Caribes defeated Cardinales de Lara

[- !el Catire *O*]

Barquisimeto.- First Logan Darnell, then Wilfredo Ledezma and then Felix Doubront ... Three left-handed pitchers. Thus begins the rotation of Caribes de Anzoátegui for the Grand Final of the 2019-2020 season.

This edition of Cardinals of Lara, with Luis Ugueto as manager, had not seen something like this in the whole campaign. Obviously, it had been measured against sinister serpentineros, but never in a chain of three. That can be an advantage of the indigenous ... maybe. Demographic logic in the game dictates this: left-handed people can be more difficult than rights because they are less. Batters must adjust to an angle and point of departure that they do not see regularly.

So this theory says that it is not that pitchers leaning to the left dominate batters - whether they are left handed or right - by the deed and grace of some deity, they take advantage of the mismatch. Some fighters agree with that, such as Osman Marval, receiver and initialist of the red birds.

“At the beginning of the season I didn't see many left-handed pitchers. I think I saw one every four days, more or less. I didn't get the hits, ”he said during the practices at the Antonio Herrera Gutiérrez de Barquisimeto Stadium. “In the end, when I started seeing many more left-handed pitchers, I felt more comfortable. Maybe with these three pitchers I will feel something strange at first, but maybe I will be better in two or three days. ”

Marval, ambidextrous shovel, managed to adjust. By the end of the regular round he left .289 on average against left-handed pitchers, and although he fell a little more in the postseason (21-4 before the final) he gave an important home run to Elvis Araujo, a sinister spike from Águilas del Zulia .

"Marval and Luis Jiménez know how to hit lefties," Ugueto said confidently.

As well as Marval, the King of Bobare is a recurring target of situational left-handers, perhaps supported by the .239 average that the rugged tolerator has against them throughout the season (regular round and postseason added). However, for life, it exhibits an offensive line of .279 / .379 / .435, with 27 home runs, 136 RBIs and 200 hits, according to Quality Sports. The always expressive Jiménez has his position.

"They (Caribs) are worried about what they don't have to worry about," he said after Lara's triumph in the first game of the final. “We are working in one way, they are in another way and obviously they have Mike Álvarez (pitching coach) who is an executioner in what he does. But we are trying to focus psychologically on other steps. ”

Amid the sweat and adrenaline that left the end of the first game, Jiménez mentioned Dominican Welington Dotel during the conversation about rival left-handed pitchers. The mention makes sense: the gardener is one of those bats who does not seem to have to make an adjustment between left and right. It doesn't seem to see them difference. He hit the left serpentineros in the regular round with .343 on average, and .340 in general before the final.

Dotel is not an island, it is part of an archipelago located in the Cardinals dugout against left-handed people. Yojhan Quevedo, for example, linked for .462 on average against them in the regular round and Francisco Arcia .342. Yordanys Linares, perhaps Lara's toughest hitter in the postseason, averaged .298, but increased the penalty against the left in the playoffs to the point that, before the Caribes clash, he had .320 overall average. He gave Darnell two hits in the first duel and towed a pair of scores.

Perhaps all this collapses in what comes from the final series, or maybe not and the numbers against left-handers are increasing, baseball may be untamed to predict, but now you can understand the tranquility of Ugueto.

"It does not worry me. We have played good ball against lefties. We have achieved positive results and, from my point of view, from the scheme that I have been applying, I know how to play against lefties, ”said the strategist. “If it were something new for us, maybe. We have a good offense and I hope it responds. There is nothing to fear".

Quevedo, Arcia, Marval, Dotel, Linares, Jiménez and Ildemaro Vargas, key hitters for Cardinals, are lining up for .309 collective average, throughout the campaign (sum of regular round, playoffs and semifinals) in 320 turns against left-handed pitchers.

And the boss stayed against Darnell, in the first game: .304 hit Lara. The American was able to do key outs and improved at the end of his 6.2 innings job and accepted two races. But ... And the others? It will be fun to see the challenge of strategies in the final.