What an incredible Opening Day! What a way to start a new baseball season. And what a difference a single year makes. Tuesday's opening round of full-schedule action in Cuban National Series #49 produced one of the most truly remarkable individual batting displays in baseball history--a pair of grand slams by the same batter in the first inning of the year's first game. And we are not talking here about Cuban baseball alone but about the organized game as it is played in any of the sport's highest professional leagues. Double grand slams by a single batter in the maiden "episodio"of the year? How much fun is that! Even for those among us who are such traditionalists that we think baseball would be better off if fences were extended and home runs were banned altogether.

Alexei Bell--National Series slugging sensation two years back and offensive hero of the August 2008 Beijing Olympiad--Tuesday (November 3) became the first player in Cuban League history to smack two grand slam home runs within a single inning during Santiago's bizarre mercy-rule-shortened  24-0 slaughter of Oriente League rival Camaguey. Bell thus matched a rarer-than-rare feat accomplished on only one single occasion in more than a full century of major league play. And such a Herculean feat is not known to have occurred anywhere else either in big-time competitions--not in the first class Japanese leagues, other Asian professional circuits, the North American minor leagues, or the Caribbean winter leagues. Nor has such a thing ever been witnessed in IBAF-sponsored international tournament play, and probably not in North American youth leagues either. The odds against even reaching the plate twice with the bases jammed in the same frame are themselves astronomical enough to make this baseball's most unlikely occurrence. Bell--who earlier in his brief career snacked a similar pair of single-inning blasts during a 2007 playoff game, then later authored three base hits in a single frame during yet another 2008 post-season contest--now truly stands alone among ball players boasting remarkable and unparalleled one-day offensive explosions.

For the full story of Bell's remarkable feat go to the newly revised www.baseballdecuba.com site at http://www.baseballdecuba.com/newsContainer.asp?id=1840

A pair of gold medal defeats at the hands of Team USA--in the recent IBAF World Cup and the IBAF AA/16 World Youth Champions--has significantly reduced Cuba's lead as the world's top ranking baseball nation. The two USA triumphs vaulted the Americans from their previous fourth-place slot into the runner-up position; at the same time Cuba's previous first-place margin of 224.86 points (over Korea in the last poll, released in mid-August) has been more than cut in half (it now stands at 108.36 points) by the late Yankee surge. Two Asian powers--Korea and Japan--fell to fourth and third place respectively after both failing to qualify for the third round of the September Europe-based World Cup event. Other minor shifts in the Top Ten saw Canada (the World Cup bronze medalist) and Mexico flip-flopping in the seventh and eighth slots, and Italy surging from number 15 to number 12 on the strength of its own first-round World Cup performance. The IBAF rankings actually include 72 baseball-playing nations, with Ghana and Samoa bringing up the rear of the list.

1. Cuba (1159.68 points)

2. USA (1051.32 points)

3. Japan (912.07 points)

4. Korea (850.76 points)

5. Chinese Taipei (561.63 points)

6. Netherlands (405.33 points)

7. Canada (360.19 points)

8. Mexico (353.75 points)

9. Venezuela (298.86 points)

10. Puerto Rico (231.39 points)

11. Australia (211.24)

12. Italy (166.00 points)

13. Dominican Republic (135.68 points)

14. Nicaragua (117.49 points)

15. China (102.00 points)

16. Panama (92.32 points)

17. Spain (67.38 points)

18. Thailand (63.38 points)

19. Philippines (62.33 points)

20. Germany (48.38 points)

Top-twenty ranked countries failing to make an appearance in the September World Cup showcase event were the Dominican Republic, Panama, Thailand and the Philippines. The Dominicans managed to hold onto their number 13 ranking despite yet another failure to qualify for the IBAF World Cup field; while the Caribbean island nation proudly points to its legacy of supplying major league talent it has little in the way of a national baseball program which islanders might point to with any pride. The biggest tumble by previously highly ranked nations was experienced by Brazil which slipped from #20 in August to #35 in the current rankings.

While the stateside version of the sport grinds toward its conclusion and its October post-season tournament, an alternative tournament with a far more legitimate claim to the title of baseball's "World Series" has moved into its second round here in Europe. The biggest surprise of the IBAF-sponsored World Cup so far has been the opening round extra-inning loss of Team USA to Venezuela in Regensburg, Germany. That 13-9 11-inning afair was enough to send the Americans into second round action in Italy (as Group D) runner-up) rather than the expected venue in Holland (as group winner). It did, however, clear the way for a possible Cuba-USA rematch in this year's title game, since the eventual winners of the Holland and Italy groups will clash for the title on September 27 (in Nettuno, Italy).

