Results tagged ‘ Panama ’
Phantastic Phillies
LOS ANGELES – The smell of champagne was eye-stinging and the music blasted to speaker-busting levels.
Grown men acted like little boys.
The Phillies had just topped the Dodgers 5-1 in Game 5 of the National League Championship Series to win the National League pennant for the first time in 15 years so the atmosphere was understandably out of control in the visiting clubhouse at Dodger Stadium.
In the corner of the training room, Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz was on his cell phone addressing another party in Panama.
It turns out that the people in Central America are celebrating the team’s World Series appearance just like the people are in Philadelphia. Both should thank Cole Hamels and his soft-spoken battery-mate Ruiz for the party favor.
“We were able to get on the right page all year and when it comes to postseason, you definitely need to have that and see eye-to-eye,” Hamels said. “You really have to have confidence in your catcher and know what you have to do to the hitters. Carlos is good at that.”
Hamels didn’t disappoint. The left-hander was solid, as usual, allowing only one run on five hits in seven innings for his second victory in the NLCS. Ryan Madson pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Closer Brad Lidge shut the Dodgers down in the ninth to send his club to World Series for the first time since 1993.
Ruiz eventually joined the clubhouse party and was showered with beer and champagne. Praise for the catcher also came pouring in.
“He is a catcher with a lot of potential and will only get better in the future,” said Phillies reliever JC Romero said. “Once he gets a better feeling of what to do on offense, he is going to be really good. Defensively, he might be one of the best I have
ever played with.”
Hamels won two games was named the NLCS Most Valuable player but like Romero, credited his light-hitting catcher for helping make it possible. Make no mistake, Ruiz is hardly an offensive threat (he hit .219 during the regular season) but he sure can play defense.
That’s the reason why he has played in every postseason game for the Phillies this year. It doesn’t hurt that the Phillies pitchers posted a 3.89 ERA during the NLCS. Ruiz went 0-for-4 Wednesday but he did finish the series with a .313 batting average.
“I stuck with him because he’s a good catcher,” Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. “He can hit better than what he hit this year but at the same time he does a good job and is a tremendous catcher. Once we started winning, it was easier for me to keep playing him.”
Defense is important to Manuel. It’s the reason Dominican Pedro Feliz saw significant action during the NLCS and why he will get plenty of playing time in the World Series. Feliz only hit .154 but his play at third base during the postseason was crucial to the team’s success.
“These are going to be the most important games in baseball,” Feliz said. “I am so proud of what we were able to do. I know we are prepared for whoever we face. It doesn’t matter who we play from the American League.”
It doesn’t matter to Ruiz, either. What does matter is getting a good cell phone signal so he can speak to his loved ones back home if the Phillies win the World Series.
“Everybody is at my mom’s house right now celebrating,” Ruiz said. “I am so happy. I’m sure all of Panama is really happy right now. I just hope we can win a World Series trophy for all of us.”
Manuel being Manuel (Corpas)
Panama’s Manuel Corpas wanted to be the next Mariano Rivera. He’s finding out that being himself could be a bigger challenge.
“This year has not gone like last year at all,” Corpas said. “I thought I was going to come in here and have a good year, but this is part of the game. It is better this happened early in my career, early in the season. I’m better now and I’m getting better every time.”
Last season, Corpas went 4-2 with a 2.08 ERA with 19 saves in 22 opportunities. This season, he lost the closer’s job in April, but has bounced back, pitching in other spots in the bullpen. For the season, he is 2-3 with a 4.20 ERA in 60 games. He has four saves in 11 save opportunities. Not bad. Not great, either. But in Corpas’ case, good is good enough.
“The command wasn’t there, the sink wasn’t there, the location wasn’t there — that’s a bad combination for a closer,” Rockies manager Clint Hurdle said. “He went through a very painful experience, a lot of adversity. That being said, he’s worked himself into a very good spot, being very productive, setting up in front of [setup man] Taylor [Buchholz]. I would not be hesitant if [closer Brian] Fuentes was down for him to close again. It’s his second year, let’s not lose sight of that.”
When asked, the Rockies reliever blames himself. Corpas blames his lack of command for his lack of success early this season. He blames his mechanics. He blames expectations. But it’s not all his fault. The blame extends to those who saw Corpas during the last month of the season in 2007 and proclaimed him the next Francisco Rodriguez, Rivera and Francisco Cordero.
Yes, part of the blame goes to sports writers across the United States and Latin America, me included. Corpas is 25, not 35. He’s only pitched three seasons in the big leagues and has never been a closer for an entire season.
It’s funny how a marvelous sinker and good fastball can make a player look older than he is. The potential to be the next great closer from Panama is still there. Now, it’s time to let him develop in the seventh, the eighth and maybe one day, the ninth inning.
“It’s always possible for young players to think there is going to be more to the equation than what there was,” Hurdle said. “What I have told guys for years is that I learned the hard way myself. The enemy of good is great. If you want to go from good to great, it does not happen in a year. More often than not, it takes you away from being good in the immediate future. You get to be great by being good for a long time.”
Corpas’ path to greatness starts with a return to the basics. It starts with strike one, command of the strike zone, getting the first hitter out to start the inning and no walks. It starts with focusing on things he can control and not being overwhelmed with expectations — things he can’t control.
Corpas has grown. He says he’s learned more about himself this year than any other year in the game.
“Through it all, I understood what was happening and I’m staying positive,” Corpas said. “Now, I just have to keep going forward and doing the work.
“I’ve learned that if I feel bad on the mound, I am going to do badly. I know that how I work off the field carries over to how I do in the games. My concentration is a lot better. I am staying confident all of the time. My focus is on doing my work and not on what happened or what is going to happen.”
The approach has worked. Corpas’ ERA in April was 6.46 and his ERA for the month of May was 6.75. He posted a 3.55 ERA in June and has steadily improved during the last two months. Since the All-Star break, he is 1-0 with a 1.50 ERA in 17 innings.
“He’s got a good arm. He’s very resilient,” Hurdle said. “Where he is now to where he was in April says a lot about this kid’s desire and his makeup.”
Corpas says he has improved by studying video and comparing his mechanics to last season. He’s also learned that hitters have adjusted to him and he must to do the same to hitters.
“This is part of the game,” Corpas said. “If you don’t have ups and downs in this game, you are not a baseball player. I just have to pitch and not worry about things. I just need to do my job.”
Our job is to let him. And maybe one day, we can use him in the same sentence as Rivera.
Jesse Sanchez
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