World Baseball Today

“BASEBALL MEXICO” TO DEBUT IN AUGUST

2009-07-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

This marks the final edition of “World Baseball Today.” After 16 months and 87 programs since November 2007, we will become “Baseball Mexico,” beginning August 2.

“Baseball Mexico” will be very similar to “World Baseball Today” in length and format, and will continue to air every Sunday at 10:30AM Eastern on Radio Miami International at 9955 kHz and online at www.wrmi.net. However, there WILL be changes.

The obvious change will be the narrowing of programming focus to Mexican professional baseball. Mexico is the world’s only country in which pro ball is played all year long, and BBM will focus on both the Mexican League during the spring and summer and the Mexican Pacific League during the fall and winter, as well as Mexican players in Major League Baseball. BBM will also include features such as the “Mexican Baseball Road Trip,” in which all 24 Mexican baseball cities are profiled, histories of Mexico and Mexican baseball, and “Maestros of Mexico,” where 50 of Mexico’s most important figures in baseball (on and off the field) will be profiled.

Thanks to everyone who has followed WBT, and I hope you’ll make the move to BBM. Our new email address is BaseballMexico@live.com.

BUEHRLE TOSSES PERFECT GAME AS CHISOX MOVE INTO TIE FOR FIRST

2009-07-25T09:54:00.001-07:00

Mark Buehrle of the Chicago White Sox tossed a perfect game Thursday, blanking the Tampa Bay Rays, 5-0, in Chicago to become the sixth pitcher in Major League Baseball history to throw a perfect game and a no-hitter in his career. He authored a 6-0 no-hitter against Texas in 2007. Ironically, Eric Cooper was the home plate umpire for both of Buehrle’s gems.

Buehrle did need a little late defensive help. Gabe Kapler drilled a ninth-inning pitch deep to left-center field, but Sox centerfielder DeWayne Wise was able to track the ball down and make a leaping catch at the fence to steal a homer and save the perfecto. Buehrle then got Jason Bartlett to hit a grounder to shortstop for the final out of the game.

The win pulled the 50-45 White Sox into a tie for first with Detroit in the American League Central Division. The 57-37 New York Yankees lead the AL East, and the 55-38 Los Angeles Angels are best in the West. In the National League, the 53-39 Philadelphia Phillies lead the East Division, the 51-46 St. Louis Cardinals lead the Central (where just two games separate the top four teams); and in the West, the 61-34 Los Angeles Dodgers are on top.

GENETIC TESTING USED ON SOME LATIN PROSPECTS

2009-07-25T09:53:00.003-07:00

The New York Times is reporting the use of DNA testing by Major League Baseball on some Latin American prospects and their families. According to a written statement from the MLB office, DNA testing was used in the Dominican Republic “in very rare instances, and only on a consensual basis to deal with the identity fraud problem that the league faces in that country.” An MLB spokesman declined to say how many prospects have been tested.

In recent years, a number of Latin prospects have been found to be older than they claimed upon signing with Major League teams, some of whom received fairly large bonuses. According to the Times, some experts and at least one scout raised the possibility that DNA testing could also be used to predict a player’s medical future, and that baseball’s use of such information has alarmed genetics and bioethics professionals.

One of the hottest unsigned prospects in the Dominican, shortstop Miguel Sano, underwent a DNA test and a bone scan to verify that he is, indeed, 16 years old.

LEONES, TIGRES SPLIT FIRST TWO GAMES OF BIG SERIES

2009-07-25T09:52:00.005-07:00

The Yucatan Leones and Quintana Roo Tigres began an important three-game series by splitting the first two games in a matchup of the top two teams in the Mexican League’s Southern Zone in Merida’s Estadio Kukulcan.

The Tigres won the opener, 4-1, Tuesday night by scoring one run in the top of the eighth inning and two more in the ninth. Alex Sanchez was 3-for-5 for the Tigres, scoring one run and driving in another. The Leones came back Wednesday night for a 5-4 win, thanks in no small part to a three-run homer by Luis Matos in the sixth.

