and seventh innings that were squandered by base running blunders.

Game three is Friday in La Romana.  The Toros are threatening to run away with the 9 game series, and a victory would be there first Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) championship since 1996.  The Estrellas have not won the domestic crown since 1968.

Toros de La Romana Take Lead in Sugar Series, Lead LIDOM Finals 1-0

Toros de La Romana took a 1-0 lead  in the first game of the 9 game final series, beating over the Estrellas de San Pedro de Macoris 5-3.  The Dominican press is calling this year's finals the Sugar Series (see the Dominican Baseball Guy's last post).  The game took place in la Romana at the Stadium Francisco Micheli.

Raul Valdes (Cardinals) continued a strong winter campaign and pitched a complete game for the Toros.  See an article about Valdes and his future with the Cardinals here.  Puerto Rican Martin Maldonado had a good game behind the plate catching for Valdes and also had an RBI at the plate.  Jose Constanza (Braves) also had two RBI for the Toros and Danny Richar (Marlins) was 3-4 with two runs.  Constanza hit .319 with the Braves AAA team and made the International League All-Star team, and Richar has been very successful with the Marlins AAA team, so the Dominican Baseball Guy expects to see both in the big leagues soon.

Valdes pitches a complete game

For the Estrellas, former big leaguer and minor league veteran Buck Coats scored a run on an Edward Rogers single, and Edwin Bellorin had two RBI.  Coats was later ejected in the third inning, in an interesting scene that saw Coats (a ten year veteran of the minor leagues) arguing with a fellow American umpire in a Dominican Winter Baseball League (LIDOM) playoff game.  LIDOM has both American and Dominican umpires work most games, because it is thought the American umpires do not have ulterior motives in regards to favoring certain teams.

Coats exits as his manager continues the argument with the home plate umpire

The incident goes to show that these games are very important for everyone involved.  For many of these players these are the biggest games and the most intense atmosphere they have had the chance to play in, and this is true for veteran Americans like Coats and Kevin Barker of the Toros.

Game two is tomorrow night in San Pedro de Macoris.

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