2004-2005 Cuban National League
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The 2004-2005 season was the forty-fourth season of Cuba's national baseball system.
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[edit] Serie Nacional
The 44th Serie Nacional was won by Santiago de Cuba, who were managed by Antonio Pacheco – the recently retired career base hits leader. The avispas won the final series, 4 – 2 over La Habana.
Three-time reigning champion Industriales, had the best regular season record at 59 – 30, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals, 3 – 1, by Sancti Spíritus, who finished five and a half games behind the leones in Grupo B. In the other Zona Occidental quarterfinal, third-place La Habana defeated Pinar del Río, 3 – 1. La Habana defeated Sancti Spíritus in the semifinals, 4 games to 2.
The top team in the Zona Oriental was Santiago de Cuba by one game over Ciego de Ávila. The other playoff teams were Granma and Villa Clara. For the second straight year, the zona's quarterfinals were both sweeps as Santiago de Cuba defeated Granma, while number three Villa Clara defeated Ciego de Ávila. Santiago de Cuba then swept another series, winning the semifinals series versus Villa Clara, 4 – 0.
The first five games of the finals saw four shutouts and two blowouts, but were followed by a one-run game won in the last of the ninth inning to give Santiago de Cuba the title. La Habana won the first game at Estadio Guillermón Moncada, 6 – 0, on the pitching of Jonder Martínez and José Ángel García. Santiago de Cuba came back in the second game, 15 to 4, and shutout the vaqueros in game three at Estadio Nelson Fernández, 10 – 0, on a combined two-hit effort by Norge Luis Vera and Alberto Bicet. The series' third shutout (7 to 0) occurred on account of the brilliant pitching of La Habana's Yulieski González and José García, holding La Habana to three hits. Danny Betancourt pitched an 8 – 0 complete game shutout in game five. The series returned to Santiago de Cuba's Estadio Guillermón Moncada for game six.
La Habana's Yadier Pedroso opposed Santiago de Cuba's Ormari Romero in the game – both pitchers would go the distance. The avispas scored first in the bottom of the fifth. Reutilio Hurtado hit a single followed by Edilse Silva sacrifice moving Hurtado to second. Héctor Olivera Jr. then grounded out, bringing left fielder Manuel Benavides up with a runner on second base with two outs. Benavides then hit a double to left scoring the run. The inning ended on an Alexander Jorge ground out. La Habana came back in the top of the sixth with a leadoff home run to left. The score remained knotted at one-all through the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the ninth, Santiago de Cuba's second baseman Héctor Olivera Jr., hit a leadoff texas leaguer to right. Manuel Benavides then failed to advance the runner on the sacrifice bunt. Alexander Jorge was then intentionally walked to bring up Alexei Bell. Bell hit a sacrifice fly to right, advancing Olivera to third. Rolando Meriño received the innings second free pass, loading the bases. First baseman Pedro Poll then hit a ball to right scoring Olivera and giving Santiago de Cuba their seventh title.
Las Tunas outfielder Osmani Urrutia won his fifth straight batting title, but failed to hit over .400 for the first time since his run began. He hit .385 by getting 112 hits in 291 at-bats. Urrutia’s teammate Joan Carlos Pedroso hits 27 home runs, one short of his record from two years earlier. Trailing Pedroso were Sancti Spíritus teammates Eriel Sánchez at 25 and Yulieski Gourriel at 23. Gourriel lead the league in base hits with 126 and runs scored with 80. Las Tunas infielder Yordanis Scull stole 35 bases, the first time in fourteen years that neither Enrique Díaz or Eduardo Paret were among the leaders.
Granma veteran righthander Ciro Silvino Licea ties for the league lead in victories with fellow veteran Pedro Luis Lazo, of Pinar del Río, at 13 wins. Lazo's teammate Yunesky Maya posts the league's best ERA of 1.61 by giving up 16 earned runs in 89.2 innings pitched. Industriales' Yadel Martí has the best record at 11 and 2.