With the win, the 30-16 Leones went 2.5 games ahead of the Tigres in the LMB South. In the North, the 32-13 Mexico City Diablos Rojos are seven games up on Saltillo.

DARVISH WINS 12TH AS FIGHTERS HOLD FIRST PLACE

2009-07-25T09:52:00.001-07:00

Ace Yu Darvish tossed his sixth complete game win of the season to lead the Nippon Ham Fighters to a 2-1 win over the Lotte Marines Wednesday night, completing a three-game sweep and helping keep the Fighters in first place in Japan’s Pacific League standings.

The 12-3 Darvish allowed just two hits and struck out six in joining Seibu’s Hideaki Wakui as Japan’s only 12-game winners as Nippon Ham won their fifth game in a row to go to 48-32-1 on the season. The second-place Softbank Hawks kept pace by outlasting Seibu, 7-6, as Hiroki Kokubo’s tiebreaking RBI single off Lions pitcher Marcus Gwyn in the seventh was the difference-maker. Tadashi Settsu won in relief while closer Takahiro Mahara earned his 19th save of the year. Seibu fell to 42-39-3, and are currently in third place.

The Yomiuri Giants continue to lead the Central League with a 50-28-7 record, but the 51-34-1 Chunichi Dragons have been quietly closing in on the Kyojin. The Giants bopped the Yokohama BayStars, 6-2, Wednesday night as Michihiro Ogasawara hit two of Yomiuri’s four home runs to support pitcher Wirfin Obispo’s first complete game of the season. Chunichi also won Wednesday, topping the Hiroshima Carp, 3-2. Masaaki Koike’s eighth-inning single drove in Atsushi Fujii from second base with the game-winning run.

KOREAN ALL-STAR GAME SET FOR THIS WEEKEND

2009-07-25T09:51:00.003-07:00

The Korea Baseball Organization’s 34th annual All-Star Game was scheduled for Saturday, July 25 in Gwangju, returning to that KBO city for the first time in eleven years.

The game is an East-versus-West affair. The West team consists of players from the Kia Tigers, Hanwha Eagles, LG Twins and the Heroes, and was managed this year by Hanwha skipper In-sik Kim. The East squad is drawn from the SK Wyverns, Doosan Bears, Lotte Giants and Samsung Lions, and was skippered by SK dugout boss Sung-geun Kim. The East led the all-time series, 21 games to 11, heading into Saturday’s contest. Seventeen first-time players were on the two All-Star rosters.

Defending champion SK leads the KBO at the All-Star Break with a 49-36-2 record, just ahead of traditional rival Doosan, who is 47-36-2. Kia holds down third place at 46-36-4 in what is now shaping up as a three-team race after the Wyverns and Bears were well ahead of the six other KBO teams for most of the season.

LIONS STUMBLE AS TAIWAN’S SECOND HALF OPENS

2009-07-25T09:51:00.001-07:00

After holding off the La New Bears to win the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s first-half title, the defending Taiwanese champion Uni-President Lions have lost eight of the first ten games of their second-half schedule to drop into the CPBL cellar. The Lions won the first-half crown with a 34-24-2 record, just ahead of the 33-26-1 Bears.

Sinon defeated the Lions, 6-4, last Sunday to even the Bulls’ second-half record at 5-5, thanks to Da-hong Cheng’s three-run walkoff homer at Taipei County Stadium. The loss marked the first time in 19 seasons that Uni-President has dropped seven straight games as the Lions fell to 2-8 in the standings.

In other CPBL action last Sunday, the Brother Elephants pulled back into a first-place tie with the Bears following a 12-inning, 4-3 win in Tianmu. A fielding error by La New rookie Chih-ping Lin let in the winning run to snap a six-game Bears winning streak. Elephants reliever Jia-rei Mai tossed two scoreless innings to earn the win in relief as Brother avoided a three-game sweep at the hands of the Bears and moved back into a first-place tie with both teams at 6-3. The Elephants finished a distant last in the first half with a 21-38 record.

