Tiempo Caliente en La Habana!
Havana Leones
by "Che"
Legends League correspondent
El Habanero
Team Batting Average = .333
Yankee
Imperialism can't touch this! La Gran Fiesta de la Béisbol! El Habaneros are smacking that horsehide pelota to all parts of the diamond, and out of the park as well. After
12 intensely fought contests the Boys from Havana lead both leagues in
team batting average, as their .333 mark is fully 32 points higher than
their closest competitor (Newark), and 51 points
higher than any other club in the same league (NY Mets). The batting
average for the entire Legends League is .258 -- a mark that every
Havana starter has topped, including the pitchers whose congregate
batting average stands at .276!
Alejandro Oms and Cristobal Torriente lead the charge down San Juan
Hill. Oms leads the league with a .472 average, 25 Hits, 16 RBI and 42
Total Bases. Torriente is 5th in the league in average (.400), second
in Hits (22), RBI (15) and total Bases (37). Before the northern
pundits attempt to decry or otherwise downplay these revolutionary
accomplishments, let us make note that also in this league are such
great batting personages as Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Sadaharu Oh and
Hank Aaron.
But Oms and Torriente are not alone. Third on the team in Batting Average, Hits, RBI and Total Bases is El Inmortal,
Martin Dihigo (.380, 22, 10, 31). He is followed by his double-play
partner, Perucho Cepeda, at .357, making them the hottest combo around
the keystone korner. Speaking of hot, there's Tony Perez at third base
hitting .340, Roberto Clemente in right field at .313, and José
Fernandez catching at .303. The lone starter under .300 is first
baseman Rod Carew, and we all know he won't remain there for long.
Before we turn to pitching it should be noted that a trade to bring
Tony Oliva to Havana was successful, and this great Cuban player will
now showcase his incredible talents for his hometown fanaticos.
The pitching, you say, what of the pitching? Can any team led by The Maximum Leader be devoid of pitching? No!
As a team, Havana is 5th in the league in ERA at 4.14. The league
average stands at 4.59. While the pen cannot brag as much as the dugout
does, and The Maximum Leader readily admits there is room for
improvement -- there are also bright spots in the pitching stats.
José Mesa has appeared in 4 games as the team's closer, saving 3
and putting up a perfect 0.00 ERA. Complete Games have been tossed by
Luis Tiant the Younger (1-0, 2.70) and José Muñoz (0-2, 4.05), while Venezuelan great Wilson Alvarez leads the club with a 2-0, 2.31 mark. All this with El Professor, Ramon Bragaña, out since the pre-season.
The team has to work on its fielding a bit more, coming in 8th in the
League with a .977 mark, when the league average is .980. However, Tony
Perez leads all third basemen (tied), and Roberto Clemente all right
fielders (tied) -- both with a perfect 1.000 mark. Torriente leads in Outfield Assists (tied with Montreal's Reggie Jackson at 3).
Where it counts, the team is at 7-5 and in second place behind the
streaking Cincinnati Reds. We will revisit Havana in another dozen
games and see if we can overtake the great Reds team.
Havana Leones Batting
Regular season -- as of 4/16/2004
Name P AVG OBP SPC G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI BB K HBP IW SB CS
Bustamente ss .500 .500 .500 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Oms* rf .472 .509 .792 12 53 25 5 0 4 16 16 3 6 1 0 1 0
Torriente* of .400 .411 .673 12 55 22 1 1 4 8 15 1 7 0 0 2 1
Dihigo 2b .380 .448 .620 12 50 19 2 2 2 8 10 7 9 0 0 3 0
Cepeda,P ss .357 .404 .571 11 42 15 2 2 1 6 8 2 13 2 0 0 0
Perez,T 1b .340 .404 .532 12 47 16 6 0 1 4 7 5 11 0 0 0 0
Clemente rf .313 .353 .333 12 48 15 1 0 0 6 4 3 10 0 0 1 0
Fernandez, J c .303 .333 .394 10 33 10 3 0 0 7 4 2 3 0 1 0 0