Former rookie sensation Kendry Morales defects to Miami, FL via a boat. The twenty-year old infielder had played three seasons in the for Industriales but was suspended in early 2004 after a eight attempts to defect. Morales would obtain residency in the Dominican Republic before signing with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
[edit] Standings
- Bold indicates Zona champion; Italics indicates Serie Nacional champion
[edit] Zona Occidental
| Grupo A | Grupo B | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | G | W | L | WPCT | GB | |||||||||
| Pinar del Río | 89 | 55 | 34 | 0.618 | -.- | Industriales | 89 | 59 | 30 | 0.663 | -.- | |||
| Isla de la Juventud | 90 | 42 | 48 | 0.467 | 13.5 | La Habana | 89 | 54 | 35 | 0.607 | 5.0 | |||
| Metropolitanos | 90 | 33 | 57 | 0.367 | 22.5 | Sancti Spíritus | 90 | 54 | 36 | 0.600 | 5.5 | |||
| Matanzas | 89 | 28 | 61 | 0.315 | 27.0 | Cienfuegos | 90 | 31 | 59 | 0.344 | 28.5 | |||
[edit] Zona Oriental
| Grupo C | Grupo D | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | G | W | L | WPCT | GB | Team | G | W | L | WPCT | GB | |||
| Ciego de Ávila | 90 | 54 | 36 | 0.600 | -.- | Santiago de Cuba | 90 | 55 | 35 | 0.611 | -.- | |||
| Villa Clara | 90 | 51 | 39 | 0.567 | 3.0 | Granma | 90 | 50 | 40 | 0.556 | 5.0 | |||
| Las Tunas | 90 | 47 | 43 | 0.522 | 7.0 | Holguín | 90 | 37 | 53 | 0.411 | 18.0 | |||
| Camagüey | 90 | 35 | 55 | 0.389 | 19.0 | Guantánamo | 90 | 33 | 57 | 0.367 | 22.0 | |||
[edit] Playoffs
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||
| OCC1 | Industriales | 1 | |||||||||||
| OCC4 | Sancti Spíritus | 3 | |||||||||||
| OCC4 | Sancti Spíritus | 2 | |||||||||||
| Occidental | |||||||||||||
| OCC3 | La Habana | 4 | |||||||||||
| OCC2 | Pinar del Río | 1 | |||||||||||
| OCC3 | La Habana | 3 | |||||||||||
| OCC3 | La Habana | 2 | |||||||||||
| OTE1 | Santiago de Cuba | 4 | |||||||||||
| OTE1 | Santiago de Cuba | 3 | |||||||||||
| OTE4 | Granma | 0 | |||||||||||
| OTE1 | Santiago de Cuba | 4 | |||||||||||
| Oriental | |||||||||||||
| OTE3 | Villa Clara | 0 | |||||||||||
| OTE2 | Ciego de Ávila | 0 | |||||||||||
| OTE3 | Villa Clara | 3 | |||||||||||
[edit] All-Star Game
The twentieth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held in Las Tunas on February 26, 2005. In the game, Occidentales defeated Oriente by a score of 4 to 1. Both teams had 7 hits, while the errors were 0 to 1 in favor of Oriente. The winning pitcher was Yunieski Maya and the losing pitcher was Valeri García.
[edit] Leaders
- Bold indicates either wooden bat record or aluminum bat record (1976-1977 to 1998-1999), Italics indicate Serie Nacional record
[edit] Batting
[edit] Pitching
[edit] Award Winners
The Most Valuable Player (Jugadores más Valiosos) was Yulieski Gourriel a third baseman with Sancti Spíritus. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was [[]] of [[]]. [[]] of [[]] was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).
[edit] Súper Liga
The fourth Súper Liga was won by Occidentales who defeated Centrales in the best-of-three championship series. Occidentales (Súper Liga)|Occidentales was managed by the Rey Anglada.
[edit] Standings
| Team | G | W | L | WPCT | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Centrales | 26 | 16 | 10 | 0.615 | -.- |
| Occidentales | 28 | 15 | 13 | 0.536 | 2.0 |
| Santiago de Cuba | 27 | 14 | 13 | 0.519 | 2.5 |
| Orientales | 28 | 12 | 16 | 0.429 | 5.0 |
| Habaneros | 27 | 11 | 16 | 0.407 | 5.5 |
[edit] Playoffs
The Súper Liga Championship Playoff featured the first and second place teams in a best-of-three series. The second place Occidentales defeated the first place Centrales, 2 games to 0.
[edit] Leaders
[edit] Batting
- Batting Average: .437 - Roger Poll, Centrales
- Base Hits: 46 - Alexei Ramírez, Occidentales
- Runs Scored: 30 - Yulieski Gourriel, Centrales
- Doubles: 10 - Alexei Ramírez, Occidentales; Rafael Orta, Habaneros
- Triples: 3 - Juan Carlos Linares, Habaneros
- Home Runs: 14 - Joan Carlos Pedroso, Santiago de Cuba
- Runs Batted In: 40 - Yulieski Gourriel, Centrales
[edit] Pitching
- Win-Loss Percentage: 1.000 - Adiel Palma, Centrales (4 - 0); Norge Vera, Santiago de Cuba (2 - 0)
- Games Pitched: 15 - Yolexis Ulacia, Centrales
- Wins: 5 - Pedro Luis Lazo, Occidentales; Alberto Bicet, Santiago de Cuba
- Innings Pitched: 48.2 - Pedro Luis Lazo, Occidentales
- Strikeouts: 36 - Kenny Rodríguez, Habaneros
- Earned Run Average: 2.10 - Adiel Palma, Centrales
[edit] Sources
- (May 24, 2006). "44 Serie Nacional de Béisbol (Spanish)". {{{title}}}. Redacción Deportiva del Periódico Granma. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
- (November 18, 2005). "Guía Digital 2005-06". Guía Oficial de Béisbol 2005 (Digital). Instituto Nacional de Deportes, Educación Física y Recreación. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
- Peter C. Bjarkman. A History of Cuban Baseball, 1864–2006. : McFarland, 2007. ISBN 0786428295