BOLOGNA, RIMINI TIE FOR 1ST AS ITALIAN PLAYOFFS BEGIN

2009-07-25T09:40:00.005-07:00

The Italian League Serie A1 playoffs began this weekend after Fortitudo Bologna and Telemarket Rimini tied for first place in the regular season standings with identical 30-12 records. However, it took a three-game sweep over Rimini by Bologna to pull Fortitudo into the deadlock.

Richard Austin socked his sixth and seventh homers of the season in last Sunday’s 7-4 Bologna victory to complete the broom job. Eddy Garabito also homered for the winners and Matthew Stocco added three RBIs as both teams gave a number of pitchers a workout as a prelude to the postseason. Defending champion T&A San Marino finished third, four games behind at 26-16, two games ahead of fourth-place Cariparma Parma, who was 24-18. Parma nudged out 23-19 Danesi Nettuno for the fourth and final playoff berth, while Montepaschi Grosseto, De Angelis GODO and Palfinger Reggio Emilia were all well out of contention.

This weekend’s best-of-3 semifinals pitted Bologna and Parma in one series, while Bologna squared off against San Marino. The winners will open the Italian Series next weekend.

NEPTUNUS SWEEPS AMSTERDAM TO WIDEN DUTCH LEAGUE LEAD

2009-07-25T09:40:00.003-07:00

DOOR Neptunus and the defending champion Amsterdam Pirates were just one game apart in the Dutch Major League standings when they opened their important three-game series last weekend in Rotterdam. However, after pulling out three wins, Neptunus is now 27-8-1 and has a four-game lead over 23-12-1 Amsterdam.

Neptunus opened the set with a 6-5 win on July 17, and followed up with a 10-8 victory on July 18 before finishing the sweep with an 8-2 triumph on July 19. As if the three straight losses weren’t bad enough for the Pirates, they now have two other Hoofdklasse teams chasing them for second place in the standings.

The Konica Minolta Pioniers took three straight games from last-place MediaMonks RCH last weekend to move into third place at 22-12-2, while Sparta/Feyenoord won two in a row over Corendon Kinheim to slide past last season’s runners-up into fourth with a 21-13-1 mark. Kinheim dropped to fifth at 21-14. Mr. Crocker HCAW, ADO and Media Monks are all out of playoff contention with a combined 25-80-3 record.

AMERICANS WIN ALL-STAR GAME; UNBEATEN STREAK AT 13

2009-07-19T20:36:00.002-07:00

Baltimore’s Adam Jones lofted a sacrifice fly to score Detroit’s Curtis Granderson from third base in the eighth inning to give the American League a 4-3 win over the National League at the 80th Major League All-Star Game last Tuesday in St. Louis. With the victory, the American League has now won or tied the past 13 Midsummer Classics.

The Americans handed starter Roy Halladay of Toronto a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and Halladay responded by retiring the first five National League batters he faced. The Nationals eventually took a 3-2 lead on a pinch-hit double from Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder in the third. Minnesota’s Joe Mauer tied the game in the fifth with an RBI double of his own, setting up Granderson’s one-out triple in the eighth prior to Jones’ sac fly.

Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon got the win with a scoreless seventh inning. San Diego’s Heath Bell, who gave up Granderson’s triple and Jones’ sac fly, was pinned with the loss for the National League.

PHILS SIGN PEDRO TO ONE-YEAR CONTRACT

2009-07-19T20:36:00.001-07:00

Three-time Cy Young Award winner Pedro Martinez has finally signed a contract with a big league team after months in limbo. The 37-year-old Martinez agreed a one-year deal with the defending world champion Philadelphia Phillies last week for $1 million, plus another $1.5 million in incentives. Martinez had been seeking a $5 million contract after a good showing in March’s World Baseball Classic, but four months passed before the right-hander bit the bullet and signed with the Phils.