The USA loss perhaps provided the biggest news but not the most dramatic moment of the tournament to date. That came in Barcelona last Saturday in the form of a pinch-hit eighth-inning homer by Cuba's Yosvany Peraza that rescued the many-time world champions from a near-monumental upset at the hands of upstart Spain. With his big bang Peraza became the only player ever to pinch-hit a game-winning home run in his first-ever at-bats in both the World Baseball Classic (that one coming against Australia in Mexico City) and the IBAF World Cup. But there was far more to the story as Peraza's apparent three-run smash was quickly reduced to a two-run shot when the Cuban catcher passed teammate Ariel Borrero on the basepaths. For the full story on that dramatic clutch hit and the baserunning error that might have cost Cuba the game, the reader is directed to my in-depth reports found at www.baseballdecuba.com.

The sport's actual world championship event unfolds not in October in New York, Boston or Los Angeles, but rather at scattered locations across Europe in early September. The MLB "Fall Classic" of course has nothing at all to do with "world" or "international" competitions but rather merely decides a North American "corporate" baseball champion. And the novel World Baseball Classic now staged every fourth year in March is only a small step closer to a true international event, given that (with the exception of Cuba's entry) that affair is restricted to but a handful of countries boasting MLB-owned ballplayers.

For the crowning of a true WORLD champion one must turn to the alternate-year IBAF-sponsored Baseball World Cup tournament, now about to open in Europe for its 38th edition. This year's event will be staged at multiple venues for the first time, with first-round games (involving 20 nations) commencing in Spain, Germany, Croatia, Sweden and the Czech Republic on September 9-10. Round two action (including Italy and Holland which own first-round byes) will move to venues in The Netherlands and Italy, with the title match slatted for September 27th in Nettuno, Italy.

Those interested in following this event (admittedly from a Cuban perspective) can do so on our website at www.baseballdecuba.com. I will be trailing the Cuban team to their round one and two venues in Barcelona and Holland, and then on to the finals in Italy. Our detailed World Cup page contains not only my daily English-language reports but also numerous Spanish and English tournament news items, history, schedules, standings, detailed statistics, photos, and even radio and television feeds for all Team Cuba games. This promises to be the most detailed World Cup page found anywhere on the internet.

The World Cup website homepage can be found at the following link:

http://www.baseballdecuba.com/wcup2009.html

For a detailed story on the recently released Team Cuba roster, the reader is also directed to the following link:

http://www.baseballdecuba.com/WCup2009newsContainer.asp?id=1750

And for information on the Team USA roster, as well as the prospects for the American entry, the reader is directed to the following USA BASEBALL website link:

http://web.usabaseball.com/teams/index.jsp?team=940

Cuba has captured the world championship (the event was known as the IBAF Amateur World Series until its renaming in 1988) in 25 of the 29 years that it has entered, including a recent string of nine straight titles between 1982 and 2007. Team USA (led by Evan Longoria) claimed its first-ever crown with a 6-3 gold medal win over the Cubans in Taipei back in November 2007. (The USA did win two similar alternate events staged outside the IBAF framework in 1973 and 1974.)  Will the Americans be up to the challenge of protecting their new-found championship status this time around, or will the juggernaunt Cubans return to a long-accostumed position of domination? Stay tuned to www.baseballdecuba.com for all the daily reports and live tournament action.

With baseball's true "World Series" only three weeks away, Cuba has expanded its lead over runner-up Korea in the IBAF world baseball rankings, Cuba's gap over Asian powers Korea and Japan expanded with a gold medal triumph at the recent Rotterdam World Port Tournament. The latest poll is the third since the IBAF began its world rankings on the heels of last summer's Beijing Olympics. The latest IBAF poll also accompanied news that once again the International Olympic Committee has voted down both baseball and softball was medal sports for the 2016 Games that will likely be held in either Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, or Chicago.

