NL Wildcard Game Features Two Dominican Pitchers

The last week of the regular season got the Dominican Baseball Guy excited for baseball again. As, a Rangers fan we have had some tough years in the playoffs, and this year was no different. After making it to a wildcard play-in game they lost to the Devil Rays. I am not a fan of one wildcard team, so I think two is rather ridiculous.

Play 162 games to let a wildcard team sneak in and get hot, beat a team like the Mariners in their record wins year of 2001 have to play a wildcard team? But as a fan of a team that just sneaked into the wildcard play-in game, I must say I loved it. It was an exciting week no whether your team was playing or not.

And then as a fan of Dominican baseball I get this treat last night. Two Dominican starting pitches: Francisco Liriano versus Johnny Cueto. Johnny Cueto told MLB.com what the game means to him and his country:

I want to tell my people in the Dominican Republic to follow this game. "There are two Dominicans on the mound. I want to give advice to all the youth in the Dominican that you have to work hard and to continue working hard to do things like this.

Francisco Lirano dominated, and the Pirates won easily. His up and down play has been well followed here at the Dominican Baseball Guy. A true natural in my opionion. A near Cy Young and Rookie of the Year sweep in 2006 before getting hurt in August. He never really recovered from Tommy John surgery...until 2010 really. An entire missed season (2007) and two bad years.

Then in 2010 he returned to the Dominican Republic to play Winter Ball. He had an insane winter season, leading Escogido to the championship and then pitched well in the Caribbean World Series. It was cool having a guy of his magnitude playing daily in the Dominican Winter League that year. But he was still erratic.

After another Cy Young-worthy year in 2010 he had a down year in 2011 and 2012, and then signed with Pittsburgh for this year. And everything seemed to click -16-8 and a 3.02 ERA. And last night in the NL Wildcard game was one of the good nights. His slider was as good as it has ever been, with Reds batters swinging at it in the grass two feet from home. Vintage Liriano, allowing one run in seven innings.

The Reds scored another run in the 8th, but they were never really in it. Andrew McCutchon was doing his thing running all over the bases. He had two hits and two walks. It seemed like he was on the bases all night. Marlon Byrd had two RBI and Russel Martin had two homers. The game was over by the 4th inning the way Liriano was pitching.

The other Dominican pitcher did not fair too well. Johnny Cueto was said to have been rattled by the raucous Pittsburgh crowd. To which manager Dusty Baker said at the post-game presser: "he did not get rattled he just couldn't hit his pitches. He played in the Dominican Winter League and all that, and if you have been down there you know how intense those games are."

Interesting side note. I love that quote. Baker insulting the reporter by implying that he has never been to a Dominican Winter League game at the same time as brushing off his questions as ridiculous.

In the end it was all Liriano. "We had the expectancy to win," Andrew McCutchen said to the AP. "When he showed up with his suit on, that got me hyped up."

Dominican pitcher Francisco Liriano with Twins, photo by Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar on Flickr

Twins struggle with what to do with Dominican pitcher Liriano

Dominican pitcher Francisco Liriano has shown extended flashes of brilliance in his six plus years in the majors with the Twins.  Rookie of the Year, out a year with Tommy John Surgery, then some down years, and then Comeback Player of the Year.  He has shown top of the rotation stuff, but has been inconsistent at best.

The Twins are frustrated with the Dominican pitcher and do not know what to do with him.  They feel they have tried almost everything.  The latest ploy: letting him sit out a start after a bad first four games.  Twins GM Terry Ryan says his stuff is fine, his health is fine, his location is what is missing.  Twins staff also says that Liriano often overcompensates for problems in his mechanics.  Translation: the mental part of his game has never been up to elite level.

Liriano can be a dominating pitcher when he puts it all together.  He pitched at elite level in the Dominican Winter League the last two years.  He needs to bring the same intensity and mental toughness he has shown in stretches to his game everyday.  That would make him the elite pitcher that he is capable of being.