Martinez pitched twice at the Phillies’ Dominican academy before the team sat down to talk business with him. He was immediately placed on the disabled list, and will begin his season pitching a rehab assignment for a Phillies farm team. Martinez won the Cy Young Award three times between 1997 and 2000, and has a career record of 214-99 with a 2.91 ERA and 3,117 strikeouts over 17 big league seasons. Last year, he went 5-6 with a 5.61 ERA for the New York Mets before becoming a free agent in the offseason.

MEXICAN HALL TO INDUCT FOUR NEW MEMBERS

2009-07-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

Mexico’s counterpart to Cooperstown, the Salon de la Fama in Monterrey, was scheduled to induct four new members this weekend. A Saturday night ceremony prior to the Reynosa-Monterrey Mexican League game at Monterrey Baseball Stadium introduced inductees Arturo Gonzalez, Juan Jose Pacho, Salvador Colorado and Jose Domingo Setien.

Gonzalez was 232-169 over 27 years pitching in the Mexican League (all for Monterrey), Pacho was a shortstop who batted .278 over 1,891 Liga games in his career before becoming a successful manager, Colorado was 181-125 in 18 Mexican summers between the Seventies and Nineties, and Setien has been a baseball writer and TV commentator in Mexico since 1972.

Gonzalez was elected in his first year on the ballot.

FIGHTERS BEAT HAWKS TWICE IN BATTLE OF PACIFIC LEADERS

2009-07-19T20:34:00.002-07:00

After losing the first contest of their three-game series, the Nippon Ham Fighters took two straight wins over the Softbank Hawks to come to within a half-game of the league-leading Hawks in Japan’s Pacific League standings.

Jose Ortiz whacked a two-run homer to give the Hawks a 2-1 win in Tuesday night’s opener to snap the Fighters’ three-game win streak. Nippon Ham came back to win the final two games of the set, however. Fighters ace Yu Darvish tossed his fifth complete game of 2009 in Wednesday’s 9-1 win over Softbank as Darvish’s record was lifted to 11-3. One night later, the Fighters won the rubber match, 3-2, thanks to Eiichi Koyano’s two-run triple in the sixth inning.

The Hawks are clinging to the PL lead with a 45-31-2 record, while the Fighters are right on their heels at 45-32-1. Seibu is third at 40-38-3. In the Central League, the Yomiuri Giants have all kinds of breathing room with a 47-25-7 record, 5.5 games ahead of 45-34-1 Chunichi and six games up on 42-32 Yakult.

YANG HITS 350TH HOMER IN LIONS LOSS TO DOOSAN

2009-07-19T20:34:00.001-07:00

Samsung veteran Joon-hyuk Yang swatted the 350th homer of his 17-year career last Tuesday night in Daegu, but the Lions still lost a 14-9 slugfest to the Doosan Bears in a Korea Baseball Organization game.

The 40-year-old Yang walloped his three-run shot off Bears start Jae-woo Lee in the first inning. Yang, who has eleven homers this year, has never won a single-season home run title and has never hit more than 23 dingers in a year. Even so, Yang is the only KBO player ever to top 300 career homers, although SK Wyverns catcher Kyung-oan Park is knocking on the door at 299. Not just a swing-for-the-fences slugger, Yang is a career .318 hitter over 2,059 games since his 1993 debut (including a .326 average this year). He played the first six years of his KBO career for the Lions, then spent a season with the KIA Tigers and two more with the SK Wyverns before returning to Samsung in 2002.

Despite the win, second-place Doosan was not able to close the gap between the Bears and the league-leading Wyverns. SK is 48-33-5 this year, good enough for a 2.5-game lead over the 45-35-2 Bears. KIA is in third at 43-35-4, one game behind the Bears.

JAPANESE COLLEGIANS BEAT USA IN FIVE-GAME SERIES

2009-07-19T20:33:00.000-07:00

It took a shortstop’s error in the eleventh inning of the deciding game, but Japan was able to pull out a 3-games-to-2 win in their collegiate baseball All-Star series with the United States last week in Japan. The series was tied at two games apiece going into the fifth and final contest at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium.

