Where they stand: Dominican Republic, 4-1; Puerto Rico, 3-2; Mexico, 2-3; Venezuela, 1-4.
Quick summaries:
Dominican Republic 7, Mexico 2. Home runs by Juan Francisco (Cincinnati), Kevin Barker, and Fernando Martinez (Mets) led the Dominican Republic.
Puerto Rico 7, Venezuela 1. Home runs by Jesus Feliciano (Mets) and Danny Valencia led Puerto Rico.
Today's games: Puerto Rico v. Mexico; Dominican Republic v. Venezuela. This is the last day of the series. A Dominican Republic win or a Puerto Rico loss clinches the series for the Dominican Republic. If the teams are tied, there would be a tie-breaker game played Monday.
More detail on the games can be found after the jump.
Three of the game's four home runs were hit by the Dominican Republic, and that made the difference as the Domincan Republic defeated Mexico 7-2. Mexico took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a two-run homer by Luis A. Garcia. Kevin Barker's two-run homer in the bottom of the first tied the game. The Dominican Republic scored once in the third to take a 3-2 lead, and scored again in the fourth on Fernando Martinez' (Mets) homer to take a 4-2 lead. They stretched the lead to 6-2 in the fifth on a two-run homer by Juan Francisco (Cincinnati), and the game was pretty much decided. Heath Phillips pitched seven innings, giving up only one hit after the first inning and striking out seven to get the win. Walter Silva (San Diego) took the loss.
Puerto Rico scored three in the fifth and three in the sixth to knock of Venezuela 7-1. Puerto Rico led 1-0 after four, and in the fifth homers by Danny Valencia and Jesus Feliciano (Mets) keyed a three-run inning to make the score 4-0. Venezuela scored its lone run in the bottom of the fifth, but Puerto Rico responded with three more in the sixth on two walks and three singles to put the game away. Feliciano, Randy Ruiz (Toronto), and Edwards Guzman each had two hits for Puerto Rico. Jose Lobaton (Tampa Bay) led Venezuela with two hits. Brodie Downs (Seattle) started for Puerto Rico, but pitched only four innings. The win went to Efrain Nieves, who pitched 2.2 scoreless innings of relief. Juan Padilla closed out the game by retiring the last seven Venezuela batters. Heath Totten pitched 4.2 innings in taking the loss for Venezuela.
Recent Letters to the Editor
In Response to Cup of Coffee: March 18, 2010,
davidwatts wrote: I was very disappointed that the Mankato CBS station went to the Marquette game instead of sticking to the UNI game and my bracket is done blown up!
meat wrote: Cc to Andrew: I'm suddenly going to be in Dublin for a short weekend this summer (late June), any suggestions would be good as to where to stay / eat drink / be Irish.
spookymilk wrote: Boy oh boy, would most of those references be lost on my...let's call them …
twayn wrote: Danke! Bummer that there's no radio for Friday's game with the Mets. Slowey vs. Johan.
Klawitter wrote: Working in Century City. Living for the moment in Westwood, at least until I sell my place in DC this spring and move everything.
New Britain Bo wrote: How's this for script idea: At a planning session for an … a committee of twelve Indians (4 dot, 4 feather, 4 West) hires a crack director to run their event. He shows up at…
DK wrote: I missed this earlier today since I was apparently too busy … in the Nightmare thread, but I'd be down with this too. In fact, I'd probably be willing to contribute to coverage.
Milt on Tilt wrote: I'm picking up my puppy tomorrow. I couldn't be more excited.
spookymilk wrote: Oh, and Rhu: one of my challenges in this week's Survivor game was to do a six-word evaluation of Lew Zealand. These were the … flinger never flounders for puns. Better than Belladonna with fish…
spookymilk wrote: Ah. Well, I'd be in favor of both, if the technology isn't a killer to the site somehow.
In Response to Nightmares at WGOMville,
hungry joe wrote: i wasn't planning on going out, but two heavies from my company were in town, and they took me out for a crazy night (got home at 2, and i've been hating life most of…
spookymilk wrote: I instantly love the person who took that photo, hungry man. I'm sitting here drinking Bass; yesterday I went the nostalgia route with my St. Pat's choice, opting for a drink that reminded me of college…
hungry joe wrote:
Milt on Tilt wrote: hehe. Beer.
spookymilk wrote: To be fair, drama is kind of the world I live in. I'm prone to exaggeration. Plus, I'm drunk because this script is making me tense and I needed to take the edge…
Milt on Tilt wrote: Yeah, man. I wouldn't "disregard" it either, because it was truly a horrifying move. Oh come now. That's just being completely over dramatic.
Milt on Tilt wrote: O-Cab lead the majors in Outs as a batter in 2009. Call me … Jimmy Rollins actually did. But Cabrera was second, and first in the AL. Even so. I could use that same…
nibbish wrote: I don't know what to make of it. On one hand, Cabrera was made of suck. On the other, any shortstop we put in there was going to. I'd have to side with DK and…
spookymilk wrote: Yeah, man. I wouldn't "disregard" it either, because it was truly a horrifying move. 0-Cab cleared the bases for the team's best hitter over and over. I know it's nice to remember…
DK wrote: O-Cab was a baseball band-aid over a severed limb. Acting like doing that was a "victory" is what seems foolish to me.
In Response to Luna - 23 Minutes In Brussels (Tell Me Do You Miss Me),
E-6 wrote: Love me some Luna.
In Response to Cup of Coffee: March 17, 2010,
brianS wrote: I dunno. But we're not really talking about a legal argument so much as an ethical one, I think.
Moss wrote: The old "you can't have your coke and snort it too" … can't get a conviction on a … test...and is possession of any amount of coke a felony??
hungry joe wrote: tell me about it...
brianS wrote: It is hard to consume if you do not possess.