olympicbaseball July 3rd, 2008
According to Kevin Baxter of Los Angeles Times, Cuba is ready to play ball.
The powerful Cuban national team, among the favorites to strike gold in what could be the Olympics’ final baseball tournament, trimmed 11 players from its roster last week and will make one more cut before leaving the island to start its pre-Olympic tour in the Netherlands this weekend.
The team will leave Cuba on Friday. Missing from the Olympic roster, however, is Pan Am Games second baseman Alexei Ramirez, who defected last fall and is now playing for the Chicago White Sox.
The only real surprises were on the pitching staff, where Aroldis Chapman, named the outstanding left-hander in last fall’s World Cup tournament, was sent home in favor of veteran Vicyohandri Odelin.
Neither pitcher performed well in Cuban play this winter, with Chapman going 6-7 with a 3.89 ERA (despite striking out 79 in 74 innings and holding opponents to a .200 batting average) while Odelin was 6-6 with 3.92 ERA. But Odelin survived the preliminary cut because of his extensive international experience.
Also surviving the cut was 38-year-old pitcher Adiel Palma, who beat the U.S. in the gold medal game of last summer’s Pan American Games.
And from Ray Sanchez of South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Cuba Hopes Its Baseball Team Will Catch Olympic Gold.
In Beijing next month, Cuba’s powerful national baseball team will be among the gold-medal favorites in what could be the sport’s Olympic farewell.
Underscoring the importance of the squad’s success, the Communist Party daily Granma published on Tuesday a copy of a hand-scrawled note to the players from ailing former president Fidel Castro.
“To the glorious Cuban athletes marching towards the Olympics,” Castro wrote. “Traveling with you is the love of our people for our country.”
At a ceremony with players at Latin American Stadium over the weekend, President Raul Castro was more succinct.
“You all know what the Cuban people expect from you,” the younger Castro told the players before their departure for a pre-Olympic tournament in the Netherlands. “You know and we know what you will achieve. We’ll see you here in August. Congratulations.”
Sports ministry officials are still reeling from a spate of defections that have plundered the island of five top boxers over the last couple of years. After baseball, Cubans are passionate about boxing, the sport in which the country has won 32 of its 65 Olympic gold medals.
And absent from the Olympic baseball team will be Pan American Games infielder Alexei Ramirez, who defected in November and now plays for the Chicago White Sox. His new teammates call him the “Cuban missile.”
Another team considered a favorite for baseball gold is Japan, winner of the inaugural World Baseball Classic in 2006.
Still, Cuban teams have won gold medals in three Olympics ? Barcelona, 1992; Atlanta, 1996; Athens, 2004 ? and the silver in Sydney in 2000. Cuba reached the Classic final in 2006 in its first real test against big-league stars.
Now the question is, is Japan or USA enough to beat Cuba? Or Cuba is enough to beat USA or Japan. We will only find out when the resulf of GOLD MEDAL Game of Olympic Baseball 2008 on Aug 23.