Game Five was knotted up at 4-4 going into the ninth inning when the Americans scored three runs to take a 7-4 lead, but when Japan notched three counters of their own in the bottom of the frame, the game went into overtime. With two out in the bottom of the eleventh, Masayoshi Kato’s grounder was bobbled by USA shortstop Christian Colon, bringing in the winning run from third base to end the game with an 8-7 Japan victory. The series itself was a see-saw affair, as the USA and Japan swapped wins back and forth over the first four games.

Asia University outfielder Keiji Nakahara was named the series MVP after recording at least one hit in all five games, including a homer in Game Three, as Japan extended their winning streak at home to 13 straight series.

CUBA BEATS DUTCHMEN TO WIN ROTTERDAM TOURNAMENT

2009-07-19T20:32:00.002-07:00

Giorvis Duvergel’s RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning broke a 3-3 tie as Cuba went on to pound The Netherlands, 9-3, last Sunday in the title game of the World Port Tournament in Rotterdam. Cuba dominated the tournament by winning or tying nine of the ten games they played. Conversely, the host Dutch reached the final despite a 4-5 record in the preliminary round in which the four national teams played one another three times each. Taiwan finished third with a 3-5-1 record, while Japan brought up the rear at 3-6.

The Japanese did capture a measure of glory on July 11 by handing the Cubans their only loss in a 2-1 win for pitcher Syogo Suenaga, who let in one unearned run on four hits in a complete game victory.

Cuba’s Yoelvis Fiss was voted the tourney’s MVP after going 15-for-35 at the plate with two homers and 12 RBIs. Teammate Maikel Folch earned Best Pitcher honors after tossing 18 scoreless innings, including four shutout frames in the title game with The Netherlands to earn the victory.

MARLINS CLINCH SPANISH LEAGUE REGULAR SEASON TITLE

2009-07-19T20:32:00.001-07:00

To the surprise of nobody, the Puerto Cruz Marlins have clinched the Spanish Division of Honor regular season championship following a two-game sweep of the Vigo Halcones last weekend at home in Tenerife. Vigo took a 3-0 first inning lead in the opening game via a three-run homer by Marco Marques. The Marlins came back with one run in the first before pounding out five more in the second, highlighted by two-run bombs from Juan Macias and Daniel Martinez. Leslie Nacar ran his record to 14-1 by settling down after Marques’ blast and letting in no more Halcones runs through the eighth frame. Ivan Granados saw his record lifted to 12-1 in the second game by tossing a 5-0 shutout.

With the sweep, Puerto Cruz is now 30-2, four games ahead of 26-6 Barcelona with four games left on the schedule. Remember that Barca road trip to Puerto Cruz that was cancelled because nobody bothered to book a team flight to Tenerife earlier this season? Even if the Marlins lose all four of their games and Barcelona wins their last four games, Puerto Cruz will get the nod for first because of those two 9-0 forfeit wins over Barca.

GERMAN PLAYOFFS NARROWED TO FINAL FOUR TEAMS

2009-07-19T20:27:00.000-07:00

The German Baseball League playoffs have winnowed down to four teams after all first round Bundesliga series wrapped up last weekend. The Solingen Alligators will meet the Heidenheim Heidekoepfe in one semifinal series, while the defending champion Regensburg Buchbinder Legionaere will take on the Manheim Tornados in the other. Solingen and Regensburg won their respective division titles during the regular season.

Solingen eliminated the Mainz Athletics in three straight games, including a 10-0 win last weekend as Enorbel Marquez-Ramirez combined with Jens Cornelsen and Andre Hughes to limit Mainz to two hits and a walk. Heidenheim allowed just one run in 23 innings of their three-game sweep of Dortmund, including a 13-0 Markus Winkler one-hitter last Saturday.

Regensburg won their third straight over the HSV Stealers, 9-7, last week as Matt Vance was 4-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs. Manheim needed four games to knock out Paderborn, scoring a 14-4 clincher win last Sunday. The Tornados’ Marvin Appiah homered for the third straight game, while pitcher Martin DeWald earned his third postseason win.

