Juan Fransisco home run, Erick Almonte and Moises Sierra 3-4

11/1/09 Game
The Gigantes won again to improve to 5-1 at home.

Juan Francisco had his 2nd home run of the year. He has lots of raw power, and kills the ball in batting practice most days. Luis Taveras also had a home run, playing in place of Mark Wagner who has been out with an injury. Erick Almonte went 3-4, as the Gigantes had lots of offense last night. Almonte was in AAA last year and is a leading player for the Gigantes both last year and this year.

Kevin Barker is playing well and had two hits for Aguilas. See my previous posts through the tags below for information on these guys.

Moises Sierra also went 3-4. He plays right field in the Blue Jays organization and spent most of last year with the A-Advanced Dunedin Blue Jays in the Florida State League. He played well last summer and got a promotion to AA late in the season. He has been playing almost every day down here.

Moises Sierra in 2008 with A team Lansing, by Joel Dinda on Flickr

Gigantes leave runners on corners in loss, Mark Wagner 2-4

10/23/09 Game-
It was a really good game tonight at the Julian Javier Stadium in San Fransisco de Macoris. The Gigantes lost 3-2, but had runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Zack Segovia struck out the final batter for Escogido to get the save.

Zack Segovia pitches in 2009 for the Syracuse Chiefs, by Dave Pape

Mark Wagner had another good game for Gigantes, going 2-4, after hitting home runs in two strait games. Check the Labels to see all my posts about Wagner (or any players). He is leading the Dominican Winter League in home runs with 2. He is in the Red Sox organization. Luis Villareal pitched 5 innings and allowed 1 run for the Gigantes, but got the loss. He has an ERA of 3.38 after two games, but has two tough losses. Estarlin de los Santos had his hit streak end at 5 games.

As I mentioned a few posts back, Brennan Boesch (Escogido) could be a player to watch going forward. The ball really pops off his bat. He went 2-4 last night, with 1 RBI, 1 run scored, and 1 stolen base. He was with the Tigers AA team last year and had a great year playing right field. Boesch is tied for the league lead in RBI with 6 after 6 games. Again, check the labels to see previous posts on Boesch. Arizona Diamondback fans will be interested to know that Conor Jackson is also playing with Escogido. He did not have any hits last night, but is near the top of the league with a .421 average after 6 games played.

Dominican Winter League: Gigantes triumph, Dario Veras gets first save

10/22/09 Game-
Gigantes won 3-2 tonight. Mark Wagner had a homer for the second strait game. Fabio Castro pitched 6 innings, allowing no runs, but Enerio del Rosario got the victory. Castro was with the Las Vegas 51s in the Pacific Coast League last year. Del Rosario pitched in all three levels of the Reds minor league system. In 44 combined appearances, his ERA was under 2.00. He could be a possible closer going forward for the Reds.

Dario Veras got his first save of the season. He is going for the all time career save record in the Dominican Winter Baseball League (89). He has 65 as of this save, and will need a very good year to get the record this year. He is an interesting story. He is 35, and has spent the last few seasons in the Mexican AAA League. He made 53 appearances with the Padres and Red Sox from 1996-98, but never made it past AAA after this. He has been closing games in the Dominican Winter League for the last few seasons.

Estarlin de los Santos had another hit, extending his hit streak to 5 games to start the season.

Dario Veras warms up for Gigantes, by Dominican Baseball Guy

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.

Dominican Winter Baseball League: Gigantes get first win, David Herndon gets win, Mark Hamilton and Erick Almonte Homer

10/18/09 Game-

The Gigantes got their first win in their first home game to the delight of the home crowd. There was lots of offense from both sides.

One of the Gigantes imported players, Angels prospect David Herndon, got the win. He pitched one inning, gave up 3 earned runs, and got the win. Once again proving that wins are an interesting statistic. Mark Hamilton, another import, had a home run and a single. He had really good numbers splitting time between AA and AAA in the Cardinals organization last year. One problem for him, the Cardinals have another pretty good player at first base, Dominican baseball player Albert Pujols. 

