by Riccardo Schiroli
The fourth weekend of the Italian Baseball League opens with two games on Thursday night.
The television game of the week will be played in San Marino, where the defending champions T&A will face the leading Telemarket Rimini. Thursday night (9 pm CET and live on Rai Sport Più via satellite or on the web site www.raisport.rai.it) everybody is looking forward to watching two top pitchers duel: lefty Horacio Estrada for San Marino with his ‘live’ two-seam fastballs and hurler Rafael Garcia for Rimini with his 90 plus mile per hour fastball.
San Marino struggles (the defending champions are trailing by two games) definitely come from game three. The staff of pitchers of the Italian School of Baseball has proven ineffective so far and manager Bindi is ready to welcome Mauro Schiavoni, who joined San Marino after being released by the Minnesota Twins. The series will move to Rimini for games 2 and 3.
In Reggio Emilia Palfinger welcomes (first pitch at 8.30 pm CET) Fortitudo Bologna. The first year team has proven last week that they can compete by beating Godo 2 times, but also that game 3 of the series is a serious problem for second year manager Marcello Saccardi and his pitching coach Cipriano Ventura, a Dominican who has appeared in various final series as a pitcher (Nettuno and Modena) and holds a record of strikeouts (16) in a playoff game in Italy. Against Godo, Reggio Emilia blew a six-run lead in the last two innings, with relievers Bertolini and Corsaro allowing seven runs on seven hits. Actually, against San Marino in the first week end of the season Reggio had blown an 8-1 lead.
As we said, Rimini is the leader and San Marino (together with Bologna, Grosseto and Nettuno) is two games back. Parma (after losing 4 of the last 6 games, 3 by one run) is three games back.
During the weekend Cariparma hosts Danesi Nettuno. Both teams have struggled lately, after getting off the blocks with convincing debut series. In Grosseto Cariparma gave up two games with their relievers (veterans Scarcella and Newman) not able to hold to the leads that starters (Grifantini and Corradini) had built. The main problem for Parma seems anyway run production. Bertagnon and Chapelli are in a real slump and Carvajal and Balentina are not producing as they are supposed to.
Nettuno is another team in trouble in game three, with Richetti not ready to go the distance, veteran Masin struggling and prospect Costantini out with a sore back.
Montepaschi Grosseto travels to Godo to face De Angelis, a team that has so far collected only three wins despite an off season that saw a series of moves that were supposed to create at least a playoff contender. Grosseto, that started the season as an expected underdog, is actually competing.
It’s been a strange first three weeks, with a lot of rain everywhere. The weather has not affected the IBL schedule, but definitely has not allowed teams to practice has they would have needed. So it may be that some of the teams are below their potential right now.
Some of the teams may use the possibility of adding some players that is granted until the end of the 7th weekend of the regular season.
{mrb-schedule:2009-04-30|2009-05-03|IT}
{mrb-standing:italy-2009}