The best-of-5 semis will begin Saturday, August 1 because the German National Team will be in Canada for the World Baseball Challenge this weekend.

PUJOLS TOPS MLB ALL-STAR VOTE-GETTERS

2009-07-12T12:34:00.001-07:00

Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals racked up 5.4 million fan votes in balloting for the Major League Baseball All-Star Game this week at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Pujols easily led all vote-getters in receiving the second-highest number of tallies in MLB history.

He’ll be joined by teammate Yadier Molina, who’ll start as catcher for the National League as the two Cardinals stay at home for the All-Star Break. Philadelphia Phillies manager Charley Manuel will be the National League skipper.

Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees led American League players in votes, and will start at shortstop for Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon. The AL team includes ten first-time All-Stars, and the Boston Red Sox lead both leagues with six players in Tuesday night’s game, which will be televised in the USA on the FOX Network.

INTERNATIONAL PROSPECTS ON MLB RADAR

2009-07-12T12:33:00.001-07:00

The signing period for Major League teams to reach contract agreements with undrafted international players has begun. Players inside the USA, Canada and Puerto Rico are subject to MLB’s June draft, but the rest are considered free agents (although they can’t be signed to deals until July 2).

Several young international players have already made deals with MLB teams, but none have topped last year’s record $4.25 million signing bonus the Oakland Athletics gave Dominican pitcher Michael Ynoa. The top figure this year is the reported $3.1 million shelled out by St. Louis for Dominican outfielder Wagner Mateo, while the Yankees gave Dominican catcher Gary Sanchez $3 million.

The top two unsigned international prospects are said to Dominican shortstop Miguel Angel Sano and Cuban pitcher Aroldis Chapman, who may get an eight-figure signing bonus.

INDIAN PITCHERS MAKE ROOKIE LEAGUE DEBUTS FOR PIRATES

2009-07-12T12:31:00.001-07:00

A pair of pitchers from India signed by the Pittsburgh Pirates after appearing on an Indian television show called “The Million Dollar Arm” made their pro baseball debuts recently. Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel became the first players from India to play in an American professional baseball game on July 4 by appearing back-to-back in a 4-2 Pirates’ Gulf Coast League loss to the Yankees in Bradenton, Florida. The GCL is a Rookie-level league based at spring training complexes throughout Florida.

Singh pitched the seventh inning, allowing a run on two hits before retiring the last three Yankees batters he faced. Patel came on in the eighth, turning in a hitless, nine-pitch effort on the mound. Singh is left-handed, while Patel is a righty.

Pirates general manager Neal Huntington, who signed the duo last November, said, “This is going to be a long process, but they continue to make progress.” Huntington added that Patel and Singh will pitch out of the bullpen for the rest of the year and probably in 2010 as well.

HAWKS PULL AHEAD OF FIGHTERS IN JAPAN'S PL RACE

2009-07-12T12:30:00.000-07:00

The Softbank Hawks defeated the Orix Buffaloes, 3-2, last Wednesday night to take a narrow 1.5-game lead over the Nippon Ham Fighters in their neck-and-neck battle for the lead in Japan’s Pacific League standings. Nobuhiro Matsuda went 3-for-3 with two RBIs for the Hawks, while starter Yoshiaki Fujioka let in one run over 5.2 innings for the win as Softbank raised their record to 41-28-2.

The Fighters are right behind the Hawks at 40-30-1 after dropping a 4-3 decision to the Seibu Lions Wednesday night. Yu Darvish took the loss for Nippon Ham to fall to 10-3 for the season after giving up four runs in seven innings, the most tallies he’s allowed in a start this year. Seibu pinch-hitter Tatsuyuki Uemoto touched Darvish with a two-run homer in the seventh to put the Lions ahead for good. Seibu is third in the PL at 36-35-2.

