Havana Natives Celebrate On Mound as Coqui Take Pennant
As pennants go, this was improbable as any. The hapless San Juan franchise, which hadn’t made the playoffs since 2023 (and that was as the Rio Grande Valley Ocelots), celebrating in the middle of Havana’s Campos Peloteros having just beaten a team that has owned them since…forever.
“It was the final hump for us,” declared Coqui General Manager Mike Best. “Finishing the season better than Havana was as long a shot as they come.” The two teams reside in the Trans Atlantic Division which Havana has won for nine straight years.
Sweeter still with Havana native Jorge Pagán on the mound in basically mop-up relief finishing for Fernando Castro, another Havana native. Castro went 2-0 in the series giving up just eight hits, a walk and one run in 15 2/3 innings. Havana’s lone run against him came in the first inning of Game Seven after a leadoff triple by <Ricardo Mateo hit the top of the wall. Bill Jones single then scored him.
Castro (15-9 in the regular season and now 3-0 in the playoffs with 20 quality starts in all) was shopped around at the beginning of the season but the team could find no interested parties.
The Coqui were up three games to two and Game Six was a nail biter with Havana squeezing out two runs in the bottom of the eight to collect a 4-3 win. But Havana ace Enrique Vázquez (17-8 in the regular season and a four-time IL e.r.a. champ) struggled in the series and the Coqui took Game Seven easily, 7-1.
In another head scratching choice by the pundits, DH Luis Bonilla took the Series MVP honors over Castro despite starting just two games himself although he hit .455 with six RBI. His two-run homer in the sixth did give San Juan the lead for good, however.
The Coqui got four in that fateful inning, chasing Vazquez before he could get an out. Oscar Wetherby followed Bonilla with a double. The Leones then intentionally walked Harley Schneider only to be crossed up by San Juan skipper Sergio Manetti who called for Roberto Martinez to lay down a sacrifice bunt. That moved the runners to second and third where they scored on a slashing single over first by Dmitri Hill.
“Smallball wasn’t really Sergio’s style before coming here,” said Best. “But to his credit he was willing to try it when he was given the job and it continues to pay off.”
Dracula out for PEBA Championship
The victory came at a huge cost with leadoff hitter Roberto Salazar going down with a strained back after Jones broke up a potential double play in the first inning. San Juan’s season took off when Salazar returned from a spring training injury in late June. Dracula’s postseason ends at .328 with five doubles and 12 stolen bases.
Centerfielder Wally Glasser, who hit .389 the first nine games of the postseason, also remains out though he will stay on the roster with a chance to return. The Coqui have also been without starting pitchers and Keith Dupree but Scammell is expected to return for the Planetary Extreme Championship.
The rotation remains uncertain but closer José Gómez who was moved into a starting role for the Havana series will likely stay in that spot. Gómez has long been sought after by Shin Seiki GM Kevin Vail who will get to see him up close for the first time.