Sunday, December 24, 2006

Viva Gourriel!!!

The 46th National Baseball Series has opened on the island of Cuba, and I’ve decided to pick up my coverage of the sport there on a semi-regular basis. Of course, the player of interest is Sancti Spiritus’ own Yulieski Gourriel. In case you don’t remember him, check out my piece wrapping last season’s historic season for Gourriel and his streaking Gallos. The current 2006-2007 campaign is about 17-18 games underway, and there are about 70 games remaining of the 90 game schedule.

A quick crash course on the teams and standings, followed by an update on Gourriel. There are four divisions, called “grupos” in the Cuban Federation. Group A consists of Pinar del Rio, Isla de la Juventud, Metropolitanos, and Matanzas. Group B consists of La Habana, Industriales (last year’s champs), Cienfuegos, and Sancti Spiritus. Group C consists of Villa Clara, Ciego de Avila, Camaguey, and Las Tunas. Finally, Group D consists of Holguin, Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantanamo. The current standings, as of 12/24:

As for Yulieski Gourriel, now playing at 22 years of age, he hit his 100th career home run on December 21st against Isla de la Juventud. Christmas Eve saw the superstar infielder smash his 101st career shot, and only a day off for the holidays could cool him off. I will bring you a complete, up-to-date statistical line for Gourriel and some of the other premier hitters and pitchers in the near future, along with a couple of profiles to give you a sense of the talent playing for Castro. Stay tuned.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

there was a rumor not too long ago that Gourriel had defected. too bad it didn't happen. he would make a nice 1b for the Yanks.

Mike Plugh said...

media....It's not anything specific that's posted here, but there's a trend of cutting and pasting that goes on (of which you are a contributor) that ruins the blogging experience for a lot of people.

I'm not saying you're doing it to be a jerk, or that your ideas aren't welcome, but rather that people have asked repeatedly for others to stop doing it. You often give us snippets of SOSH, for example, that is 5-6 times longer than anything original that you have to add.

I want your opinions bro. I can read what's happening in other places for myself. That's why I have a blog. If you want to cut and paste, start your own blog. I'd go there to read everyday, man. Seriously.