The Dominican Republic (Escogido) rallied for three runs in the sixth and seventh innings to nip Venezuela 3-2. Trailing 2-0 Ramon Santiago punched an RBI single in the sixth and seventh innings to prove the difference. Freddy Guzman stole three bases, including home to score what proved to be the winning run. Oscar Salazar hit a 2-run homer in the third inning to put Venezuela up 2-0. Dominican Republic is now undefeated with all three other teams holding up the basement at 1-2.
Despite making four errors Puerto Rico won their first game in the Series del Caribe contest for 2010 by defeating Mexico 5-3. Puerto Rico erupted for three in the first, two scoring on a Randy Ruiz single. Michael Hernandez went deep in the sixth with a 2-run shot to seal the victory. Bill Pulsipher got the start and the win for Puerto Rico while new Met Travis Blackley took the loss for Mexico. Travis gave up nine hits in less than five innings.
The first three hitters in the Puerto Rico lineup, Jesus Feliciano, Luis Figueroa and Miguel Abreu, scored three runs and finished the day 7 for 12. Saul Rivera was called on in the ninth and despite giving up one run was able to pick up the save. Vinny Castilla came up as the tying run to the plate and lined out to second to end the game. Both Puerto Rico and Mexico are 1-2 in the round robin play. - link
Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the Twins have inked Orlando Hudson to a one-year, $5 million contract. And there we have it. Hudson, 32, is expected to take over starting second base duties in Minnesota. The "O-Dog" hit .283/.357/.417 with nine home runs, 35 doubles and eight stolen bases in 551 at-bats last season and should provide a nice spark at the top of the Twins' 2010 lineup. Nick Punto will slide over to third base and share time with Brendan Harris. - link
A couple years ago Nelson Figeroa pitched the Uni-President Lions to the Taiwan championship by winning three of the seven games in 2007. That same year he pitched Aguilas to the championship of the Dominican Republic, but played for Mexico during the Series del Caribe. Escogido picked him up to represent the Dominican Republic and the move has already paid off with a complete game three hitter in the Dominican Republic’s 7-1 pounding of Mexico. The win puts the Dominican Republic alone in the early rounds of the Series del Caribe in first place as the only undefeated team.- link
But once again, the Mets have seen a super-duper prospect's trade value dip before he could be traded for a guy like Matt Holliday or the like (see: Milledge, L.) The problem is: With Bay, Beltran and Frenchy (not to mention Corporal Matthews) blocking the entrance, the only way Martinez's value rises is if he hits .450 in Buffalo (good luck with that), or depend on another injury to vault back in the majors and hit a couple of moon shots into the Pepsi Porch. Part of it is the general practice of rushing their prospects through the lower levels. Part of it ... plain bad luck with injuries forcing him up to the majors before his time. But it lends itself to that whole "least efficient team in baseball" reputation in a new and different way. - link
Since the drum roll will be building for four months, it has to start as a low rumble, and it will never be more muted than it is on this cool late afternoon. A few dozen bodies litter the seats -- more than half of them holding stopwatches and notebooks -- not nearly enough to drown out the sound of line drives being sprayed out of the batting cage. Fifty young men in yellow and white uniform jerseys cavort on the field, but only one of them appears to move around under a perceived perpetual spotlight. Maybe when Beyonce sang "Standing in the light of your halo ...," she was thinking of Bryce Harper. - link
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