Vargas cf .273 .273 .273 9 11 3 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0
Carew* 1b .264 .350 .377 12 53 14 3 0 1 11 5 7 3 0 0 2 0
Coimbre of .200 .200 .200 4 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Salazar* of .143 .250 .143 7 7 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 4 0 0 0 0
Pena,T c .125 .125 .125 5 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Lopez,J c .000 .000 .000 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Oliva* rf .000 .000 .000 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Garcia,S ss .000 .000 .000 2 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pitchers .276 .276 .379 12 29 8 3 0 0 6 3 0 11 0 0 1 0
Total .333 .377 .498 12 454 151 26 5 13 75 73 31 82 3 1 10 1
Havana Leones Pitching
Regular season -- as of 4/16/2004
Name ERA W L S G GS CG SHO INN H R ER BB K HR GDP BF
Mesa 0.00 0 0 3 4 0 0 0 4.2 1 0 0 2 4 0 0 18
Pizarro* 1.50 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 6.0 3 1 1 4 4 0 0 24
Arano 1.50 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 6.0 5 1 1 1 3 0 0 23
Alvarez* 2.31 2 0 0 6 0 0 0 11.2 11 3 3 8 8 0 0 55
Tiant 2.70 1 0 0 2 2 1 0 16.2 16 9 5 5 7 1 2 68
Pena,A 3.18 1 0 0 5 0 0 0 5.2 3 2 2 5 2 1 2 23
Mendez 3.18 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 17.0 14 6 6 1 13 3 1 62
Muñoz 4.05 0 2 0 2 2 1 0 13.1 13 6 6 3 8 1 0 54
Salazar* 4.82 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 9.1 9 6 5 4 7 1 0 43
Luque 4.91 1 0 0 2 2 0 0 11.0 13 10 6 7 3 2 1 54
Pascual 10.38 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 4.1 5 5 5 5 4 1 0 24
Soto 18.56 0 2 0 2 2 0 0 5.1 13 13 11 3 5 3 0 31
Total 4.14 7 5 3 12 12 2 0 111.0 106 62 51 48 68 13 6 479
Havana Leones Fielding
Regular season -- as of 4/16/2004
Name G GS INN PO A E DP TC PCT PB SB CS SB% PK
Luis Tiant 2 2 16.7 0 4 1 1 5 .800 1 1 .500 0
Wilson Alvarez 6 0 11.7 1 3 0 0 4 1.000 1 1 .500 0
José Mendez 2 2 17.0 1 3 0 0 4 1.000 1 3 .250 0
José Muñoz 2 2 13.3 1 2 0 0 3 1.000 2 0 1.000 1
Lazaro Salazar 3 0 9.3 1 2 0 0 3 1.000 0 0 .000 0
Camilo Pascual 2 2 4.3 0 1 0 0 1 1.000 1 0 1.000 0
Alejandro Pena 5 0 5.7 0 1 0 0 1 1.000 0 0 .000 0
Mario Soto 2 2 5.3 0 1 0 0 1 1.000 0 0 .000 0
Dolf Luque 2 2 11.0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 3 1 .750 0
Jose Mesa 4 0 4.7 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 .000 0
Juan Pizarro 5 0 6.0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 1 .000 0
Ramon Arano 3 0 6.0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 0 0 .000 0
Total 38 12 111.0 4 17 1 1 22 .955 9 7 .563 1
José Fernandez 10 9 80.0 60 7 1 0 68 .985 0 5 5 .500 0
Tony Pena 5 3 28.0 15 3 0 0 18 1.000 0 4 2 .667 0
Javy Lopez 2 0 3.0 1 0 0 0 1 1.000 0 0 0 .000 0
Total 17 12 111.0 76 10 1 0 87 .989 0 9 7 .563 0
Rod Carew 12 12 111.0 108 6 2 8 116 .983
Total 12 12 111.0 108 6 2 8 116 .983
Martin Dihigo 12 12 107.0 26 39 2 6 67 .970
Luis Bustamente 1 0 3.0 0 1 1 1 2 .500
Tetelo Vargas 1 0 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 1.000
Total 14 12 111.0 27 40 3 7 70 .957
Tony Perez 12 12 110.0 13 26 0 2 39 1.000
Tetelo Vargas 1 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Total 13 12 111.0 13 26 0 2 39 1.000
Perucho Cepeda 11 11 96.0 16 24 3 1 43 .930
Silvio Garcia 1 1 11.0 1 3 0 1 4 1.000
Tetelo Vargas 1 0 4.0 0 1 0 0 1 1.000
Total 13 12 111.0 17 28 3 2 48 .938
Cristobal Torriente 12 12 109.0 20 3 1 1 24 .958
Lazaro Salazar 1 0 2.0 1 0 0 0 1 1.000
Total 13 12 111.0 21 3 1 1 25 .960
Ajejandro Oms 12 12 107.0 35 1 0 0 36 1.000
Tetelo Vargas 1 0 2.0 2 0 0 0 2 1.000
Pancho Coimbre 1 0 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Total 14 12 111.0 37 1 0 0 38 1.000
Roberto Clemente 12 11 102.0 28 0 0 0 28 1.000
Tony Oliva 1 1 7.0 2 0 0 0 2 1.000
Tetelo Vargas 1 0 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Total 14 12 111.0 30 0 0 0 30 1.000
Total 12 12 111.0 333 131 11 8 475 .977 0