Dominican pitcher Francisco Liriano is from San Cristobal, Dominican Republic.

Dominican pitcher Francisco Liriano with the Twins, photo by Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar on Flickr

Twins' Dominican players news: Miguel Sano ready for first full season, Liriano inconsistent in Spring Training, two Dominican Summer League prospects get 50 game suspensions

Apparently yesterday was lets talk about the Minnesota Twins and all their Dominican baseball players.  First, the news broke that two Twins minor leaguers were suspended for use of performance enhancing drugs, both are young Dominican prospects.  Yeison Florentino and Ezequiel Zarzuela have both performed well with the Twins Dominican Summer League team, but have yet to make the trip to the states.  However, they are still subject to MLB drug testing as players in the Dominican Summer League.

Over the counter and illegal supplements are common in the Dominican Republic.  For years, trainers, also known as buscones, gave their players supplements and the players rarely followed up on what they were putting in their bodies.  Busones have admitted to giving their players animal steroids and other over the counter supplements that were not intended to be used for healthy humans.  Further, Many Dominican baseball players have tested positive for various drugs since the MLB drug testing program got under way, and that is only the ones that have gotten caught in recent years.

These practices have been slowing down in recent years, as buscones and Dominican players have become more educated as to the dangers of PEDs.  So, hopefully these two players realize their mistake and are able to share their experience with other Dominican prospects.

Second, it was reported that Francisco Liriano has been inconsistent in Spring Training.  Make that for his whole career.  Francisco Liriano was the AL Roookie of the Year and an All-Star in 2006.  He then missed all of 2007 with Tommy John surgery.  He had below average years after coming back in 2008 and 2009.  Rhen he got the Comeback Player of the Year award in 2010, after dominating in the Dominican Winter League (LIDOM) that off-season.  And then he had a sub-par year last season.  So, his inconsistency in Spring Training is not surprising.  He is a serviceable end of the rotation starter, even when he plays bad, so he will get his chances this year.  Liriano is from San Cristobal, Dominican Republic.

Lastly, it was reported that Dominican prospect Miguel Sano will be playing his first full year with the Twins organization.  There was much hoopla surrounding the signing of Miguel Sano, and he was even featured in the Dominican baseball documentary Pelotero.  Miguel started in the Twins Dominican baseball academy and played in the Dominican Summer League.  He spent last year in short season Rookie and A ball, but will see a full season of A ball this year, and could easily move up the minor league ranks.  Sano talks about adjusting to a change of position (short stop to probably third), adjusting to the long season, and learning a new language.  The Dominican Baseball Guy agrees with most and sees Sano as a can't miss Dominican prospect, so we should see him in the majors soon.  Miguel Sano is from San Pedro de Macoris, Dominican Republic.

Dominican MLB June 2010 Players of the Month

There were again, like usual, several Dominicans that got some AL and NL Player of the month votes.  No Dominicans won any of the player of the month awards, this being the first month of 2010 that this has happened.  Ubaldo Jimenez (NL Pitcher of the Month for April and May), Francisco Liriano (AL Pitcher of the Month for April), Robinson Cano (AL Player of the month for April), and David Ortiz (AL Player of the Month for May) have all won the award this year (see the MLB.com Player of the Month page).  It is pretty incredible that Dominicans have won 5 out of the 12 player of the month awards thus far this season.

For June, Adrian Beltre and Vladimir Guerrero were the only Dominicans to get any votes, both for the AL Player of the Month.  Even though the Dominican Baseball Guy loves Vladimir Guerrero, the Dominican Baseball Guy cannot pass up Adrian Beltre for the June 2010 Dominican Baseball Guy Dominican Player of the Month.  Beltre (.376, 7 HR, 19 RBI) had a huge month and would normally win the MLB award if it had not been for Josh Hamiliton's incredible month of June (.454 (49-108),9 HR, 31 RBI).  But this is the Dominican Baseball Guy's Dominican Player of the Month and Josh Hamilton is not Dominican.  Beltre also led a surge by the Red Sox who were 18-9 on the month. Beltre played for the Dominican Republic in the most recent World Baseball Classic, here he is with Albert Pujols during this competition:

