2000-2001 Cuban National League
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The 2000-2001 season was the fortieth season of Cuba's national baseball system.
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[edit] Serie Nacional
In the fortieth Serie Nacional, Santiago de Cuba, managed by Higinio Vélez, became the third team in serie history to win three consecutive titles. For the second straight year they met Pinar del Río in the finals. The avispas won the series 4 games to 1. Santiago de Cuba won the fifth game due to the excellent relief pitching of Osmel Cintra, with the deciding runs were scored by a grand slam home run by legend Antonio Pacheco in the eighth inning.
The second season with wooden bats in a generation sees offense return to the Serie Nacional. Alexander Ramos of Isla de la Juventud has 147 base hits, the highest total with a wooden bat, but five less than the mark put up by fellow toronjero Michel Enríquez two years earlier. Osmani Urrutia of Las Tunas wins his first of five consecutive batting titles with a .431 with 125 hits in 290 at-bats. Two batters, Óscar Macías of La Habana and Roberquis Videaux of Guantánamo, hit 23 home runs to lead the league.
Camagüey rookie Leslie Anderson hits a rookie-record 28 doubles to tie La Habana's Pedro Arozarena for the league lead. Isla de la Juventud's Orlis L. Díaz has 87 runs batted in ties Óscar Machado's record from three years earlier. Eduardo Paret of Villa Clara scores 99 times, setting a record that will be broken two years later by Enrique Díaz.
On the pitching side, it is an bad year for Santiago Mederos as two of his records fall. First, Maels Rodríguez of Sancti Spíritus strikes out 263 opposing batters obiliterating Mederos's record of 208 strikeouts from the XVI Serie Nacional. Then on December 20, Faustino Corrales of Pinar del Río strikes out 22 Holguín batters in a nine-inning game, breaking Mederos's thirty-one year old record of 20. Only Rogelio García's sixteen inning 24 K performance in 1977 is better than Corrales's strikeout total.
Rodríguez is also tied for the league lead in wins with 15, tied with Villa Clara's veteran right hander Eliecer Montes de Oca. He also leads the league in ERA at 1.77, 35 earned runs in a league leading 178.1 innings pitched. La Habana's Lemay de la Rosa has the league's best record at 14 – 1. Cienfuegos reliever Duniel Ibarra, sets new marks for most games pitched at 45 and relief games at 44, but his record will be short lived as both are broken a year later by Orestes González.
On May 13, Santiago de Cuba's Antonio Pacheco hit his 356th double off Faustino Corrales at Estadio Capitán San Luis to set a new record. Industriales veteran 40-year old righthander Lázaro de la Torre wins his 200th career vitory on April 8 against Cienfuegos at Estadio Latinoamericano. The Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año) has a familiar name as Cienfuegos' outfielder Pedro José Rodríguez, Jr., son of team's legendary third baseman.
[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 | 90 | 59 | 31 | 0.656 | -.- | La Habana | 90 | 50 | 40 | 0.556 | -.- | |||
| Isla de la Juventud | 90 | 53 | 37 | 0.589 | 6.0 | Industriales | 90 | 50 | 40 | 0.556 | -.- | |||
| Metropolitanos | 90 | 40 | 50 | 0.444 | 19.0 | Sancti Spíritus | 90 | 38 | 52 | 0.422 | 12.0 | |||
| Matanzas | 90 | 36 | 54 | 0.400 | 23.0 | Cienfuegos | 90 | 28 | 62 | 0.311 | 22.0 | |||
[edit] Zona Oriental
| Grupo C | Grupo D | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | G | W | L | WPCT | GB | Team | G | W | L | WPCT | GB | |||
| Villa Clara | 90 | 59 | 31 | 0.656 | -.- | Santiago de Cuba | 90 | 55 | 35 | 0.611 | -.- | |||
| Camagüey | 90 | 53 | 37 | 0.589 | 6.0 | Granma | 90 | 55 | 35 | 0.611 | -.- | |||
| Ciego de Ávila | 90 | 35 | 55 | 0.389 | 24.0 | Guantánamo | 90 | 43 | 47 | 0.478 | 12.0 | |||
| Las Tunas | 90 | 25 | 65 | 0.278 | 34.0 | Holguín | 90 | 41 | 49 | 0.456 | 14.0 | |||
[edit] Playoffs
| Quarterfinals | Semifinals | Finals | |||||||||||
| OCC1 | Pinar del Río | 3 | |||||||||||
| OCC4 | Industriales | 2 | |||||||||||
| OCC1 | Pinar del Río | 4 | |||||||||||
| Occidental | |||||||||||||
| OCC3 | La Habana | 0 | |||||||||||
| OCC2 | Isla de la Juventud | 1 | |||||||||||
| OCC3 | La Habana | 3 | |||||||||||
| OCC1 | Pinar del Río | 1 | |||||||||||
| OTE2 | Santiago de Cuba | 4 | |||||||||||
| OTE1 | Villa Clara | 1 | |||||||||||
| OTE4 | Camagüey | 3 | |||||||||||
| OTE4 | Camagüey | 2 | |||||||||||
| Oriental | |||||||||||||
| OTE2 | Santiago de Cuba | 4 | |||||||||||
| OTE2 | Santiago de Cuba | 3 | |||||||||||
| OTE3 | Granma | 1 | |||||||||||
[edit] All-Star Game
The sixteenth Juego de las Estrellas (All-Star Game) was held at Pinar del Río in Pinar del Río, Pinar del Río (Serie Nacional)|Pinar del Río on February 11, 2001. In the game, Occidentales defeated Oriente by a score of 5 to 2. Oriente had 8 hits to Occidentales's 7, while both teams had 1 error. The winning pitcher was Raúl Valdés and the losing pitcher was Eliecer Montes de Oca.
[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 Maels Rodríguez a pitcher with Sancti Spíritus. The Most Valuable Pitcher (Lanzadores más Valiosos) was Maels Rodríguez of Sancti Spíritus. Pedro José Rodríguez Jr. of Cienfuegos was the Series' Rookie of the Year (Novatos del Año).
[edit] Sources
- (March 17, 2004). "Cronología: 2001 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. Retrieved October 29, 2006.
- (March 22, 2004). "Tabla de Posiciones de la XL serie 2001 (Spanish)". Radiococo. Radiococo. 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