This month's IBAF rankings also included women's baseball for the first tie, with Japan, the USA and Canada filling the top three slots. The top twenty in the men's rankings were as follows:

1. Cuba (1209.68 points) 

2. Korea (984.82 points)

3. Japan (947.00 points

4. USA (889.32 points)

5. Chinese Taipei (591.82 points)

6. Holland (412.57 points)

7. Mexico (302.75 points)

8. Canada (280.19 points)

9. Venezuela (233.18 points)

10. Puerto Rico (215.39 points)

11. Australia (214.11 points)

12. Panama (212.32 points)

13. Dominican Republic (135.68 points)

14. Nicaragua (131.25 points)

15. Italy (130.88 points)

16. China (125.00 points)

17. Thailand (58.50 points)

18. Spain (54.50 points)

19. Philippines (50.83 points)

20. Brasil (41.50 points)

With Olympic baseball having fallen by the wayside for the foreseeable future, next month's IBAF World Cup takes on added significance as the one true measure of baseball's legitimate "world championship" status. More will be written about the upcoming IBAF tournament on this page in coming days. But an early indication of this year's favorite might be gleened from the fact that defending champion Team USA (which captured its first-ever crown in Taiwan in November 2007) has yet to even name an official roster. At the same time the Cubans are immersed in a month-long highly competitive domestic all-star series to winnow down their national team roster from its current size of 56 candidates. The Americans will begin World Cup warmups with a brief four-game exhibition series (versus Canada's entry) in Cary, North Carolina on September 3-6. On those same dates 2007 runner-up Cuba (winner of 25 previous World Cup crowns) competes in the Italian Baseball Week (with Italy, Venezuela and Chinese Taipei). World Cup first-round action opens up in five European locations on Serptember 9, with Cuba playing in Barcelona and Team USA slotted for Germany.

With IBAF World Cup 38 looming on the horizon in less than two months time, the Cuban Baseball Federation yesterday announced a list of 58 players who will compete to fill 24 coveted roster spots for the opening of the September games in Barcelona. These 58 hopefuls comprise two all-star rosters that will compete in a trial exhibition series staged throughout the island from late-July until late-August. Representing (more or less) the two Cuban League regional divisions, these all-star clubs will be directed by Esteban Lombillo (manager of the recent Occidentales champions, Habana Province) and Eduardo Martin (skipper of the Orientales National Series finalists, Villa Clara). The complete announced rosters are as follows:

The finals of the Rotterdam World Port Tournament on Sunday afternoon proved to be a perfect mirror image of the entire twelve-day event, with Cuba tattooing Dutch pitching for an easy 9-3 victory. Cuba's top two hurlers--Miguel Alfredo González (Habana Province) and Maikel Folch (Ciego de Avila)--both stymied Netherlands hitters most of the afternoon. The only significant Dutch uprising came with a two-run homer by Sydney de Jong off González in the top of the sixth. Folch allowed a single scratch hit over the final four frames to pick up the championship victory. Cuba's attack was led by catcher Eriel Sánchez (3 for 5 with a two-run homer in the fifth) and first baseman Ariel Borrero (also 3 for 5 with two RBI). The title was Cuba's fourth straight in this event (following wins in 2001, 2003 and 2007).

Complete coverage of (and commentary on) the 2009 World Port Tournament is still available at http://www.baseballdecuba.com/rotterdam2009.asp

Cuba (represented by the Cuba B second-string national team roster) dominated the tournament from start to finish, losing only a meaningless final pool-play game to Japan and suffering a tie match with Chinese Taipei (played on a day when rainouts forced three scheduled games and thus prevented extra-inning play). The runner-up Netherlands was represented by essentially the same ball club that embarrassed the Dominican Republic big leaguers in the March World Baseball Classic, while Japan and Taiwan fielded national university all-star ball clubs.

Below is a summary of tournament individual awards, statistics and final standings:

Individual Player Awards

Most Valuable Player: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba)

Top Pitcher: Maikel Folch (Cuba)

Leading Hitter: Adonis García (Cuba)

Home Run King: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba)

Best Rookie: Nick Urbanus (Netherlands)

Most Popular Player: Nick Urbanus (Netherlands)

World Port Tournament Final Standings (End of Round Robin Games)

Team, Record (Runs For and Against as Tie-Breaker), Point Totals

Cuba 7-1-1 (53-16) 15 points

Netherlands 4-5 (31-42) 8 points

Chinese Taipei 3-5-1 (33-36) 7 points

Japan 3-6 (21-44) 6 points

Finals: Cuba 9-17-1, The Netherlands 3-6-1

Top Ten Tournament Hitters (End of Round Robin Games)

Adonis García (Cuba) .500 (30 ABs, 15 Hits, 6 Runs)

Bas de Jong (Netherlands) .440

Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba) .429 (.657 slugging average, 2 homers, 12 RBI)

Ariel Borrero (Cuba) .414 (.655 slugging average)

Eriel Sánchez (Cuba) .367 (.567 slugging average)