As for the pitchers, amazingly no Dominicans got any votes for the MLB Pitchers of the month, this after Jimenez won the first two in the National League.  The Dominican Baseball Guy's Dominican Pitcher of the Month for June 2010 goes to Neftali Feliz.  The Dominican Baseball Guy is of course a fan of the Rangers, but Feliz is two off the MLB lead in saves with 23 thus far.  He had 8 in June.  He is from Azua on the southwest coast of the Dominican Republic.  There seem to be a lot of players from this city, so the Dominican Baseball Guy will tag this city every time it is mentioned.  Neftali is only in his second big league season, but has become the full time closer on a very good team.  Here is Neftali with Micheal Young after a save:

Also, the Dominican Baseball Guy liked the recap of the MLB Player's of the Month over at http://fullcountpitch.com/.

Dominicans in 2010 MLB (Update #2)

There is a lot going on with Dominican Players in MLB right now.  This is an obvious fact since there were around 80 Dominicans on opening day rosters.  This number will fluctuate throughout the season as players are called up to the big show, or sent down to the minors, but the Dominican Baseball Guy thinks there should be at least 80 Dominicans in the big leagues all year.  So, some of these Dominicans will surely continue to make news.

Ubaldo Jimenez and Francisco Liriano continue to pitch well as starters, as the Dominican Baseball Guy stated a few posts back.  Jimenez is definitely a front runner for National League Cy Young at this point.

Vladimir Guerrero is playing very well for the Rangers.  He is in the top 10 in the American League in average and RBI right now.  Guerrero has long been a favorite player of the Dominican Baseball Guy.  He is a .322 lifetime hitter, an incredible lifetime average for someone that also hits for power.  He was the AL MVP in 2004 and has 4 Silver Slugger awards.  He also has a great arm in the outfield and the Dominican Baseball Guy has seen him throw out many runners from right field.  He had a walk off hit a few days ago too.

Alfonso Soriano and Robinson Cano are also off to good starts.  They are both from San Pedro de Macoris, the city highlighted in the new book, The Eastern Stars: How Baseball Changed the Dominican Town of San Pedro de Macoris.

Jose Bautista has played well for the Blue Jays.  Albert Pujols is doing his normal thing, batting like 1.000 with runners in scoring position and churning out his normal triple crown contending numbers.  Jose Guillen and Nelson Cruz have hit well, although Nelson Cruz has been injured some.

Interesting that the Dominican Baseball Guy does not mention some of the most famous Dominican ballplayers like Pedro Martinez and David Ortiz.  There is a new crop of Dominicans playing in MLB and there will be another group behind them, as there are no shortage of Dominican prospects in the minor leagues.

Escogido wins Dominican Winter Baseball League, Goes on to Caribbean Series

Escogido from Santo Domingo beat the Gigantes del Cibao from San Francisco de Macoris 5-2 in game 9 of the final series to win the Dominican Winter Baseball League 2009-10. This was the final game of a 9 game finals series. See the recap of the game here. It was a great atmosphere, with fans from both sides descending on the stadium in San Francisco de Macoris. Escogido and their fans later celebrated with a parade in the capital:

Francisco Liriano stood out in the final series. In game 9 he had 10 strikeouts in 5 innings on something like 65 pitches, as he was on a pitch count. He was dominant in this game, and played very well throughout the winter season.

Escogido now goes to the Caribbean Series, to face the winners of the Mexican, Venezuelan, and Puerto Rican winter leagues. This is a 6 game round robin tournament. See some details at this MLB.com article. The games will be on MLB Network.

There are no imported players (no Americans) allowed on these teams. Players must come from the country that the team is from. So, the teams sometimes bring in countrymen from other teams within their league. Should be lots of really good players though, older and younger.

Like always, this is a tournament for national pride. Dominican President Leonel Fernandez wished his country's team good luck.