The task for the FC BARCELONA this weekend in the Division de Honor is pretty simple. Win both games against EL LLANO at home and stay in the race for the championship. If they lose at least one, the MARLINS would have to lose too. But they should not expect such things, when PUERTO CRUZ is travelling to SAN INAZIO BILBAO. If the two remaining contenders both sweep their twin bill, we can anticipate a showdown next week, both will meet in Barcelona to conclude the season in Spain.
It is not going to be a walkover for BARCA against the team from Gijon. Both faced each other at the end of May, settling for a split. Since then the FCB received some help on the offensive end with Oscar Roman, who arrived after his stint at the college in San Diego. He is batting .440 with eight extra base hits and 17 RBI in twelve games. This helped to get the offense going, leading to a victory at the European Cup in Regensburg, Germany. Homer Baez (ERA 0.87, 10-1) and Remigio Leal (4-2, ERA 1.88) are expected to start against Elvis Polanco (5-3, ERA 2.38) and Ruben Fente (2-0, ERA 2.45).
The MARLINS won both ends of the doubleheader versus SAN INAZIO in May and are right now on a seven-game winning streak. However they should not take the games too easy, as BILBAO itself, has won four in a row and has the crowd behind their backs. PUERTO CRUZ probably send out to the mound Leslie Nacar (8-1, ERA 1.22) or Renny Duarte (4-1, ERA 1.30) in game one with Ivan Granados (11-1, ERA 1.86) in the second. Their offense with Richard Montiel and Dewis Navarro at the top had some problems to score last week against the underdogs of VILADECANS, though got the job done in the end anyway. SAN INAZIO needs two well-pitched games by Erik Arteaga (8-4, ERA 2.10) and Pedro Belmonte (4-6, ERA 3.89) to have a chance versus the 2007 champion. In addition to that their offense with Kelvin Marianucci and Dirimo Chavez has to continue smashing like the past two weeks, when they scored at least nine runs during their streak.
{mrb-schedule:2008-08-02|2008-08-03|ES}
{mrb-standing:spain-2008}