In the middle of the late Saturday match once morest Caciques de Distrito, Robinson Chirinos and his Marineros de Carabobo team celebrated cautiously. Although they had a few more innings to play for in the matchday, they already knew they were qualified for the semi-final. One step closer to defending their pennant.
The division of victories in the doubleheader between Samanes de Aragua and Centauros de La Guaira, in Maracay, gave Carabobo the ticket to its fourth postseason in a row. Being the only organization in the history of the Major League of Professional Baseball (LMBP) that has surpassed the regular round in each of the editions
“Happy. Thankful to God, the staff and all the players for their dedication. It was a challenging regular round, but here we are. We advanced to the first objective,” said manager Chirinos to José Ángel Rodríguez, member of the LMBP press department, following the defeat once morest La Raza, in a match that started with a 2 hour and 10 minute delay due to rain. “We have already qualified and we are going to the semifinal once morest a team that we know very well. Happy with where we are now.”
Location on the table
El Acorazado, in fourth place in the standings, will face Senadores de Caracas, the leader of the first phase. Both teams tied their particular series 3-3, although on this occasion the capital team will have the home club advantage in the match scheduled for a maximum of five games.
“All the teams looked evenly matched,” said Chirinos, who in his first experience as a manager posted a 22-19 record in the elimination round. “The league was very competitive, it wasn’t until the last minute that all the qualifiers were known.”
The shipping route was marked by inconsistency. Although between June 12 and 20 they managed to build the longest winning streak in the franchise’s records, with eight, they fell in four consecutive confrontations immediately following, between June 21 and 26.
In fact, following that winning streak, they only won two of their next 10 games, compromising their chances of advancing to the playoffs.
“Nobody said it would be easy, and it wasn’t,” Enyelberth Peña, the team’s sports manager, assured the Nauta communications staff. “In the last few days, the entire team went through a very tough situation with the virus.”
Great naval fault
The stumbling block for the club was mainly its pitching, culminating with the second worst collective earned run average (6.71), but more so its relief team (7.32), which ended up in the pit of the circuit.
Due to the shortcomings of the pitching staff, the team relied on its artillery. It finished third in extra-base hits (139), home runs (45) and runs scored (296), and set a record in the LMBP with 65 stolen bases.
“I am pleased to have taken this first step. The fact that we are the only team to have qualified for the semi-finals in the four editions of the circuit reflects all the planned and structured work we have done,” said Peña. “It was a regular round of ups and downs, but we achieved the first goal. Now we are going to focus on overcoming our rival and achieving the second championship.”
Valencia / Web Editor
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2024-07-08 15:46:12