by Riccardo Schiroli
The first weekend of the 2008 Italian Baseball League could have been a disaster for Cariparma. The team managed by Italy’s Bench Coach Gibo Gerali couldn’t count on their ace pitcher Ortiz and on righthander Stefano Bazzarini, but surprisingly won two games out of three against Telemarket Rimini. The Rimini Pirates literally wasted their chances in game one and could not complete a come back in game two, getting within a run but not going any further.
Parma on the contrary could count on a couple of heroes: veteran Orlando Munoz played some smooth defense at first and went 4 for 5 in game one. Center fielder Leo Zileri hit a two-run homer that pushed back Rimini in game two and moved from the outfield to the mound to strike out a couple in the 9th with the tying run on base.
It’s of course hard to believe that Parma can win many games with Zileri closing, but as a start it was a pretty good one.
The real surprise could have come from Godo. De Angelis lefthander Lino Luciani went seven innings without giving up a run to the power house Danesi Nettuno. In the 8th Frank Menechino (who had previously struck out two times) doubled home a couple of runs and Nettuno never looked back. But Luciani could be a factor for De Angelis, if his off speed stuff is always as deceiving as Saturday afternoon.
The second weekend of the season will have its highlights in Nettuno. Thursday night (live on Rai Sport Sat) Danesi‘s Nelson Cruz will battle against veteran Lincoln Mikkelsen. It will be a key game of the series, especially from the point of view of Grosseto. Montepaschi has a number of pitchers sidelined (Oberto, Preziosi and Yovany D’Amico) and may be struggling in game two and three.
On a general note, almost every team has struggled with relievers on the mound. It could be a sign or maybe it was simply due to lack of condition and the cold of late night innings, in a spring weekend that nobody felt as Mediterranean all over the country.