In the Central League standings, the Yomiuri Giants are 43-24-6 and hold a comfortable lead over the 39-29 Yakult Swallows. The Giants beat the Yokohama BayStars, 3-2, Wednesday night as Hayato Sakamoto hit his second walkoff homer of the year in the ninth inning. The Swallows kept pace with an 11-6 win over the Chunichi Dragons. Norichika Aoki stroked a two-run single in the sixth to break a 6-6 tie as Yakult scored the final five runs of the game. Chunichi is in third place in the CL with a 40-32-1 record.

THREE TAIWANESE PLAYERS SIGN WITH PITTSBURGH

2009-07-12T12:27:00.001-07:00

Major League Baseball’s Pittsburgh Pirates have not had a winning season since 1992, and the organization is leaving no stone unturned pursuing prospects that might help turn things around. The Bucs last week signed three high school players from Taiwan to minor league contracts. Two of them are from the same school.

Xiyuan Taichung City High School produced right-handed pitcher Sheng-qin Hong and outfielder Pin-hong Ji. Hong is a 165-pound six-footer who throws a 90 MPH fastball along with a curveball and changeup. His velocity is expected to increase as his body fills out. Ji is only 5-7 and 143 pounds, but very fast on the bases and a starter on both the 2005 Pony League World Series winners and Taiwan’s 2007 IBA Senior League champions. Both Hong and Ji are 18 years old.

Also signed was first baseman Ji-wei Xu, a 17-year-old from Kuang Fu High School. Xu is just shy of six feet tall and weighs 202 pounds. He has been compared to Jim Thome and Jason Giambi by scouts who spotted him crushing a long homer in a game last December.

All three signees will be sent to Australia’s Major League Baseball Academy for at least a couple months. Xu could be assigned to a Pirates minor league team as early as September, while Hong and Ji may not be assigned until next spring.

BATANGAS WINS PHILIPPINES SERIES 5 PENNANT

2009-07-12T12:25:00.001-07:00

The Batangas Bulls capped off a near-perfect Baseball Philippines Series 5 season by destroying the Manila Sharks, 12-3, last weekend to wrap up the BP finals and cop the pennant. Bulls starter Vladimir Eguia held Manila to two runs on five hits in a complete game effort en route to picking up the Finals MVP award as Batangas picked up their second title. The Bulls won the opener of the best-of-3 series, 13-4, in Manila.

Both teams were hit hard when BP suspended 24 Philippines National Team players for insubordination earlier this year. Batangas lost four players, including all-time home run leader Vio Roxas, while Manila was missing four players themselves. Still, the Series 5 season belonged to the Bulls, who won 13 of the 14 games they played. Series 6 begins this fall.

CUBA OFF TO STRONG START IN DUTCH TOURNAMENT

2009-07-12T12:22:00.003-07:00

The defection of star pitcher Aroldis Chapman apparently hasn’t had a negative affect on the Cuban National Team, at least not on the field. Cuba opened the 2009 World Port Tournament in Rotterdam, Holland with six wins and a tie in their first seven games wins last week, and is the only team in the four-nation tourney above .500.

Cuba opened the World Port Tournament on July 2 with a 1-0 shutout of the host Netherland team as Miguel Gonzalez outdueled Diegomar Markwell for the win. Rolando Merino’s RBI single in the top of the third plated the game’s only run. Gonzalez came back six days later to combine with Yadiel Pedroso on a one-hitter for a 10-0 whitewashing of Japan. Taiwan won the second game on Opening Day, 4-3, over Japan as Kun-Sheng Lin’s single in the 11th inning gave Taiwan the lead and ultimately the win.

Cuba ran their record to 6-0-1 through last Thursday, when they tied Taiwan, 1-1, in a makeup game of an earlier rainout, then beat the Taiwanese team again, 5-4. Taiwan is now 2-4-1 for the tournament. The Netherlands topped Japan, 4-3, in the third game of the day in Rotterdam to bring their record up to 3-4. Japan brings up the rear at 2-5 as of Thursday.

The tournament is scheduled to conclude Sunday, July 12 with the title game.