Eugene Kingsale (Netherlands) .344

Bryan Englehardt (Netherlands) .333

Sydney de Jong (Netherlands) .324

Leonys Martin (Cuba) .300

Raily Legito (Netherlands) .300

Yorbis Borroto (Cuba) .300

Batting Leaders (End of Round Robin Games)

Batting Average: Adonis García (Cuba) .500

Slugging Average: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba) .657

On-Base Percentage: Adonis García (Cuba) .545

Home Runs: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba) 2

RBI: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba) 12

Stolen Bases: Yohei Yamamoto (Japan) 5

Base Hits: Adonis García (Cuba) 15

Runs Scored: Ariel Borrero (Cuba) 8

Doubles: Eriel Sánchez (Cuba) 6

Total Bases: Yoelvis Fiss (Cuba) 23

Top Ten Tournament Pitchers (End of Round Robin Games)

Michiel van Kampen (Netherlands) .000 ERA (7.1 innings)
Chen-Hua Lin (Chinese Taipei) 0.00 ERA (7.0 innings)
Diegomar Markwell (Netherlands) 0.57 ERA (15.2 innings)
Ryota Takayama (Japan) 1.04 (8.2 innings)
Ching-Ming Wang (Chinese Taipei) 1.13 ERA 8.0 innings)
Yadier Pedroso (Cuba) 1.29 ERA (7.0 innings)
Syogo Suenaga (Japan) 1.33 ERA (20.1 innings)
Yaumier Sánchez (Cuba) 1.50 ERA (12.0 innings)
 

Pitching Leaders (End of Round Robin Games)

Wins-Losses: Miguel Alfredo González (Cuba) 2-0

Wins-Losses: Yaumier Sánchez (Cuba) 2-0

Wins-Losses: Rob Cordemans (Netherlands) 2-0

ERA Pct.: Maikel Folch (Cuba) 0.00 (14.0 innings)

Innings Pitched: Syogo Suenaga (Japan) 20.1

Opponents Batting Average: Miguel Alfredo González (Cuba) .083

Game Appearances: Chen-Hua Lin (Chinese Taipei) 5

Games Started: Chih-Lung Huang (Chinese Taipei) 3

Strikeouts: Yaumier Sánchez (Cuba) 16

Strikeouts (per 9 innings): Yaumier Sánchez (Cuba) 12.0

Walks: Yaumier Sánchez (Cuba) 11

Shutouts: Syogo Suenaga (Japan) 1

Complete Games: Syogo Suenaga (Japan) 2

Note: USA Baseball (fourth-place finisher at Rotterdam in 2007) was invited to this year's event but elected not to send an American team.

Cuba lost its undefeated record on the final day of World Port Tournament pool play (dropping a 2-1 decision to last-place Japan) and the host Dutch rallied for a 6-5 victory over Taiwan and a place in Sunday's championship finals. Miguel Alfredo González (Cuba's post-season National Series MVP) and veteran Diegomar Markwell (Andruw Jones's cousin) will square off in Sunday afternoon's gold medal match.

But the big story of the day in the Cuban camp was yet another oddity of the type that so often mark the island sport. Cuban manager Roger Machado, attempting to conserve pitchers for the all-important finale, made a surprise pitching move on Saturday that sent Cuba League aficionados scrambling for the record books.

The surprise moment of the week came with a most unorthodox maneuver by manager Machado in the ninth inning. Not wishing to burn up any more of his pitchers on the eve of the finale and also opting not to wear down middle-relief specialist Lahera, Machado inserted Pinar del Río outfielder Jorge Padrón to work the ninth frame. Outfielders and infielders have been occasionally used on the hill at all levels of baseball by managers hoping to rest exhausted bullpens in lost games (especially where the run differential might be 15 or 20 runs). This has happened from time to time even in the majors. But it is hard to recall any bench boss anywhere who has ever asked a totally untested position player (that is, one who has never before pitched to a single batter) to debut on the mound at the crucial juncture of a ninth-inning tie game. Padrón (who batted .345 this past season and enjoyed one 6-for-6 game during National Series #48) certainly met the new challenge in grand style. The unpracticed lefty yielded a harmless single to only the second batter he faced and also walked yet another batsman, but nonetheless escaped the inning without yielding a single tally.

The ninth-inning oddity wrote yet another strange chapter in Cuba's always colorful baseball saga. Preliminary research indicates that Padrón is the first Cuban ballplayer since the debut of National Series play back in 1962 ever to take the mound for a Cuban national team in international tournament action without having tossed a single inning in regular Cuban League domestic action. This author and several colleagues from the Cuban journalist corps are currently pouring over national team records in an effort to uncover a single similar case.

