It Takes a Little While, but Mexico Wins Title

It was after 2 a.m. Monday and everyone was floating on clouds, but no one was dreaming.

Mexico had just ended a marathon of 16 hours of baseball by defeating the Dominican Republic, 4-3, to win the Caribbean Series championship. The capacity crowd at Teodoro Mariscal Stadium stayed until the end, beyond the end in fact, watching fireworks and cheering festively decorated dancers and musicians in a rousing closing ceremony that lasted until nearly dawn.

Rainouts Saturday forced a four-game schedule Sunday that began at 10 a.m. The languid pace of play typical of the six-day series made a mockery of the schedule, and the third game, between Puerto Rico and Venezuela, went 12 innings, pushing the first pitch of Mexico’s most anticipated game in years beyond 11 p.m.

The city was awake, though. It is Carnival week, and thousands had watched a parade Sunday evening before filling restaurants and bars to watch the game on television. The Super Bowl had been little more than a curiosity, a way to pass the afternoon before the only game that mattered in this baseball-crazed coastal city.

And the home team did not disappoint, although it did get interesting in the ninth inning. Mexico led, 4-0, through eight innings behind the pitching of Francisco Campos, who struck out 11.

However, he walked Luis Polonia on four pitches to open the ninth and began hyperventilating between pitches to Miguel Tejada, whose single prompted Mexico’s Manager, Juan Jose Pacho, to summon left-hander Jose Luis Garcia. A single by Matt Cepicky scored Polonia, bringing on right-hander Luis Ayala, who led the Montreal Expos with 81 appearances last season.

Ron Belliard singled to score Tejada and a walk to Alex Fernandez loaded the bases. An uneasy quiet came over the crowd of 15,000, which had been on its feet cheering and singing patriotic Mexican anthems throughout the game. A victory by the Dominican Republic could have led to a tiebreaking title game Monday afternoon.

Alexis Gomez grounded into a double play, which scored Cepicky to cut the lead to 4-3 with Belliard advancing to third. After Alberto Castillo walked, Bernie Castro to hit a ball back to Ayala, but the suspense wasn’t over. Rather than tossing the ball to first, Ayala sprinted toward the bag. Upon realizing Castro was winning the race, he shoveled the ball hard to first baseman Bill Selby from only a few feet away. Selby somehow caught it and the celebration was on.

“The people of Mexico wanted this,” said Campos, who had his arm around the neck of popular Mazatlan folk singer El Coyote while being interviewed.

“This is the biggest thing to happen in my life. We did this with our hearts.”

The 32-year-old Campos, who hasn’t played in the major leagues, pitched 16 shutout innings in the series before being tagged for two runs in the ninth, striking out 21. Scouts say he has developed a nasty split-finger pitch that could enable him to compete for a starting job with the Chicago White Sox this spring.

Mexico’s pitching in posting a 5-1 record was strong, pacifying fans who had wanted 45-year-old Fernando Valenzuela on the team. Pacho had opted instead for younger arms when adding reinforcements to the roster of the regular-season champion Mazatlan Venados. Valenzuela had pitched well in the playoffs for Mexicali, which Mazatlan defeated in the finals.

The key additions were third baseman Vinny Castilla and first baseman Erubiel Durazo, established major leaguers. Castilla singled and scored in a two-run first inning and walked in the fifth before Durazo belted a two-run home run.

That was enough offense to defeat a Dominican team that struggled throughout the series, losing its first two games, then winning two before falling to Mexico for the second time. Dominican players met Friday night and Tejada told the team to cease the late-night barhopping. However, Rafael Furcal was sick Sunday and could serve only as the designated hitter against Mexico, going 0 for 4.

Tejada struggled as well, batting .200. Castillo, a 10-year major league veteran, was the top hitter at .467 for a Dominican team that went 2-3.

Venezuela finished 3-3, defeating and losing to each opponent once. Puerto Rico was 1-4, playing five games because its first game was canceled when the Dominican Republic arrived a day late.

The championship was Mexico’s fifth since the series began in its current format in 1970 and first since 2002. The Dominican Republic, with 13 titles, and Puerto Rico, with 10, have dominated the series.

“This was for national pride and for all the people who supported our team, young and old,” Mexico catcher Miguel Ojeda said. “This was for the future of baseball in Mexico, a future on the rise.”