Pinar del Río’s team got rid of the deepest concerns and of the favoritism of its rival by taking three consecutive steps to crash in the finals of the 53rd Baseball National Series and securing a historical win over Industriales, the blue team, the team of the Cuban capital.
The blue team (now mourning at home) thought that with the initial advantage they would get first to the field but they only got halfway. Pinar del Rio, the green team (now enjoying their victory) was hanging by the ropes and managed to get out of the fire. Industriales took them for granted, but they still had a silver bullet left.
Never before they had been able to revert a 1-3 against them, every time they found themselves in an unfavorable situation they hadn’t been able to overcome it, but history is there to be changed. Now, they have added anew page to the document that grants them eternal guardianship in play offs over the blue team.
The conqueror of the last crown for Pinar del Rio (three years ago), Alfonso I fromVueltabajo, called the shots as only he can do it and led his team to the victory. Urquiola always trusted Yosvani Torres, even when the rivals took over the Latin American baseball stadium and let it on fire. The faith put in him granted him two victories in the ninth innings. The performance of Julio A. Martínez was also vital. Despite exploiting in his first opening, he was able to recover from that setback and become a pillar for the team. He was the perfect relay twice combining his smoking fastball with a parabolic curve absolutelycontrolling his rivals.
Another element that contributed with this victory was the restructuring of the lineup, with Roel Santos and GiorvisDuvergel in the first places, reinforcement that arrived from the eastern part of the country for patrolling the fields. They both anchored in first base more than 50% of the times it was their turn to bat, an incredible average that resulted in almost sure runs through the home plate driven by the best batters of the team, Duarte and Saavedra.
And beyond, considering William Saavedra was on fire like a volcano. First base and number 28 insisted on batting pertinent homeruns over the left field, with an injured foot he hit four homeruns during the series. As an inspiring spark plug in the team, undoubtedly Saavedra became a war banner.
On the other hand, Industriales had no other option but to look down at the end of the game, with a thorny conscience and a wounded heart. Bearing such a defeat is not easy, Havana city is devastated and in situations like this one it is asking for someoneto blame, those who made mistakes. It is pointing fingers and asking for names, it doesn’t care about team; collective psychology doesn’t exist for amateurs, who would like to hang every member of the team, though eventually they will forget Industriales
Roughly speaking, there were three main factors that plotted against the blue team. Three aspects that when combined in a baseball field will always have the same result: defeat.
1-Team management:
This is the first and perhaps the most important factor. Honestly, the strategic planning was not satisfactory, there were too many mistakes in the reading of every game and the direction continued taking some decisions out of whims, as it has become habitual in the team.
Pitch management: Frank Monthieth, first pitcher of the team didn’t open the first game, and later on proved to be the man destined to win the second match. He was taken out of the sixth game, even though he had allowed no scores for five innings and still had some pitches left. And that’s when it all collapsed and not because the bull pen didn’t hang on but because the chosen pitchers were not the right ones, which led them, with an empty score, to bring in pitchers that hadn’t played for over a month in the series.
Pedro Durán, who pitched in perfect shape the third match, keeping under control his opponents from the first to the eighth inning, didn’t set foot in the field again until the last game. Not even in moments when the pitching wasn’t at its best, main relay pitchers as Michel MartínezPozo and Yoandri Portal were summoned during the whole season.
NoelvisEntenzawasn’t even able to score a strike in his first game; he was given the task to open the fifth game in the Latin American stadium (when the green team was facing its worst nightmare) for a simple vindication request. This time he did scored strikes, but hits kept coming.
Lineup and game strategies: throughout the year Industriales never got a first-team lineup and now in the postseason it stood out from the rest. There were too many changes in the arrangement of batters, men in positions they had never been designed for, Malleta was completely overwhelmed offensively till the end when he became the fourth batter, without a natural first one (Yunieski Gourriel will never be a front man). Hence, batting was obviously affected.
Despite the fact that the green team had one of the worst defensive catchers during the series, the blue team not even attempted to steal the bases, or exploit that advantage. They rejected that option for a full length game that didn’t bear any fruit, and precisely for that reason they left tens of players in circulation. They didn’t even sacrifice themselves by bunting to make other players advance; in this regard, they always said they wouldn’t.
Three years after, they haven’t still committed and others are knocking on their door to take them out of their blue dugout.
2-Injuries:
During this season the players of the blue team spent a lot of time visiting the infirmaryand on sick leave. Tomás, Malleta, Tabares, Yulieski, Urgellés, Torriente, Frank Camilo, Monthieth and some others were injured so they didn’t make their best.
3-Anemic offensive:
The previous factor had a remarkable influence in this one. However, it doesn’t justifythe low performances during the whole offensive campaign of the team. They never managed to connect fully; they relied basically on winning streaks by players like Yulieski Gourriel and Lisbán Correa. That’s the main weapon of the team, without it victory was just impossible.
