by Riccardo Schiroli
Two games will get the program of the second weekend of the Italian Baseball League going.
Cariparma will host Telemarket Rimini for the Rai Sport Più game of the week (‘as live’ starting 11.45 pm). Actually, the series between Parma in Rimini may be the ‘series of the week’, since both teams were off a very good start and it will be interesting watching them clash.
Parma showed a consistent line up and good pitching and suffered an injury from ‘rookie’ Marco Grifantini. If Grifantini cannot pitch Friday, former AAA National Team star Filippo Mori will get the ball in game two. Rimini was maybe less consistent at bat, but definitely showed power (6 homers in 3 games), with Mario Chiarini still in Classic form (in game two he connected for two homers and five RBIs).
T&A San Marino will host De Angelis Godo and will probably see one of the top players of the National Team of the Netherland Antilles (outfielder Jansen) make his debut in Europe. San Marino won all of the games with the first year team Reggio Emilia by one run last week, always doing what was needed to win (intriguing enough are the scores: 1-0, 5-4 and 10-9, as they show a decreasing level of confidence for San Marino pitching). As San Marino, Godo has struggled in game three and will probably have more difficulties this week, since lefty Lino Luciani won’t be available because of a sore arm.
The other two series are played Friday night and with the traditional Saturday doubleheader.
Fortitudo Bologna will host the unbeaten Danesi Nettuno. The runner up of the 2008 Italian Baseball Series may have to give a day of rest to right-hander Carlo Richetti, who left Saturday with some muscular problems. “We are not going to take any risk” explained manager Giampiero Faraone “It’s a long season”. Bologna cannot afford losing this series, after a disappointing debut weekend.
Palfinger Reggio Emilia is back on their home field to host Montepaschi Grosseto. Both teams are looking for the first win of the season and both are looking for better performances of their pitching staffs in game 3. It will be interesting to see if former Red Sox Abe Alvarez can pitch as well as he did last week against San Marino. If he consistently pitches like in the season opener, the left hander can be a real factor in Reggio’s year.
| Time | Home | Visitor | Field | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates and Times are subject to change! In case of doubt check with the responsible national federation! | ||||||
| Thursday, April 16 2009 | ||||||
| 20:30 | T&A San Marino | De Angelis Rimorchi | Stadio del Base... |  |
||
| 21:00 | Cariparma Parma | Telemarket Rimini | Europeo "Nino C... | |
||
| Friday, April 17 2009 | ||||||
| 20:30 | Telemarket Rimini | Cariparma Parma | Stadio Comunale... | |
||
| 20:30 | T&A San Marino | De Angelis Rimorchi | "A. Casadio" Godo | |
||
| 20:30 | Fortitudo Bologna | Danesi Nettuno | Stadio comunale... | |
||
| 20:30 | Palfinger Reggio Emilia | Montepaschi Grosseto | Caselli Giorgio... | |
||
| Saturday, April 18 2009 | ||||||
| 20:30 | Telemarket Rimini | Cariparma Parma | Stadio Comunale... | |
||
| 20:30 | T&A San Marino | De Angelis Rimorchi | "A. Casadio" Godo | |
||
| 16:00 | Fortitudo Bologna | Danesi Nettuno | Stadio comunale... | |
||
| 16:00 | Palfinger Reggio Emilia | Montepaschi Grosseto | Caselli Giorgio... | |
||
Standings
| # | Team | W | L | R+ | R- | .pct | GB | Streak |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fortitudo Bologna | 30 | 12 | 262 | 171 | .714 | 0 | W1 |
| 2 | Telemarket Rimini | 30 | 12 | 256 | 135 | .714 | 0 | L1 |
| 3 | T&A San Marino | 26 | 16 | 227 | 179 | .619 | 4 | L1 |
| 4 | Cariparma Parma | 24 | 18 | 215 | 181 | .571 | 6 | W1 |
| 5 | Danesi Nettuno | 23 | 19 | 220 | 174 | .547 | 7 | W3 |
| 6 | Montepaschi Grosseto | 17 | 25 | 126 | 189 | .404 | 13 | W1 |
| 7 | De Angelis Rimorchi | 10 | 32 | 152 | 300 | .238 | 20 | L1 |
| 8 | Palfinger Reggio Emilia | 8 | 34 | 138 | 267 | .190 | 22 | L8 |
Photo by Ferrini/FIBS