Below is the complete summary of National Series #48 (2008-2009) Cuban League All-Star voting and individual post-season awards. Three rare oddities should be noted in the balloting. First and foremost is the fact that Rafael Orta (Habana Province, pictured here ) was selected as one of the Gold Glove Outfield choices, even though Orta was employed for almost the entire season as team DH (frequently drawing comments in this role, since he batted cleanup and yet completed the entire regular season without a single home run). Given the fact that Orta is so widely considered one of the league's best fly chasers, and also given his lack of offensive punch in the DH role, one has to question why he was used in that latter capacity. Nonetheless it is difficult to second guess manager-of-the-year Esteban Lombillo's decision on this count, since Orta was one of the post-season offensive heroes and Lombillo's team did capture the league championship.

A second intriguing observation is the fact that Sancti Spíritus stalwart third baseman Yulieski Gourriel was the only individual to appear on both the league all-star team and the all-defensive team selections (tying for the latter honor). And finally there is the issue of Alfredo Despaigne's easy victory as league MVP. Here the same question must be raised that always comes up when discussing major league MVP balloting. Despaigne unquestionably enjoyed one of the great offensive seasons in Cuban league annals, establishing a new league home run mark. Undoubtedly the Granma outfielder was "player of the year" by any measure. But how "valuable" was he to his last-place team? It is a safe bet indeed that Granma would have finished 30 or more games off the pace and failed to make the playoffs even without Despaigne on their roster. Should not the MVP award go to a player whose presence dramatically improved or contributed to team performance?

Most Valuable Player: Alfredo Despaigne (Granma)

First: Alfredo Despaigne (Granma) 76 points (21 first place votes)

Second: Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spíritus) 49 points (2 first place votes)

Third: Michel Enríquez (Isla de la Juventud) 36 points (4 first place votes)

Rookie of the Year: Michel Gorgüet (Guantánamo)

First: Michel Gorgüet (Guantánamo) 75 points (21 first place votes)

Second: Denis Laza (Habana Province) 34 points (3 first place votes)

Third: Wilfredo Aroche (Metros) 31 points (3 first place votes)

Manager of the Year: Esteban Lombillo (Habana Province)

First: Esteban Lombillo (Habana Province) 28 votes

Second: Eduardo Martin (Villa Clara)

Third: Roger Machado (Ciego de Avila)

MVP (Post-Season): Miguel Alfredo González (Habana Province)

Unanimous Selection

Rookie of the Year (Post Season): Dennis Laza (Habana Province)

First: Denis Laza (Habana Province) 28 votes

Second: Ramon Lunar (Villa Clara)

National Series #48 League All-Star Team

Catcher: Rolando Meriño (Santiago de Cuba) 27 votes

First Base: Yoelvis Charles (Ciego de Avila) 22 votes

Second Base: Yoilan Cerce (Guantánamo) 20 votes

Third base: Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spíritus) 22 votes

Shortstop: Alex Guerrero (Las Tunas) 16 votes

Outfielder: Alfredo Despaigne (Granma) Unanimous

Outfielder: Giorvis Duvergel (Guantánamo) 27 votes

Outfielder: Yoennis Céspedes (Granma) 16 votes

DH: Lerys Aguilera (Holguín) 20 votes

Utility: Leonys Martin (Villa Clara) 10 votes

RHP: Yunieski Maya (Pinar del Río) 21 votes

LHP: Maikel Folch (Ciego de Avila) 26 votes

Relief Pitcher: Vladimir García (Ciego de Avila) 32 votes

All-Defensive Team (Gold Glove Winners)

Catcher: Yaimel Alberro (Matanzas) 24 votes

First Base: Leslie Anderson (Camagüey) 16 votes

Second Base: Mario Vega (Ciego de Avila) 27 votes

Third Base (Tie): Yulieski Gourriel (Sancti Spíritus) 13 votes

Third Base (Tie): Marino Luis (Cienfuegos) 13 votes

Shortstop: Yorbis Borroto (Ciego de Avila) 22 votes

Outfielder: Juan Carlos Linares (Habana Province) 24 votes

Outfielder: Alexei Bell (Santiago de Cuba) 23 votes

Outfielder: Rafael Orta (Habana Province) 16 votes

Pitcher: Wilbert Pérez (Isla de la Juventud) 22 votes