Dominican Erick Almonte showed that he can once again be a leading hitter for the Gigantes, with a home run. Estarlin De Los Santos, another Dominican baseball player, has a hit in all three games this season. He is just an exciting player at shortstop and playing well. So now the Twins have him in the minors, Alexi Casilla and Carlos Gomez on the big league club, and they just signed uber-prospect Miguel Angel Sano. Seems the Twins, like a lot of other teams, are finding really good Dominican players.

This season in the Dominican Winter Baseball League is officially dedicated to the Alou brothers (Felipe, Matty, and Jesus) all of whom had successful careers in MLB and played many years in the Dominican Winter Baseball League. Felipe's son, ex-big leaguer Moises Alou is actually the GM for the Leones de Escogido from Santo Domingo.

Moises Alou with the Giants in 2005,
by sgmom56 on Flickr

Dominican Winter Baseball League: Gigantes lose, Fernando Abad and Victor Mercedes shine for Toros

10/17/09 Game-
The Gigantes lost their second in a row to start the season tonight. They were never in this contest and looked sloppy throughout, going down by a score of 8-0. The Toros even had an inside the park home run in the eighth inning, after an error (and lack of effort in my opinion or at least ignorance of the situation by pitcher Rhiner Cruz).

There was not much good to say about the Gigantes performance in this game. Estarlin de los Santos had another good game. It is somewhat strange to see a player with only high-A experience be entrenched as a starter at short stop. However, he has played well and went 1-3 last night, and also hit a hard liner right at the center fielder. He made some good plays in the field again too.

Luis Taveras, the brother of Willy Taveras, saw action as a pinch hitter and got a hit. Erick Almonte, a leading hitter for los Gigantes last year, got on track a little going 1-2, with a walk. He was with the Brewers in AAA last year and had a good year (.291, 2HR, 31RBI) in 105 games. He is big, at 6'2" and 180 pounds, with long ball potential.

Astros minor leaguer Fernando Abad pitched 4 innings of no-hit ball for the Toros. Victor Mercedes went 3-3 and had the inside the park home run.

The Gigantes head back home for their home opener tonight against the Aguilas.

Erick Almonte warming up for Gigantes, by Dominican Baseball Guy

Dominican Winter Baseball: Aguilas beat Gigantes, Erick Abreu and Ben Jukich pitch well

10/16/09-
The Aguilas scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh to defeat los Gigantes 5-3. The Aguilas took the lead for good with two runs in the bottom of the 7th. The Gigantes were held to just four hits. The Aguilas took the lead 3-0 in the bottom of the 4th. However, Estarlin de los Santos hit a single that drove in two runs and another run scored in the top of the 5th to tie the game.

Estarlin de los Santos had a good game for the Gigantes. He had the base hit that drove in two runs, and made several good plays at short stop. He showed off a very strong arm on one play and turned a couple double plays. He is in the Twins organization and had a pretty good year last year (.290, 1Hr, 23 RBI), mainly with the high-A Fort Myers Miracle. However, his value is clearly as a defensive player as he hit last in the lineup last night. He is from San Pedro de Macoris on the soutern coast, which is known as "The Cradle of Shortstops," producing Rafael Belliard and a number of other short stops.

Erick Abreu had a good game. He spent most of last year with the AA Corpus Christi Hooks. He had a very good year as a mid-game/set up reliever posting a 2.06 ERA in 27 games and 47 innings. I am from Corpus Christi and got to see him play a few times this summer. Last night he pitched 3 innings of shutout baseball in relief of starter Fabio Castro, a Blue Jays farmhand.

With the Aguilas, Ben Jukich pitched four innings of 2 hit, no run ball, and then was inexplicably taken out between the 4th and 5th ininnings. At first I thought it was a double switch or something, but there was no reason that I could see. He must have been on a pitch count or something.

Ben Jukich in 2006, photo by Joel Dinda on Flickr