Mister Baseball

by Riccardo Schiroli

It looks like the 2008 Italian Baseball League is not going to be a private affaire between Nettuno and Grosseto. Fortitudo Bologna took the lead sweeping the struggling De Angelis Godo and showing once again consistency. Bologna has so far the best defense and the best offense of the League and their pitchers are allowing less then two runs per game. Bologna (after losing the opener against San Marino they went 8-0) is a legitimate contender, even if their strength will have to be tested in more important matches. This weekend Fortitudo travels north east to Redipuglia; very unlikely the Rangers (0-9 so far, with the worst offense and an 8 team ERA) will offer the test we are looking for, but the week after in Grosseto Bologna may get some answers.

Montepaschi Grosseto was flirting with leadership after sweeping Nettuno last week, but T&A San Marino gave them a brutal wake up call winning the series in Grosseto and leading for most of the rubber match, that turned out to be the only win Grosseto could celebrate this weekend. The defending champions have struggled with their defense. With Raul Marval sidelined by an injury (recovery time is not clear yet), Nunez took over at shortstop but this didn’t prove to be a solution. The Dominican committed four errors and in general Grosseto’s defense is posting a league high 18 errors in nine matches.

San Marino is another legitimate contender, even if they are being plagued by injuries in their pitching staff. Ace righthander Figueroa is out and at the moment San Marino cannot count on William Lucena too. Brian Looney (supported by solid bull pen performances by Tiago Da Silva and Peter Nyari) filled Figueroa’s shoes pretty well on Friday night and starting this weekend he will have more help from another import pitcher: Horacio Estrada, a 32-year-old Venezuelan lefthander who has appeared in over 100 games at the Triple A level (mostly as a starter) and has had cups of coffee in the Big Leagues with Milwaukee and Colorado.

For what concerns Danesi Nettuno, they did really well winning two in Rimini, considering that two of their three designated starters (Nelson Cruz and Giovanni Carrara) were suffering from injuries. Cruz, who has a pulled hamstring, didn’t pitch and Carrara, who felt stiffness in his pitching arm during the week, gave his team only three innings. Carrara blew a save opportunity but then got the win for Nettuno in an extra inning drama on Saturday afternoon.

Time will say if Rimini and Parma are also legitimate contenders. For now Telemarket has had too many ups and downs. Import pitcher Matt Beech is struggling and slugger Juan Melo with his .180 batting average is not giving strength to the middle of the line up. Because of to the rule that imposes five players of the Italian School of Baseball in every game, manager Romano is wondering for sure if it may be a better idea to sit Melo every now and then and play second baseman Santora three games a week.

Cariparma has played three weekends without their ace Javier Ortiz, who should be ready to take the mound in Nettuno. This will help manager Gerali, who still has a lot of problems to deal with anyway. Righthander Mori doesn’t seem the best solution as a starter in game three (he went only 9.1 innings in 3 starts and his ERA is up to 12), while catcher Pascual Matos and third baseman Garcia Belizzi haven’t helped the line up as they were supposed to.